Arkansas Children’s Educational Freedom Account Program

This ESA program provides participants up to 90% of their assigned state education funding for private school tuition and other educational expenses, including special needs services and therapies, individual classes, testing fees, and transportation. Eligibility is universal as of the 2025-2026 year, after a phase-in that began in 2023-2024. As this choice program is funded through the state’s education funding formula, there is no enrollment cap. Account caps for students who did not participate in the state’s now-defunct voucher program are $6,864, and the account cap for students who did participate in it is $7,627. Unused account funds may roll over into the student’s account for the following school year.

Funding Mechanism: Appropriation

Universal Eligibility: ✅
Universal Usage: ✅
Universal Funding: ✅
Truly Universal: ✅

(Last updated December 16, 2025)

Qualifying expenses for ESAs include private school tuition and fees, supplies, testing fees, uniforms, and other education expenses as determined by participating schools. These other expenses may include supplies, equipment, and educational services for students with disabilities. Eligible expenses also include curriculum, supplemental materials, tutoring, technology (excluding TVs, video games, and cell phones), courses that carry college credit, college admission exams, career training courses and industry credentials, ESA management fees, transportation, textbooks, and all other expenses approved by the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education of the Arkansas Department of Education, beginning in the 2024–2025 school year. Students may not use more than 25% of their total ESA funds on transportation expenses, and they may not use more than 25% of their total ESA funds on extracurricular activities, physical education, or field trips within the state.

(Last updated December 16, 2025)

View program requirements for parents, schools, and scholarship granting organizations by clicking on each hyperlink.

(Last updated December 16, 2025)

Arkansas Code § 6-18-2501 through 6-18-2511. 

(Last updated July 15, 2024) 

A legal challenge is currently pending. In June 2024, several public school parents sued, arguing that the EFA program diverts money from public schools. Faulkenberry et al. v. Arkansas Department of Education, No. 60CV-24-4630 (Pulaski Cty. Cir. Ct.).

A prior legal challenge was unsuccessful. On October 12, 2023, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled 5-1 in Arkansas Department of Education v. Jackson that the Arkansas legislature used proper procedures to enact the emergency clause of the LEARNS Act, which allowed the act to go into effect immediately.

Citizens for Arkansas Public Education and Students (CAPES) had argued that the legislature violated the state constitution by forgoing a separate roll-call vote for the emergency clause. A circuit court halted the program’s implementation, but the Arkansas Supreme Court stayed that injunction a month later in Arkansas Department of Education v. Jackson, 2023 Ark. 105, 669 S.W.3d 1. Now deciding on the merits, the Arkansas Supreme Court held that the emergency clause was valid because the House and Senate journals— “the sole evidence of legislative proceedings” and “the official record of the General Assembly’s votes” —recorded a separate roll call vote. Arkansas Department of Education v. Jackson, 2023 Ark. 140.

(Last updated September 20, 2024)