| Title: |
NEPC Review: ESA's in Arizona--Q3 2025 Report (Common Sense Institute Arizona, October 2025) |
| Language: |
English |
| Authors: |
David R. Garcia; University of Colorado at Boulder, National Education Policy Center (NEPC) |
| Source: |
National Education Policy Center. 2025. |
| Availability: |
National Education Policy Center. School of Education 249 UCB University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309. Tel: 303-735-5290; e-mail: nepc@colorado.edu; Web site: http://nepc.colorado.edu |
| Peer Reviewed: |
Y |
| Page Count: |
11 |
| Publication Date: |
2025 |
| Sponsoring Agency: |
Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice |
| Document Type: |
Reports - Evaluative; Opinion Papers |
| Descriptors: |
Educational Finance; Research Reports; Review (Reexamination); State Programs; Program Evaluation; Program Costs; Family Income; Race; Ethnicity; Students; Validity; Taxes; State Aid |
| Geographic Terms: |
Arizona |
| Abstract: |
A recent Common Sense Institute report addresses two important policy questions about Arizona's ESA program. First, how much will the ESA program cost in the upcoming year? Second, what are the characteristics of ESA users by household income and race/ethnicity? The report concludes that the ESA program is "essentially fully subscribed," meaning that the program is not expected to experience runaway growth in students and cost to the state, as it did the past two years. Furthermore, the report reasons that, at this point in the policy's implementation, ESA costs are effectively negated by enrollment declines in public schools and that taxpayers are "paying for approximately the same number of students as was expected five years ago." However, given the limited data available about the program's volatility, policymakers should not be lulled into thinking that the major financial hits to the state's budget are in the past. The report also concludes that the typical ESA student comes from middle-income Arizona households and that ESA students look generally like the Arizona student population with respect to race/ethnicity. But this finding is belied by the fact that the ESA students are considerably more white than Arizona's public-school students. |
| Abstractor: |
As Provided |
| Entry Date: |
2025 |
| Accession Number: |
ED677404 |
| Database: |
ERIC |