Program on Education Policy and Governance Working Papers Series - Evidence from the Arkansas Education Freedom Accounts Program - Who Participates, What Do They Buy, and How Do They Score?

Oct 15, 2026

In 2023, Arkansas enacted the Education Freedom Accounts (EFA) Program, providing public funds for families to purchase private or home education for their children. Stakeholders question whether the program reaches disadvantaged students and how it affects taxpayers and public school districts. Using Arkansas student-level data, the study identifies characteristics predicting initial EFA participation and estimates fiscal effects across the first two years, including impacts on public schools. It also reports nationally normed test scores, showing EFA participants scoring above national averages.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages75

Reading Time3 h 9 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Origins and rationale of education savings accounts

Arkansas EFA program implementation and eligibility

Evidence and findings (from later sections)

Program on Education Policy and Governance Working Papers Series Who Participates, What Do They Buy, and How Do They Score? Evidence from the Arkansas Education Freedom Accounts Program Alison Heape Johnson, Daion L. Daniels, Josh B. McGee, and Patrick J. Wolf 1 PEPG 25-07 This paper was presented at the School Choice Tradeoffs and Evidence-Based Policy Making conference held at the Harvard Kennedy School, May 8-9, 2025 Harvard Kennedy School 79 JFK Street, Taubman 304 Cambridge, MA 02138 Tel: 617-495-7976 Fax: 617-496-4428 [www.hks.harvard.edu/pepg/](www.hks.harvard.edu/pepg/) 1 Johnson: University of Arkansas; Daniels: University of Arkansas; McGee: University of Arkansas; Wolf: University of Arkansas. Who Participates, What Do They Buy, and How Do They Score? Evidence from the Arkansas Education Freedom Accounts Program Alison Heape Johnson Daion L. Daniels Josh B. McGee Patrick J. Wolf November 2025 Paper originally prepared for presentation at the conference School Choice Tradeoffs and Evidence-Based Policy Making, May 8-9, 2025, Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, Cambridge, MA. Updated in October, 2025. All co-authors are affiliated with the University of Arkansas Department of Education Reform, Fayetteville, AR. The corresponding author for this paper [can be reached at](can be reached at aeheape@uark.edu. Data for)[ ](can be reached at aeheape@uark.edu. Data for)[aeheape@uark.edu](can be reached at aeheape@uark.edu. Data for)[. Data for](can be reached at aeheape@uark.edu. Data for) this project is being provided by the Arkansas Department of Education under Data Sharing Agreement 2024-DSA-00073. Abstract In 2023, Arkansas enacted the Education Freedom Accounts (EFA) Program, which provides public funds to families to spend on their children’s private or home education. Many stakeholders have raised concerns about the program’s ability to serve disadvantaged students and its fiscal impact on taxpayers and public school districts. Using student-level data from the Arkansas Department of Education, we determine the student characteristics that predict initial participation in the EFA program. We also estimate the program’s fiscal effects in its first two years. Finally, we report the average scores of participants on nationally normed tests. We find that the program’s service prioritization system, established in statute and specified in administrative rules, operated as intended disproportionally to enroll students with various characteristics of disadvantage. We also find that savings from students exiting public schools did little to offset the program’s cost to the state, though overall expenditures were small relative to Arkansas’s total K–12 education spending. Fiscal impacts are more likely to be felt locally, though potential funding declines represent a small share of district budgets. We analyze transaction-level data to understand how families allocate EFA funds, offering insights into program implementation and its implications for broader school choice policy. Finally, we report the 2025 test scores of EFA students, which average above national norms. Keywords: Education Savings Account, school voucher, school choice participation, fiscal impact, student achievement Introduction In 2023, the Arkansas Legislature passed Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ signature legislation, the Literacy, Empowerment, Accountability, Readiness, Networking, and Safety (LEARNS) Act (Act 237), establishing the state’s first education savings account (ESA) program, among other reforms. This program, called the Education Freedom Accounts (EFA) Program, would roll out over the next three years, eventually making every K-12 student residing in Arkansas eligible to apply for the 2025-26 school year. The state allocates funds for this program to the Arkansas Children’s Educational Freedom Account Fund, separate from the Arkansas public school system budget. Nobel Laurea

FAQs

What is the Education Freedom Accounts (EFA) Program in Arkansas?

The EFA Program provides public funds for families to spend on their children’s private school or home education. It was enacted in 2023 and is designed to expand eligibility over several years.

Which factors does the paper examine to predict initial EFA participation?

The paper uses student-level data to determine student characteristics that predict who initially participates in the EFA program.

What fiscal and achievement impacts does the paper report for the first two years and for 2025?

The study estimates fiscal effects in the first two years and finds savings from students exiting public schools do little to offset program costs to the state, though overall expenditures are small relative to total K–12 spending. It also reports 2025 test scores for EFA students averaging above national norms.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by วิน