ESAs Are Full of Guardrails: A State by State Guide

Nurturing creativity is a big part of K-12 education. After kids learn the basics of reading, writing, and speaking English, they can try their hand at writing short stories and poems that are entirely their own, products of fertile imaginations.

In that spirit, education savings accounts (better known as ESAs) represent that same kind of creativity applied to the educational system. A well-designed ESA program makes all kids eligible, lets families choose from a wide variety of educational purchases (including but definitely not limited to private school tuition), and has reliable funding to ensure kids can benefit for as many of their primary and secondary school years as possible.

However, much of the school choice conversation in 2026 has centered on the concept of “guardrails.” Guardrails are requirements in state law or regulation that a parent must adhere to in order to receive an ESA on behalf of their child, or that an educational services provider must agree to follow in order to receive payments from an ESA student. Some describe them as tradeoffs between the government and the family — you get money sent to you to help educate your child, but you also must follow the rules. Seen through one perspective, this idea makes sense; indeed, there are myriad rules for participation in federal health and welfare programs, like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the Indian Health Service’s programs.

Given that, now is a good time to show all the guardrails that exist in the nation’s 21 ESA programs. This chart covers key requirements like standardized testing, curricular requirements, audit procedures, accreditation/approval, and homeschool participation. We think this information helps to disprove misconceptions among some that school choice programs are unregulated. Instead, look at the graphic below and notice that ESAs already are full of guardrails.