As the third school year for the Arkansas Children’s Educational Freedom Account Program (EFA) nears an end, it’s safe to say the program is succeeding.
Only three years in, the state’s EFA program — which allows $6,694 per student on average to be used for private educational expenses such as tuition at microschools, tutoring, special needs therapies, and more — has the highest participation rate of any universal ESA program.
Nearly 10% of all Arkansas K-12 students in the 2025-26 school year were enrolled in the program. Participation numbers for next year are promising too. Six weeks into the application process, applications are up 23% compared to the same time last year.
The high level of demand for educational choice is nothing new. Programs across the country are seeing higher application rates due to high overall parental satisfaction. However, Arkansas’ program is unique in the high number of homeschoolers and microschoolers participating.
In the 2025-26 school year, nearly 40% of the students in the program were homeschooled. This is a higher share of homeschoolers than any other universally eligible ESA program that publicly reports enrollment.
More microschool students were previously enrolled at traditional, district-operated public schools than any other prior educational setting. Many of these families had never identified as part of a nontraditional education community until they discovered these innovative small learning environments becoming popular across the state, and the country.
For those familiar with the occasional tensions between educational choice programs and some parts of the homeschooling community, the number of homeschoolers participating in the program is stunning.
Some homeschooling families have traditionally been wary of ESA programs for valid reasons.
Homeschooling was illegal in many states for decades, and homeschooling families’ rights to educate their own children were consistently under attack. But a 2024 study from Dr. Angela Watson of Johns Hopkins University and Jeremy Newman of the Texas Home School Coalition found “no evidence that public funding of private school choice has impacted homeschool policy.” In fact, the researchers concluded, “that overall, homeschool regulation has decreased over time.”
The growth of the microschool sector is one likely reason.
Currently, over 100 microschools are registered with the Arkansas Department of Education’s Educational Freedom Accounts program, along with likely comparable numbers of unregistered nontraditional learning environments. And the numbers are growing as more prelaunch microschool founders move forward with their plans to open this coming school year.
“Arkansas’ EFA program has allowed families to choose high quality education with fewer barriers and restrictions,” observed Ar’Jillian Gilmer, founder of Foundation Christian Microschool in Pulaski County. “That’s what students and families love about the freedom to choose microschooling as an extension of homeschool.”
Accomplished founders like Gilmer understand the many ways they can leverage the flexibilities and nimble model of microschooling to deliver a whole new level of responsiveness to the learners and families they serve, a major reason they are becoming so popular across Arkansas.
On top of the strong opportunities the EFA program offers, Arkansas families will enjoy another way to take advantage of school choice when the new federal tax credit scholarship that Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has opted into begins next year.
This means more education opportunity is on the way, including in Arkansas communities that previously have not had as much opportunity. Already a national leader driving educational choice for families, Arkansas’ path forward is looking even brighter.
