65,000 applications, 55,649 accounts: what the EFA crunch means for a Northwest Arkansas seat

In most of Arkansas the hard part of school choice is the money. In Benton and Washington counties it is the seat. Families here routinely find that the account is approved, the tuition math works, and the school they want has no space in the grade they need. The state's new figures explain why that keeps happening, and they point to a few things worth doing differently next spring.

The demand numbers

Participation in the Education Freedom Account program went from 14,256 students in 2024-25 to 44,524 in 2025-26, the first year every K-12 student was eligible. That is a 212% increase in one year, and it works out to roughly 8.7% of all Arkansas students.

It did not stop there. For the current school year the state received more than 65,000 applications and approved 55,649 accounts. Put those two numbers next to each other and you have the shape of the problem: the program is now large enough that in a fast-growing region, accounts are easier to come by than classrooms.

Supply grew too, just not at that rate

The state is adding participating schools. In 2025-26 there were 157 participating private schools and 108 microschools, the first year microschools were counted separately. For the current year Arkansas approved 167 private schools and 156 microschools. Those schools reach 55 of the state's 75 counties, and the Education Department estimates about 69% of Arkansans live within 15 miles of one.

Notice what grew and what did not. Private schools went up by ten. Microschools went up by 48. Most of the new capacity in Arkansas is arriving as small programs, not as new wings on existing campuses, and that is especially true along the I-49 corridor where the population is growing fastest.

Who is actually switching

This is the figure that reframes the whole question. About 25% of this year's participants switched from a public school. In grades 3 through 6 it was nearly 30%. The other three quarters were not identified as coming directly from a public school, meaning they were already in private school, already homeschooling, or entering kindergarten.

For a Northwest Arkansas family that matters in a specific way. A rising account count does not mean a rising number of families leaving the local district and freeing up anything. Most new accounts are going to households that were already outside the public system and are now being helped to pay for it. The seat you want was probably occupied before the EFA existed.

Returning families get the first slice

The program is not first come, first served. Applications are reviewed by priority category within each window, and the first category is returning EFA students. After that come students with specialized needs, students assigned to D or F rated schools, children of military, law enforcement and first responders, first-time kindergarteners, and then everyone else.

Retention makes that first category large. 95.8% of participating students in kindergarten through 11th grade re-enrolled for 2025-26. There is no cap on participation, but if appropriated funds fall short the state funds by category. A new applicant in the last group should plan accordingly.

What to do differently next spring

Apply in the earliest window you qualify for. For 2026-27 the window ran March 9 to June 1 in four stages, A through D. The state has not announced 2027-28 dates.
Apply to more than one school, and get on waitlists in writing with a date. Enrollment offices here move in February and March, not August.
Ask each school how many seats it expects in your child's grade, not how many students it has. Those are different questions and only one of them is useful.
Have a bridge plan. A microschool, a co-op or a year of homeschooling on the account is a legitimate holding pattern rather than a defeat.
Renew every year inside ClassWallet, even if nothing about your situation changed. Late renewals have cost families their place.

The bridge option is stronger than it looks

The new report found that homeschool and microschool students scored at the 65th percentile in math and the 70th in English language arts on nationally normed tests, above the overall EFA average of the 62nd in math and 66th in reading. Those are not causal findings and the report says so directly. But they do undercut the assumption that a year outside a campus is a year lost. Our homeschool and microschool page covers what the account pays for in that setup and which local programs families have used.

The money still does not close the gap here

Northwest Arkansas tuition runs above the state norm, so the arithmetic is less forgiving than it is elsewhere. Statewide the average EFA came to about $6,994 per student against $7,771 in state spending per public school student, roughly 90 cents on the dollar. Tuition and approved curriculum absorbed 79.4% of all EFA spending last year, and families spent under 10% on enrichment. In practice that means the account is a discount against a Benton or Washington County bill, not a replacement for it.

So when you compare campuses, compare what is left to pay as well as the sticker price. Our school data table shows EFA share, retention and test percentiles school by school, and the school directory lists every participating campus in both counties. A school with a large share of EFA families usually has a business office that handles ClassWallet invoices as routine, which is worth something on its own.

What is still unsettled

Two things are genuinely unknown and anyone who tells you otherwise is guessing. The 2027-28 account amount has not been published; the award is set at up to 90% of the previous year's per-student public school funding, and the Legislature does not take that up until the session that opens in January. And the 2027-28 application window has no announced dates. Everything else on this page you can plan around now.

Sources

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