School Choice Explosion Shakes Arkansas

Arkansas just steered nearly one in ten state-funded students into a new school choice program that backers say is working—and that raises big questions about who really controls public education in the state.

Story Snapshot

Arkansas’ Education Freedom Accounts now serve about 10% of state-funded students after rapid growth.
Participation jumped 157% in year two, with more than 46,000 approved applicants heading into 2025–26.
Supporters say test scores beat the national average and the program stays modest in cost.
The program uses public funds for private, religious, and homeschool education, echoing national voucher fights.

How Arkansas’ school choice program grew so fast

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders pushed Education Freedom Accounts as part of the LEARNS Act, giving families public money to pay for private, religious, or homeschool options instead of traditional public schools. The program started in 2023–24 with a limited group of students, including children with disabilities and those in struggling schools. In that first year, 5,548 students had active accounts, even after a delayed launch caused by court fights over the program.

State data and university researchers show the second year brought a sharp jump in use. Active accounts rose to 14,256 in 2024–25, an increase of 157% from year one. Most of these students attended private schools, while about one in four used the funds to support homeschooling. As rules expanded, more families became eligible, and demand surged ahead of the 2025–26 school year, with 46,578 approved applicants and 166 private schools taking part.

What families get and how much it costs taxpayers

Education Freedom Accounts give families roughly 90% of the state’s per-student funding to spend on approved education costs, such as private school tuition, homeschool curriculum, tutoring, and educational therapies. For many students, the award has been in the range of about $6,800 to nearly $7,000 per year, deposited into a digital account that parents use for school expenses. Families spent most of this money on private school tuition and fees, which made up more than 80% of total program spending in the second year.

Supporters argue the program is not blowing up the state budget. A detailed report coauthored with the Arkansas Department of Education describes the second year as “fiscally modest” compared with the overall kindergarten through 12th grade budget. One school choice analyst estimates 2024–25 program costs at about $97.5 million, with thousands of students switching from public schools and the state saving some money when students leave higher-cost districts. By the third year, the program is expected to serve nearly 10% of Arkansas students while using about 7.5% of state K–12 funds.

Academic results and satisfaction numbers

Early test score data is giving supporters fresh talking points. The 2024–25 annual report says students using Education Freedom Accounts scored above the national average on standardized tests, performing better than about 57% of students nationwide in math and about 59% in English. A Wall Street Journal commentary framed this as proof that “school choice succeeds in Arkansas,” arguing that students in private schools, microschools, and homeschools are “flourishing.”

Parents in the program are largely choosing to stay. Researchers report that about 90% of students who used Education Freedom Accounts in the first year stayed in the program for the second year. Looking ahead to the universal year, the renewal rate from the second to the third year is described as a “phenomenal” 91%, a sign that families feel the program is meeting their needs. These satisfaction numbers matter in a state where many families have long felt ignored by both political parties and by distant education bureaucracies.

Arkansas in a larger national fight over public education

Arkansas is not alone in moving public money to private and religious schools. Across the country, more than a dozen states have launched or expanded similar voucher and education savings account programs in the past few years. For many conservatives, these programs answer years of frustration with what they see as failing public schools, woke agendas, and powerful teachers’ unions. For many liberals, they look like another way the wealthy and connected can escape public systems while those left behind get less support.

Legal and fiscal fights are likely to follow Arkansas’ rapid expansion. Since the 1990s, at least 38 state court cases have challenged school voucher programs under state constitutions that promise a system of public education. Economic studies warn that even modest enrollment losses can hurt public schools that still must pay fixed costs like buildings and transportation. Those concerns echo a broader worry shared by many Americans: that big policy changes often help political allies and private operators first and leave regular families to figure out the fallout on their own.