2026 EdChoice Participation Rankings

EdChoice tracks every private school choice program across the country and how many students participate in each one. In this annual post, we rank all programs by participation counts, current at the time of writing. This ranking reflects the most recent information available, though not every program has released data from the 2025–26 school year.  

This year, we made a slight change in calculating rankings; we’ve excluded non-refundable individual tax credits and deductions for K-12 expenses. For several years, our annual participation rankings have been prefaced with a disclaimer that while tax relief programs tend to have high participation, they offer limited financial support and therefore limited school choice efficacy for families. In light of this, we’ve eliminated eight previously included tax credit/deduction programs from our list.

That doesn’t mean our list is shrinking by much. Six new programs join the list this year.

In 2026, participation in school choice continues to increase, especially among education savings accounts (ESAs) and voucher programs. The top ten on our list mainly feature ESA and voucher programs with expansive eligibility requirements that enable every student in the state to apply.  Florida claims the #1 spot for the second year in a row. Other strong contenders include North Carolina, Ohio, Arizona, Indiana, and Arkansas. The growth of programs in North Carolina and Arkansas is especially notable. North Carolina climbed 12 spots since last year and now has over 100,000 participating students. Meanwhile, Arkansas more than tripled last year’s participation numbers to reach spot #9.

This list of 70 programs includes every currently active program that has released participation data. While there are more private school choice programs across the country, several of those programs are new and haven’t reported data from their first year. We’ve also added comparisons to last year’s rankings on the right-hand side. 

Learn more about each school choice program in the 2026 ABCs of School Choice, where we provide the most recent participation data and much more. 

1. Florida Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options Program (0) 
   Education Savings Account | 280,611 students 
2. Florida Family Empowerment Scholarships for Students with Unique Abilities (+3) 
   Education Savings Account | 140,147 students 
3. North Carolina Opportunity Scholarship Program (+12) 
   Voucher | 103,400 students 
4. Ohio EdChoice Expansion Scholarship Program (+3) 
   Voucher | 100,922 students 
5. Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (+3) 
   Education Savings Account | 96,802 students 
6. Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program (0) 
   Tax-Credit Education Savings Account | 81,947 students 
7. Indiana Choice Scholarship Program (+2) 
   Voucher | 79,448 students 
8. Pennsylvania Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program (+4) 
   Tax-Credit Scholarship | 66,838 students 
9. Arkansas Children’s Education Freedom Account Program (+16) 
   Education Savings Account | 46,578 students 
10. Minnesota K–12 Education Credit (+3) 
    Refundable Tax Credit | 46,328 tax returns 
11. Ohio Traditional EdChoice Scholarship Program (+3) 
    Voucher | 42,600 students 
12. Oklahoma Parental Choice Tax Credit Act (NEW)
    Refundable Tax Credit | 39,197 students 
13. Wisconsin Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (+4) 
    Voucher | 29,949 students 
14. Iowa Education Savings Account Program (+10) 
    Education Savings Account | 27,862 students 
15. Arizona Low-Income Corporate Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program (+3) 
    Tax-Credit Scholarship | 25,517 students 
16. Wisconsin Parental Choice Program (Statewide) (+6) 
    Voucher | 23,417 students 
17. Georgia Qualified Education Expense Tax Credit (+4) 
    Tax-Credit Scholarship | 21,545 students 
18. Tennessee Education Freedom Scholarship Act (NEW) 
    Education Savings Account | 20,000 students 
19. Pennsylvania Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit Program (+1) 
    Tax-Credit Scholarship | 18,773 students 
20. Alabama Creating Hope and Opportunity for Our Students’ Education (CHOOSE) Act of 2024 (NEW)
    Education Savings Account | 18,484 students 
21. Arizona Original Individual Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program (-2) 
    Tax-Credit Scholarship | 18,134 students 
22. Iowa School Tuition Organization Tax Credit (+6) 
    Tax-Credit Scholarship | 17,184 students 
23. Arizona “Switcher” Individual Income Tax Credit Scholarship Program (0) 
    Tax-Credit Scholarship | 17,168 students 
24. Utah Fits All Scholarship Program (+5) 
    Education Savings Account | 14,657 students 
25. West Virginia Hope Scholarship Program (+2) 
    Education Savings Account | 14,221 students
26. Indiana School Scholarship Tax Credit (0) 
    Tax-Credit Scholarship | 12,517 students 
27. New Hampshire Education Freedom Account Program (+7) 
    Education Savings Account | 10,000 students 
28. South Carolina Education Scholarship Trust Fund Program (NEW) 
    Education Savings Account | 10,000 students 
29. Ohio Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship Program (+1) 
    Voucher | 8,680 students 
30. Georgia Promise Scholarship Act  (NEW) 
    Education Savings Account | 8,398 students 
31. Ohio Cleveland Scholarship Program (0) 
    Voucher | 8,345 students 
32. Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Program (+1) 
    Voucher | 6,312 students 
33. Ohio Autism Scholarship Program (+4) 
    Voucher | 6,016 students 
34. Louisiana Giving All True Opportunity to Rise (GATOR) Scholarship Program (NEW)
    Education Savings Account | 6,000 students 
35. Virginia Education Improvement Scholarships Tax Credits Program (+1) 
    Tax-Credit Scholarship | 5,820 students 
36. North Carolina Education Student Accounts (ESA+) (+6) 
    Education Savings Account | 5,627 students 
37. Tennessee Education Savings Account Program (+4) 
    Education Savings Account | 4,814 students 
38. Wisconsin Parental Private School Choice Program (Racine) (0) 
    Voucher | 4,170 students 
39. Alabama Education Scholarship Program (+1) 
    Tax-Credit Scholarship | 3,917 students 
40. Louisiana Tuition Donation Credit Program (+4) 
    Tax-Credit Scholarship | 3,603 students 
41. Vermont Town Tuitioning Program (+2) 
    Voucher | 3,541 students 
42. Wisconsin Special Needs Scholarship Program (+4) 
    Voucher | 3,436 students 
43. Oklahoma Equal Opportunity Education Scholarships (+2) 
    Tax-Credit Scholarship | 3,222 students 
44. Missouri Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Program (+5) 
    Tax-Credit Education Savings Account | 2,700 students 
45. Maryland Broadening Options and Opportunities for Students Today (BOOST) Program (+2) 
    Voucher | 2,403 students 
46. Kansas Tax Credit for Low-Income Students Scholarship Program (+6) 
    Tax-Credit Scholarship | 2,360 students 
47. Maine Town Tuitioning Program (-8) 
    Voucher | 1,827 students 
48. South Dakota Partners in Education Tax Credit Program (+2) 
    Tax-Credit Scholarship | 1,771 students 
49. D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (+5) 
    Voucher | 1,409 students 
50. Nevada Educational Choice Scholarship Program (-2) 
    Tax-Credit Scholarship | 1,330 students 
51. South Carolina Educational Credit for Exceptional Needs Children Fund (0) 
    Tax-Credit Scholarship | 1,322 students 
52. Oklahoma Lindsey Nicole Henry Scholarship Program for Students with Disabilities (+3) 
    Voucher | 1,256 students 
53. Indiana Education Scholarship Account Program (+7) 
    Education Savings Account | 1,166 students 
54. Montana Tax Credits for Contributions to Student Scholarship Organizations (+4) 
    Tax-Credit Scholarship | 1,050 students 
55. Tennessee Individualized Education Account Program (+8) 
    Education Savings Account | 981 students 
56. Arizona Lexie’s Law for Disabled and Displaced Students Tax Credit Scholarship Program (+1) 
    Tax-Credit Scholarship | 923 students 
57. Utah Carson Smith Opportunity Scholarship Program (-1) 
    Tax-Credit Education Savings Account | 749 students 
58. Puerto Rico Free School Selection Program (+1) 
    Voucher | 878 students 
59. New Hampshire Education Tax Credit Program (+2) 
    Tax-Credit Education Savings Account | 768 students 
60. South Carolina Refundable Educational Credit for Exceptional Needs Children (+4) 
    Individual Tax Credit | 575 tax returns 
61. Louisiana School Choice Program for Certain Students with Exceptionalities (+5) 
    Voucher | 495 students 
62. Mississippi Equal Opportunity for Students with Special Needs Program (+6) 
    Education Savings Account | 454 students 
63. Rhode Island Tax Credits for Contributions to Scholarship Organizations (+2) 
    Tax-Credit Scholarship | 428 students 
64. Arkansas Philanthropic Investment in Arkansas Kids Scholarship Program (+3) 
    Tax-Credit Scholarship | 409 students 
65. Mississippi Dyslexia Therapy Scholarship for Students with Dyslexia Program (+4) 
    Voucher | 274 students 
66. Utah Special Needs Opportunity Scholarship Program (Legacy) (-4) 
    Voucher | 330 students 
67. Montana Special Needs Equal Opportunity Education Savings Account Program (NEW)
    Education Savings Account | 75 students 
68. Alabama Accountability Act of 2013 Parent-Taxpayer Refundable Tax Credits (+2) 
    Individual Tax Credit | 65 tax returns 
69. New Hampshire Town Tuitioning Program (+2) 
    Voucher | 17 students 
70. Mississippi Nate Rogers Scholarship for Students with Disabilities Program (+2) 
    Voucher | Less than 10 students