Arizona ESA Is Open to All—Why Low-Income Families not Using?

The gap between what the ESA provides and what private schools actually cost is the single biggest barrier.

The average private school tuition in Arizona runs around $10,196 per year. The average ESA award is $7,000–$9,000. That leaves a gap of roughly $1,200 to $3,000, before uniforms, activity fees, transportation, and school fundraisers are factored in.

For families with two working parents, a cash gap of even $1,500 per year can be the difference between enrolling and not enrolling. And for single-parent households or those working hourly jobs, the math doesn’t add up.

Transportation is its own issue. Lower-income families pointed to private school locations and additional costs, including transportation and meals, as key reasons they didn’t use their voucher. Many Arizona private schools are concentrated in suburban areas, far from the neighborhoods where lower-income families live. Unlike public schools, most private schools don’t provide bus routes.

Then there are less tangible barriers. Some families worried whether they’d be received the same way at private schools as at public ones, and whether they’d have the same ability to advocate for their children. Those concerns don’t show up in data, but they’re real.