11/13/2025
First, an ESA enrollment update! 96,802 students are now thriving on the program.
Despite the consistent growth, there’s a lot of noise floating around about Arizona’s ESA program – both from opponents of education freedom and activist or underinformed media.
So if you’ve ever heard an anti-ESA claim and wondered…”is that true?” or “How would I respond to that?” we have you covered.
Here are the most popular ESA “myths” and the real story.
❌Myth - There have been millions in fraudulent ESA spending.
✅Fact - False! This myth has been frequently circulated but it is easily debunked. The ESA program actually has a very low percentage of fraud, a high level of transparency, and mechanisms in place for recovering misspent dollars. The $124 million thrown around in headlines actually refers to all purchases under $2,000 that were approved in the last 12 months. Less than one percent of that was ineligible. And ADE is able to quickly identify and suspend accounts while investigating. Contrary to other government programs, misuse of ESA funds are identified rapidly and the bad actor is required to repay, is removed from the program, and/or directed to the AG for prosecution. The accountability measures are working as intended. Can you say that for Arizona’s public schools, or any other government program?
❌Myth - The ESA program is unaccountable and filled with fraud.
✅Fact - The ESA program is actually one of the most accountable programs in the state! The very fact that we are talking about individual purchases means that transaction-level data is available. Based on recent data from the Arizona Department of Education and reported misspending and collections, the ESA program as of September 2025 has less than 1/10th of 1% misspending. In the ESA program parents use a third-party platform to make approved educational purchases like tuition, textbooks, and various educational therapies. Any identified spending outside of the law, rules, or handbook triggers an account suspension while the transactions in question are investigated. The state has transaction level data on the ESA program, making it one of the most accountable in the state. The Arizona public school system isn't required to provide such documentation and they are also not on the Arizona "Open the Books" platform.
❌Myth - The ESA program will bankrupt the state.
✅Fact - False! Since ESAs are funded at only 90% of the per-pupil funding formula, it is not possible for them to “bankrupt” the state. If every student currently on an ESA enrolled in a public school, taxpayers would be covering a much higher amount of state funds than they presently are. The ESA program is part of the Arizona K-12 budget, which is updated each year and approved by the Arizona legislature and signed by the Governor. Enrollment estimates for the ESA program are done through the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) and vary from year to year.
→ Check out this great debunker by EdChoice that just came out!
❌Myth - ESAs hurt students with disabilities.
✅Fact - Actually, the ESA program started in 2011 for students with disabilities (SWDs). Families who have a student with a disability use ESAs in higher percentages than the Arizona public school system. According to the last ADE quarterly report 19% of students on ESA are classified as SWDs whereas the public school disability rate is 14%. Many families choose an ESA because of the immense challenges of getting their children services through their IEP or 504 plan in the traditional public school system. Stories abound where families have said their children’s lives and service and school options are incredible with an ESA.
❌Myth - Public schools are closing because of the ESA program.
✅Fact - Various national media outlets have blamed Arizona public school closures on the ESA program, but they don’t have the data to back up their claims. For example, the Washington Post blamed the ESA program for school closures in the Roosevelt District. However, as the Heritage Foundation reported in their report debunking this myth, “of the roughly 59% of K-12 students who live in the Roosevelt district but don't attend Roosevelt schools, a staggering 91% attend other public schools. Only about 800 students have used ESAs for private education options, while more than 8,200 students living in the district attend other public district or public charter schools.” In other words, public schools in districts like Roosevelt are seeing far more students transfer to other public district schools than to the ESA program.
❌Myth - Public schools are underfunded and ESAs make it worse.
✅Fact - Currently, the Basic State Aid funding for K-12 education in Arizona is over $10.0 billion, with ESA spending being about 8% of the K-12 funding portion ($882M). When taking into account all sources of funding, like federal and local funds, the total FY 2025 K-12 Budget is $12 billion. Under General Fund appropriations, K-12 funding is $7.68 billion or 47.3% of the State’s entire General Fund budget of $16.223B. That is a LOT of funding for K-12 education! K-12 General Fund spending has more than doubled since 2015, even though student enrollment has remained flat at around 1.1 million over that time.
❌Myth - ESAs only benefit wealthy Arizona families
✅Fact - ESA users continue to lean disproportionately towards middle-income. Similar to the Arizona public school system, the ESA program does not require families to report their income to qualify. Attempts have been made over the years to use participant zip code data to analyze who may be using ESAs, and the Common Sense Institute of Arizona reported that as of May 2025, 56.3% of all ESA recipients were living in Arizona ZIP codes with a median family income of between $75,000 and $150,000.
❌Myth - ESAs hurt rural communities.
✅Fact - There is no data to suggest this is true. ADE reports data around who uses ESAs is available through quarterly reports to the Arizona State Board of Education. This report shows the number of families on ESAs by district and zip code. From this data, The Common Sense Institute of Arizona estimates that 18% of ESA users are nonwhite, and that nearly 13% live in rural areas, while 21% of Arizonans are nonwhite and 11% live in rural areas.
Found this helpful? Want to keep it handy or share with a friend? Download these myths vs. facts – and more – as a shareable PDF below👇
Resources to Defend & Celebrate ESAs
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Myths & Facts One Pager
AZ ESA Q4 Report Highlights
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