Are Arizona Families Satisfied with Education Savings Accounts?

Arizona’s one-of-a-kind education savings accounts (ESAs), called Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, are bank accounts eligible parents can use only for their children’s education expenses, current or future. The Arizona Department of Education issues parents debit cards loaded with funds, which amount to about 90 percent of what the state has already reserved for that child in the public school system.

Authors Jonathan Butcher and Jason Bedrick are the first to survey parents to find out whether they are satisfied with ESAs, their demographics, and how they would spend extra money if the program were to increase funding amounts.

Their survey was released by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice in a new report titled “Schooling Satisfaction: Arizona Parents’ Opinions on Using Education Savings Accounts.”

This infographic shows some their key findings: