2026 EdChoice Spending Share Rankings  

How public spending on private school choice compares to total K–12 spending 

Last year marked the first time at least one out of every one hundred public dollars spent on non-capital education expenditures was spent on school choice programs. Since then, a few more programs have launched, and established programs have continued to grow. This annual blog post gives a snapshot of how much money states spend on private school choice programs as a share of the total amount of money states spend on current K–12 education expenses, as most recently reported by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the U.S. Department of Education.   

Here’s what goes into our calculations. For national choice program numbers, reflected in the first interactive chart below, we carry forward the most recently available financial data as of November 2025, reported in The ABCs. We divide these financial numbers by current and total public school expenditures as reported by NCES. For years 2022–23 through 2025–26, we projected annual increases in expenditures to equal the actual average year–over–year changes from 2018–19 to 2020–21.  

This is the same projection method we used last year. We don’t include 2021–22 in our average year–over–year increase calculation as ESSER funds produced a significant year–over–year increase in expenditures and including that outlier would skew our accuracy looking forward. Our state numbers, reflected in the interactive charts in the slide deck below, follow a very similar procedure to the national number. The only difference is that we do not carry forward previous years’ data to 2025, and instead just show spending share calculations through the most recent year for which we have data.  

Findings 

Altogether, based on our estimates, private school choice programs have allocated $10.6 billion to students in the last year, a 29% increase over the last year. This total is equivalent to 1.3% of a projected $783 billion spent on current expenditures by public schools and 1.2% of a projected $921 billion spent on all expenditures.   

The results below are organized from the greatest share to smallest. Florida maintains a comfortable lead, remaining the only state with a double-digit percentage of its combined private choice and public school expenditures on its choice programs. As it was last year, Arizona is a clear second. The remaining top 10 places are becoming increasingly competitive as various programs continue to mature. Some programs saw large jumps in spending without jumping up the rankings due to how many states saw rises in school choice spending. Oklahoma is the biggest mover from 2025 to 2026, rising nine places due to the full implementation of its refundable tax credit. 

All other states not included are tied for last with zero dollars spent on private school choice programs, including states with programs that haven’t launched or provided any participation data yet, including Idaho and Wyoming. The number in parentheses following the state name shows the state’s ranking in 2025, which you can read more about in last year’s post. Green indicates an improvement in ranking, while red indicates the state ranking has fallen from last year. Black indicates the ranking remains unchanged. 

2026 Ranking. State (2025 Ranking) 

Private School Choice Programs Available | Private School Choice Spending | Percentage of state’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures (State’s K–12 current expenditures) 

1. Florida (1)  
ESA (2), Tax–Credit ESA | $4.3 billion | 11.19% of Florida’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($38.4 billion)  

2. Arizona (2)  
ESA, Tax–Credit Scholarships (4) | $1.16 billion | 8.35% of Arizona’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($12.7 billion)   

3. Wisconsin (3)  
Vouchers (4) | $700 million | 5.37% of Wisconsin’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($13.0 billion)  

4. Arkansas (8)  
ESA, Tax–Credit Scholarship | $328 million | 5.06% of Arkansas’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($6.5 billion)  

5. Ohio (4)  
Vouchers (5), Tax–Credit Scholarship | $1.12 billion | 4.201% of Ohio’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($26.7 billion)  

6. Indiana (5)  
ESA, Voucher, Tax–Credit Scholarship | $512 million | 3.527% of Indiana’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($13.9 billion)  

7. North Carolina (10)  
ESA, Voucher | $624 million | 3.46% of North Carolina’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($18.1 billion)  

8. Iowa (7)  
ESA, Tax–Credit Scholarship | $242 million | 3.32% of Iowa’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($7.3 billion)  

9. Oklahoma (20)  
Refundable Tax Credit, Voucher, Tax–Credit Scholarship | $267 million | 3.12% of Oklahoma’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($8.6 billion)  

10. Vermont (6)   
Voucher | $58 million | 2.50% of Vermont’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($2.3 billion)  
 
11. West Virginia (9)  
ESA | $75 million | 2.07% of West Virginia’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($3.6 billion)  

12. Tennessee (18)  
ESA (2) | $210 million | 1.83% of Tennessee’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($11.5 billion)  

13. Alabama (19)  
ESA, Tax–Credit Scholarship, Refundable Tax Credit | $127 million | 1.43% of Alabama’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($8.9 billion)  

14. New Hampshire (13)  
ESA, Tax–Credit Scholarship | $50 million | 1.42% of New Hampshire’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($3.5 billion)  

15. Utah (11)  
ESA, Voucher (phasing out), Tax–Credit ESA | $110 million | 1.39% of Utah’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($8.1 billion)  

16. Georgia (16)  
ESA, Voucher, Tax–Credit Scholarship | $221 million | 0.93% of Georgia’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($22.9 billion)  

17. South Carolina (28)  
ESA, Tax–Credit Scholarship, Refundable Tax Credit | $86 million | 0.78% of South Carolina’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($11.0 billion)   

18. Pennsylvania (15)  
Tax–Credit Scholarships (2) | $225 million | 0.68% of Pennsylvania’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($33.0 billion)  

19. Maine (12)   
Voucher | $25 million | 0.64% of Maine’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($4.0 billion)  

20. District of Columbia (14)  
Voucher | $16 million | 0.57% of D.C.’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($2.8 billion)   

21. Louisiana (17)  
ESA, Vouchers (2), Tax–Credit Scholarship | $60 million | 0.56% of Louisiana’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($10.7 billion)  

22. South Dakota (21)  
Tax–Credit Scholarship | $4 million | 0.22% of South Dakota’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($1.8 billion)  

23. Minnesota (24)  
Refundable Tax Credit | $18 million | 0.13% of Minnesota’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($13.3 billion)  

24. Montana (26)  
ESA, Tax–Credit Scholarship | $3 million | 0.12% of Montana’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($2.3 billion)  

25. Mississippi (27)  
ESA, Vouchers (2) | $6 million | 0.12% of Mississippi’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($4.7 billion)  

26. Missouri (23)  
Tax Credit ESA | $13 million | 0.12% of Missouri’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($11 billion)  

27. Nevada (22)  
Tax–Credit Scholarship | $6 million | 0.11% of Nevada’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($5.5 billion)  

28. Kansas (29)  
Tax–Credit Scholarship | $7 million | 0.10% of Kansas’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($7.0 billion)  

29. Rhode Island (31)  
Tax–Credit Scholarship | $2 million | 0.08% of Rhode Island’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($2.8 billion)  

30. Virginia (25)  
Tax–Credit Scholarship | $12 million | 0.06% of Virginia’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($29.6 billion)  

31. Maryland (30)  
Voucher | $8 million | 0.05% of Maryland’s combined program and public K–12 current expenditures ($16.9 billion)   

Notes 

Our program spending totals reflect data we collected through November 2025, which are included in the 2026 edition of The ABCs of School Choice.   

Current expenditures do not include any spending for property and for buildings and alterations completed by school district staff or contractors, or paying down interest on school debt. Instead, current expenditures include the day–to–day operation of schools and school districts. Looking at those makes for the easiest comparisons of spending that directly affects students and classroom learning. And at the very least, this ratio will give a conservative sense of how small private school choice currently is relative to other K–12 spending.  

For tax credit scholarship programs, we calculated the reported total credits claimed, when possible. When unavailable, we used the total value of all scholarships distributed through that program. Non–refundable individual credits and deductions are not included, as totaling the former can skew results by emphasizing programs that offer little money to many students, which don’t represent the modern choice landscape as we are trying to understand it.