ARIZONA EMPOWERMENT SCHOLARSHIP ACCOUNT · FY2027 PLANNING TOOL

Arizona ESA Award Amount Calculator by Grade and Disability 2026-27

By The School Choice Index Last verified: August 11, 2026 · Formula version AZ-FY2027-v1.1

Arizona's ESA does not pay one flat amount, and that's why you keep finding different numbers online. This Arizona ESA award amount calculator by grade and disability 2026-27 gives you a planning estimate built from the current state formula. Under standard assumptions, the 2026-27 award is about $4,910 for kindergarten, $7,862 for grades 1–3, $7,393 for grades 4–8, and $8,233 for grades 9–12. With a funded school-age disability code on the paperwork, the estimate can run from $5,595 to $45,536. In grades 4–8, the gap between the SLD row and the A-R row is $26,906 a year.

We rebuilt Arizona's award formula from the statute, ran it against the state's own published chart, and matched four published figures within one dollar. So you can check our math. Here's your number first, then the part almost nobody explains — why the amount on your ADE contract may not match any chart you've seen, including this one.

Best for: Arizona parents planning tuition, therapy, tutoring, or curriculum for 2026-27 and needing a number they can actually budget around.

Not for: Anyone who needs a guaranteed dollar figure before signing. Nothing on the internet can give you that. Only your signed ADE contract can, and we'll show you how to read it.

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Arizona ESA award amount calculator by grade and disability 2026-27

Estimate your child's 2026-27 Arizona ESA award. Two questions get you a number. Four get you a good one. We don't ask for your name, your email, your child's name, or any documents.

1. What grade will your child be in for 2026-27? Preschool with a disability · Kindergarten · 1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · 11 · 12

2. What funding category or plan is written on the current paperwork? Use the exact code on the document. Don't guess from a diagnosis — that's the fastest way to get the wrong number.

No funded disability category · 504 plan only · DD (Developmental Delay) · ED (Emotional Disability) · MiID (Mild Intellectual Disability) · SLD (Specific Learning Disability) · SLI (Speech/Language Impairment) · OHI (Other Health Impairment) · HI (Hearing Impairment) · VI (Visual Impairment) · MoID (Moderate Intellectual Disability) · ED-P / EDP (Emotionally Disabled, Privately Placed) · Autism / Multiple Disabilities / Severe Intellectual Disability · OI (Orthopedic Impairment) · MD-SSI (Multiple Disabilities with Severe Sensory Impairment) · P-SD / PSD (Preschool Severe Delay) · TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) · I don't know the code

3. Appears only for A, MD, SID, or OI: Which exact ending is on the document? Resource, such as A-R · Self-contained, such as A-SC · Not sure — show me both

4. For a new application, when do you expect ADE to enroll your child? Q1: July 1–September 30 · Q2: October 1–December 31 · Q3: January 1–March 31 · Not enrolled by March 31, 2027: earliest enrollment on or after July 1, 2027

Optional: advanced funding factors (Teacher Experience Index, support-level weight). Only fill these in if you have an ADE, district, or charter document showing them.

→ Calculate my 2026-27 Arizona ESA estimate

The result card shows:

• Estimated annual award under the stated assumptions
• Estimated amount per quarterly installment
• Estimated FY2027 amount left, based on the enrollment quarter
• For Q1, the prior-year and current-year standard-factor comparison, clearly labeled as an estimate
• If ADE has not enrolled the child by March 31, 2027, $0 from FY2027 and the July 1, 2027 earliest-enrollment rule
• The full arithmetic, line by line
• Every assumption we used
• Formula version AZ-FY2027-v1.1 · Last verified August 11, 2026
• Buttons: Copy my calculation · Print my estimate · Change one answer

This is a planning estimate, not an award notice. The amount in your signed ADE contract is the one that counts.

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Your 2026-27 amount at a glance

Those four numbers assume no funded disability weight, a support-level weight of 1.158 for K–8 or 1.268 for high school, a Teacher Experience Index of 1.00, and no ELL, gifted, or FRPL add-on. Have an IEP, MET report, evaluation, or 504 plan? Your number may change a lot. Run the calculator above.

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What we actually verified

We're going to throw a lot of numbers at you. Here's exactly where they came from, checked on August 11, 2026:

Verified at the source:

• The 90% rule and the charter-school funding formula — Arizona statute A.R.S. § 15-2402(C)
• The 2026-27 base level of $5,215.53 and charter additional assistance of $2,174.54 (preschool–grade 8) and $2,534.38 (grades 9–12) — ADE School Finance, posted June 12, 2026
• Every standard grade weight, both K–3 weights, every disability weight, ELL, gifted, FRPL, and the Teacher Experience Index rule — A.R.S. § 15-943
• The 0.5 student-count rule for preschool and kindergarten, plus the rule that preschool DD and preschool SLI do not receive the 0.292 add-on — A.R.S. § 15-901
• Quarterly transfers, year-round applications, the 30-day award-letter rule, and the rule barring new enrollment from April 1 through June 30 — A.R.S. § 15-2403
• The quarter labels and existing-account funding windows — ADE ESA Support and the 2025-2026 ESA Parent Handbook, which ADE still linked as its current handbook on August 11, 2026
• That a Q1 contract can start on last year's factors and get adjusted later, up or down — the current ADE handbook
• That TBI is not funded on its own and must be recorded with another funded disability to generate an add-on — ADE special education add-on guidance
• The five preschool disability categories — A.R.S. § 15-771
• Our formula against ADE's own published chart, in four places, within one dollar (see the audit below)

What we cannot verify, for your child specifically:

• The exact support-level and Teacher Experience Index factors ADE will apply
• Your child's correct code — we can't see the document
• Whether a 504 plan contains another funded category ADE will use
• Your final contract amount
• Whether ADE will ask you for more paperwork
• The day a new ClassWallet account will be ready to spend

We'd rather tell you that up front than hand you a fake-precise number.

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What is the Arizona ESA award amount for 2026-27?

For 2026-27, the standard Arizona ESA award is about $4,910 for kindergarten, $7,862 for grades 1–3, $7,393 for grades 4–8, and $8,233 for grades 9–12, before any funded disability adjustment. An Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) is an Arizona program that puts 90% of the state amount calculated for the child under the charter-school funding formula into an account used for approved education costs. Because it's a formula, two kids in the same grade can get different amounts.

Let's clear up the confusion first, because it's not your fault.

Arizona doesn't set one flat ESA amount. It publishes a formula and an approximate range. The formula takes your child's grade, the funded category on the paperwork, and a few factors tied to the expected district or charter record, and spits out a number. Then the state pays you 90% of it.

That's why one site tells you $7,000, another says $7,000 to $10,000, and a third says up to $40,000. Those numbers can describe different rows, factors, or years. They're all useless for making a budget until you know which row is yours.

What changed from last year

The FY2027 base level and charter additional assistance rose 2%. Here's what that did to the standard-factor estimate:

Those are our calculations from the state's published inputs, not a promise that every contract rises by that exact amount.

Why grades 1–3 pay more than grades 4–8

This one surprises most parents. A third grader's standard award is $469 higher than a fifth grader's.

It's not a mistake. Arizona's formula adds a 0.060 K–3 weight and a separate 0.040 K–3 reading weight. Together they add 0.100 through third grade. Your third grader carries a little more funding than your fourth grader. Then it drops.

Why high school pays the most

Grades 9–12 get a bigger standard support weight and bigger charter additional assistance. The standard 9–12 award runs $840 above grades 4–8.

What real awards looked like in the latest full state report

ADE's FY2026 Quarter 3 report covered 102,891 students. It showed:

• 55,583 awards from $7,000 to $7,999
• 21,717 awards from $8,000 to $8,999
• 77,300 total, or 75.1%, between $7,000 and $8,999
• 11,217, or 10.9%, at $30,000 or more

That is the cleanest answer to the wide ranges online. Three out of four awards were between $7,000 and $9,000. The very large disability awards are real, but they are not the typical result.

Plan from your row, not from the midpoint of a statewide range.

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How much does Arizona ESA pay by grade and disability?

A funded disability code can raise a 2026-27 Arizona ESA award from about $7,400 to as much as $45,536, depending on the exact code and the child's grade. The amount depends on the funding weight Arizona law assigns that category, not on a diagnosis by itself or on how severe the disability feels. Kindergarten amounts are lower because Arizona applies a 0.5 multiplier to the weighted part of the formula.

Here it is. Every school-age category, every grade band, for 2026-27. We built it from the statute and the state's June 2026 funding factors.

The full 2026-27 grade and disability table

Planning estimates calculated by The School Choice Index from published FY2027 state inputs. These are not ADE award notices. Your contract controls. Assumes the standard support weight, Teacher Experience Index 1.00, no ELL, gifted, or FRPL add-on, and full-year Q1 enrollment.

There is no middle. There are three tiers.

Stare at the grades 4–8 column for a second and you'll see something the ranges hide. The categories don't slide up gradually. They clump:

• Tier 1 — $7,393: no funded code
• Tier 2 — $8,763: DD, ED, MiID, SLD, SLI, or OHI
• Tier 3 — $22,216 to $44,696: the higher-weight categories

There is nothing between $8,763 and $22,216 in that grade band. Nothing. It's a cliff, not a ramp.

Which means the practical stakes are enormous. In grades 4–8, the gap between SLD and A-R is $26,906 a year. Same grade. Same state. Same year. Different funded category on the official record.

Stretch that across a school career and it gets hard to look at. At today's frozen rates, a child with no funded code would draw about $98,000 from kindergarten through 12th grade. A child with an A-R code would draw about $452,000. A difference of roughly $353,000. Actual rates will change, but the size of the gap is real.

We're not saying that's right or wrong. We're saying it's the arithmetic, and you deserve to see it before you plan your year around a guess.

→ Not sure which row is yours? Find your child's category code on the paperwork — it takes about two minutes with the document in front of you.

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Does having an IEP automatically mean more ESA money?

No. Six Arizona disability categories — developmental delay, emotional disability, mild intellectual disability, specific learning disability, speech/language impairment, and other health impairment — all share the same funding weight of 0.292. In grades 4–8 for 2026-27, that adds about $1,371 a year over the no-disability award, or roughly $114 a month. Larger amounts require a category with a higher statutory weight.

Here's the honest part, and we'd rather you hear it from us than find out after you build a budget.

If your child has dyslexia, ADHD, a speech delay, or a mild learning disability, you may have read that an IEP "unlocks" big ESA money. For those categories, it doesn't. The disability adds $1,371 a year. That's $343 a quarter. About $114 a month.

For a kindergartner in one of those categories, it's half that — about $685 for the year — because of the kindergarten multiplier.

We know that's deflating. A lot of pages skip past it because it's not a fun sentence to write. But if you're about to pay for a private evaluation only because you expect a $20,000 award, you should know that for these six categories, the money isn't there.

Now the part that actually matters.

The Arizona ESA does not pay a big premium for these learning and attention categories. If a large dollar award is the only reason you're considering ESA for a child with dyslexia or ADHD, you'll be disappointed, and a public school with a strong reading or support program may serve you better.

But a qualifying disability route can change what the account is allowed to buy. And that's where the disability designation earns its keep.

Under A.R.S. § 15-2402(B)(4)(c), a student who qualifies through one of the listed disability routes can spend ESA funds on things universal eligibility alone does not unlock:

• Educational therapies from a licensed or accredited practitioner or provider
• A licensed or accredited paraprofessional or educational aide
• Tuition for vocational and life-skills education approved by ADE
• Approved educational or psychological evaluations, assistive-technology rentals, braille translation, and associated goods and services

So the honest framing is this: for these six categories, the disability code is not a giant raise. It's a key. It changes what you're allowed to buy more than it changes how much you get.

→ See what Arizona ESA funds can be used for and how to pay through ClassWallet.

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Which disability category should you choose in the calculator?

Use the exact primary eligibility or need code on the child's current Arizona public-school document or accepted independent evaluation when one is provided. Do not choose a category based on a diagnosis, or on how much support the child needs. When the code ends in "-R" or "-SC," keep that ending, because Arizona law assigns those endings different funding weights. A 504 plan can support ESA eligibility, but “504” is not a separate disability weight in A.R.S. § 15-943.

This is where people get the wrong number. Not the math. The code.

A diagnosis is a medical thing. A funding category is a record thing. They overlap, but they are not the same, and the calculator needs the category ADE can use.

Where to find it on the document

Open the most recent evaluation, IEP, MET report, or 504 plan and look for one of these labels:

• "Primary category of eligibility"
• "Eligibility category"
• "Need code"
• "School-age eligibility"

You're looking for a short code, sometimes with a dash. Copy it exactly. If it says A-SC, that's not the same input as A-R.

A 504 plan may not use an IDEA category at all. If it only says 504 and gives no funded category, choose 504 plan only. The calculator will use the standard-factor estimate and flag the limit.

If there's no funded code anywhere on the document, use no funded disability category and let the contract tell you the rest.

The code glossary

Resource versus self-contained — and a genuine surprise

For autism, multiple disabilities, severe intellectual disability, and orthopedic impairment, Arizona law has two weights: one for resource placement, one for self-contained.

Most people assume self-contained always pays more, because it means more restrictive support. That assumption is wrong in one direction and very right in the other:

Same statute. Same year. Opposite direction.

For an autistic child, the placement line barely moves the money. For a child with an orthopedic impairment, that one line is worth nearly seventeen thousand dollars a year. If the record says OI, go look at the document right now and confirm which ending it says.

And do not pick self-contained in the calculator just because the number is bigger. Pick what the record says. ADE calculates from the record, not from what you selected on our site.

If you honestly can't tell, choose "not sure" and we'll show you both figures so you can plan with the lower one and be pleasantly surprised.

Why we don't let you add ELL, gifted, or free-lunch weights in the standard flow

Arizona's formula does include weights for English learners, gifted students, and students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. We left them out of the standard calculator on purpose. An online tool cannot safely tell whether ADE will apply them from a diagnosis, a lunch form, or a parent guess, and we're not going to hand you a bigger number we can't stand behind. The advanced fields accept an exact factor only when an official record supports it. We'd rather miss low.

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Does autism, ADHD, dyslexia, a 504 plan, or TBI change the amount?

These five are not interchangeable. Autism uses the A-R or A-SC weight and pays about $35,500 to $36,509 in grades 1–12 for 2026-27. ADHD adds the OHI weight only if the accepted record lists OHI. Dyslexia adds the SLD weight only if the record lists SLD. A 504 plan can support eligibility but has no separate statutory funding weight of its own. TBI is not funded as a standalone category and must be paired with another funded disability to generate an add-on.

Let's take them one at a time, because these are the five searches that bring people here.

How much is Arizona ESA for autism?

Autism sits in the top tier. In grades 1–12 it runs roughly $35,500 to $36,509 for 2026-27, which is close to five times the no-disability award.

Note the kindergarten row. An autistic kindergartner draws about $19,048 — a little over half of what the same child gets in first grade, because of the 0.5 multiplier. That is a $17,091 funding difference. It is a budgeting fact, not a reason to change a child's grade placement.

How much is Arizona ESA for ADHD?

ADHD is not a funding category in Arizona's statute. There's no row for it.

A child with ADHD may be identified under OHI — other health impairment — or under another category after the required educational evaluation. If OHI is on the accepted record, the calculator uses the 0.292 weight, which lands you at $8,763 in grades 4–8.

If OHI is not on the record, don't select it. A medical diagnosis by itself is not the same as the funded category ADE uses, and picking OHI in our tool won't make ADE pay it.

How much is Arizona ESA for dyslexia?

Same structure. Dyslexia isn't its own row. It may be documented under SLD — specific learning disability — which carries the same 0.292 weight. In grades 4–8 that's $8,763.

Dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia do not create separate statutory rows. If you came here hoping dyslexia unlocked a five-figure award by itself, we're sorry. It doesn't, and we said so plainly in the section above.

Does a 504 plan increase the Arizona ESA award?

This one needs care, so here's the honest version.

ADE accepts a current 504 plan from an Arizona public school as documentation for the disability eligibility route. That's on ADE's own eligibility page and in A.R.S. § 15-2401.

But Arizona's funding-weight table in § 15-943 has no row for “504.” There's no 504 weight to apply. ADE's own 2025-26 chart lists the same low-end figure for a 504 plan and no disability: $7,105.

So our calculator treats 504 plan only as the standard-factor estimate — no added disability weight — and flags it. If your 504 references a specific funded category, use that category instead. And if your contract comes back higher than our estimate, that's ADE applying something we couldn't see. We'd rather under-promise here.

How much is Arizona ESA for TBI?

Traumatic brain injury is one of Arizona's recognized disability categories. But for state funding purposes, TBI is not funded on its own. ADE's special education add-on guidance says TBI must be recorded with another disability to generate an add-on weight.

This trips people up badly. If you select TBI expecting a top-tier award, you'll budget for money that isn't coming. Our calculator shows a warning and asks for the accompanying category. If there isn't one, it gives you the standard-factor estimate with a warning.

Can preschool children get ESA money?

Yes, but only with a disability, and only in five categories. Arizona's preschool statute (A.R.S. § 15-771) covers hearing impairment, visual impairment, developmental delay, preschool severe delay, and speech/language impairment. That's the whole list.

The DD and SLI rows are easy to overstate. Arizona gives school-age DD and SLI the 0.292 weight, but A.R.S. § 15-901 says preschool DD and preschool SLI do not receive that add-on. Their standard estimate is therefore $5,360, not $6,046.

Autism is not on this list for preschool funding purposes. Neither is OHI or SLD. Our calculator hides those options when you select preschool, so you can't accidentally build a budget on a number that doesn't exist.

Per ADE, a preschool applicant generally needs to be at least three years old and not yet kindergarten age, with a narrow exception for children within 90 days of turning three. Preschool disability applicants also skip the 45-day public-school enrollment requirement.

→ See which documents ADE accepts for the disability route — the official list, straight from the state, including what they won't accept.

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Why does my ADE contract show a different number than this?

A signed ESA contract can differ from any published chart for four reasons: Q1 contracts may begin with prior-year factors and adjust later, ADE may apply support-level or Teacher Experience Index factors this general calculator does not know, a copied chart may use a different year's inputs, and ADE's internal rounding may differ slightly.

If your contract number doesn't match a chart you found, you're not being cheated and you didn't do anything wrong. Here's what's actually happening.

Reason 1: Your Q1 contract can start on last year's numbers

This is the big one.

Arizona's ESA Parent Handbook says it directly: when parents sign contracts before the second quarter of the fiscal year — meaning July, August, or September — the contract reflects prior-year funding factors, because current-year factors aren't final until after the first quarter has begun.

So if you sign in August 2026, your contract may first look more like a 2025-26 calculation. Then it can get adjusted.

Here's the standard-factor gap in grades 4–8. This is not a promised contract or promised true-up. It is what happens when we hold the assumptions still and swap FY2026 inputs for FY2027 inputs:

One warning, because we're not going to sugarcoat it: the handbook says the adjustment can go up or down. The published FY2027 base inputs are 2% higher, so this standard comparison points up. Your actual factors can still make your contract move differently. Don't spend the adjustment before you see it.

Reason 2: The chart you found may use older inputs

Want proof that the prior-year-factor rule shows up in the public numbers? Look at the state's own chart.

ADE publishes an “Approximate Annual ESA Funding” chart. The current one is labeled 2025-2026. When we ran the formula with FY2025 inputs, we reproduced four low-end figures on that chart within one dollar — including $7,105 and $4,718.

That is consistent with the handbook's prior-year-factor rule. It also means a copied chart can describe the number a Q1 contract started from without describing the current FY2027 standard-factor estimate.

That's one reason this page exists.

Reason 3: Factors tied to your child's school

Arizona law says the ESA is calculated under the charter-school formula using the expected district of attendance. ADE's own chart footnote says funding depends on disability category, grade level, and the district or charter of attendance.

That last part is why the state publishes a range instead of one number. Smaller schools carry higher support weights in Arizona's formula, which lifts the award.

Two things to take from that:

Your city name is not a direct funding input. There's no line in the formula labeled Phoenix, Tucson, or Scottsdale. The district or charter factors tied to the record are what matter.

Plan from the standard estimate unless you have the exact factor. ADE's published range for grades 1–12 with no disability is $7,105 to $10,540. The low end is what the standard formula produces, while the high end reflects support-level and Teacher Experience Index factors this page cannot infer. In the latest full quarterly report, 75.1% of all awards were between $7,000 and $8,999.

Reason 4: Rounding

Our audit lands within a dollar of ADE's published figures — off by 64 cents here, 95 cents there. We're not going to pretend to reproduce the state's internal rounding exactly. If your contract is a dollar off from us, rounding is the likely reason.

→ Check the exact documents and steps ADE requires before you challenge a contract line.

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How is the Arizona ESA award actually calculated?

Arizona law sets the ESA at 90% of the state base-support and charter-additional-assistance calculation for that student. The calculation combines the support, K–3, disability, and other applicable weights, multiplies the weighted part by the base level and Teacher Experience Index, applies the preschool or kindergarten 0.5 multiplier when needed, adds charter additional assistance, and then takes 90%. For 2026-27 the base level is $5,215.53 and charter additional assistance is $2,174.54 for preschool through grade 8 and $2,534.38 for grades 9–12.

Here's the formula. It's less scary than it looks.

Estimated award = 0.90 × [
  ((support weight + K–3 weights + disability weight + other applicable weights)
   × base level
   × Teacher Experience Index
   × preschool/kindergarten multiplier)
  + charter additional assistance
]

The pieces for 2026-27:

Worked example: a fifth grader with no disability code

1. Weights: 1.158
2. Times the base level: 1.158 × $5,215.53 = $6,039.58
3. Times the grade multiplier (1.0 for grades 1–12): $6,039.58
4. Plus additional assistance: $6,039.58 + $2,174.54 = $8,214.12
5. Times 90%: $7,392.71

That's your $7,393.

Worked example: an autistic first grader, A-R on the record

1. Weights: 1.158 support + 0.060 K–3 + 0.040 K–3 reading + 6.024 for A-R = 7.282
2. Times the base level: 7.282 × $5,215.53 = $37,979.47
3. Times the grade multiplier: $37,979.47
4. Plus additional assistance: $40,154.01
5. Times 90%: $36,138.61

That's the $36,139 in the table.

Worked example: a preschool child with DD

This is where a normal copy-and-paste formula fails.

1. Preschool support weight: 1.450
2. Do not add 0.292. A.R.S. § 15-901 blocks that add-on for preschool DD.
3. Multiply by the base level and 0.5: 1.450 × $5,215.53 × 0.5 = $3,781.26
4. Add charter additional assistance: $3,781.26 + $2,174.54 = $5,955.80
5. Take 90%: $5,360.22

That's the corrected $5,360 preschool DD estimate.

The audit — how you know we didn't make this up

This is the part we'd want to see if we were you.

We ran the same method using FY2025 inputs and compared our output to figures ADE published itself. Four checks, four matches:

Four independent hits, all inside a dollar. That's the formula.

And it means the 2026-27 numbers on this page were produced by a method that already matched the state's own published output. When ADE posts its 2026-27 chart, we'll compare ours against it and publish any difference in the change log below — including if we were wrong.

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How much will I get if my ESA starts in Q2, Q3, or after March 31?

Arizona accepts ESA applications year-round, but a new applicant cannot be enrolled from April 1 through June 30. Q1 usually gives four quarterly installments, Q2 gives three, and Q3 gives two. If ADE has not enrolled the child by March 31, 2027, the FY2027 result is $0. An application completed April 1 through June 30, 2027 must start on or after July 1, 2027.

There's no single once-a-year application deadline to panic about. Arizona takes applications all year. That's genuinely good news and we're not going to invent urgency where none exists.

But there is a date that costs the whole remaining fiscal year: March 31. Here's exactly how much timing changes the result.

Arizona's ESA quarters and new-application effect

What's left, by start period

ADE's public support FAQ still shows a generic Q4 line, and the current handbook gives existing accounts an April funding window. Current A.R.S. § 15-2403(H) controls new enrollment: ADE may not enroll a new applicant from April 1 through June 30. Existing accounts can still receive their Q4 installment.

The disability categories prorate the same way. An autistic fourth grader starting in Q3 is looking at roughly half of $35,669 — about $17,835 — for FY2027, not the full amount.

That's the real cost of waiting. Not fake urgency. Fewer deposits — and after March 31, no new enrollment until July 1.

The money doesn't land the day a quarter opens

Two things to plan around.

First, ADE says a completed application is processed within 30 days. Start there, not at the day you want money.

Second, the current handbook lists these funding windows:

ADE's support page says an existing account may take another 5–7 business days after the funding request to reflect the money. A brand-new ClassWallet account takes about 3–5 weeks to create and fund under the handbook.

If tuition is due before that window, build in cushion. Do not promise a school money that is not visible in ClassWallet yet.

→ Know your likely start period? Use the calculator at the top to see the amount left in FY2027, not just the annual figure.

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Why is kindergarten lower, and what about preschool?

Kindergarten ESA awards are lower because Arizona applies a 0.5 grade multiplier to preschool and kindergarten students, while grades 1 through 12 use 1.0. For 2026-27 the standard kindergarten award is about $4,910 compared with $7,862 for grades 1–3. The multiplier applies to the weighted portion of the formula, not to the additional assistance, so kindergarten is more than half of a first grader's award.

Parents see $4,910 next to $7,862 and assume something's broken. It isn't.

Arizona funds kindergarten at half weight in its main school formula. The ESA inherits that. But — and this is the nice surprise — the halving doesn't apply to the whole award. Additional assistance comes in at full value.

Run it:

• First grader: (1.258 × $5,215.53 × 1.0) + $2,174.54 = $8,735.67 → × 90% = $7,862
• Kindergartner: (1.258 × $5,215.53 × 0.5) + $2,174.54 = $5,455.11 → × 90% = $4,910

So a kindergartner gets 62% of a first grader's award, not 50%. That's about $979 more than a simple half-of-first-grade guess.

The kindergarten disability rule that matters most

Here's the one that changes real budgets. The half multiplier applies to disability categories too.

An autistic first grader with A-R: $36,139. The same child in kindergarten: $19,048.

That's a $17,091 difference for one year.

We're not telling you to hold your five-year-old back — that's a decision about your child, not a spreadsheet. Grade placement is a child decision, not a spreadsheet decision. But if you're comparing costs across the kindergarten and first-grade years, you should be looking at that number with your eyes open before you sign a tuition contract.

Preschool is a separate program with a shorter list

Preschool ESA is disability-only, and only five categories are funded (see the preschool table above). Three other rules matter: preschool students skip the 45-day public-school enrollment requirement, P-SD — preschool severe delay — cannot remain the K–12 disability classification once your child reaches kindergarten age, and preschool DD and SLI do not receive the 0.292 add-on. Their standard FY2027 estimate is $5,360.

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Can my child's ESA award go down?

Yes. If a re-evaluation changes the child's primary eligibility category, ADE issues a new contract based on the new category, and the ESA Parent Handbook warns the amount may be reduced as well as increased. Two categories expire by rule: preschool severe delay cannot be the primary category from kindergarten onward, and developmental delay ends at age 10.

Nobody warns parents about this, and it can be one of the most expensive surprises in the program.

Three ways an award drops:

1. A re-evaluation moves the code. You request an updated evaluation, the team lands on a different primary category, and the new category has a lower weight. New contract, smaller number. The handbook says this out loud.

2. Developmental delay expires at age 10. DD applies from age 3 through age 9. When it ends, if no other qualifying category is established, funding drops toward the base amount. That's a fall from $8,763 to $7,393 in grades 4–8.

3. Preschool severe delay ends at kindergarten. P-SD pays $13,798 in preschool. It cannot remain the K–12 disability classification once your child hits kindergarten age. Without a new K–12 disability classification, that child drops to the base kindergarten award of $4,910 — an $8,888 cliff in one year.

Do not skip a needed evaluation to protect an award. The child's services come first. But before you commit tuition, therapy, or staffing around the current number, ask how a category change will affect the new contract. You cannot build a safe budget from the old row after the record changes.

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Is there an income limit, and could the November 2026 ballot change the program?

There is no income limit under the Arizona ESA law in force on August 11, 2026. Universal eligibility covers Arizona residents eligible for kindergarten through grade 12. Preschool is disability-only and requires eligibility for an Arizona public preschool program for children with disabilities. Proposition 212 would add a $150,000 family-income limit with listed exceptions if voters enact it. Proposition 145 was written to nullify Proposition 212 and protect certain military-family scholarship funds, but a trial court enjoined Prop 145 from the ballot. The latest docket available on August 11 was dated August 10 and listed the appeal as pending. Neither measure is law today, and neither changes this calculator's FY2027 inputs today.

Let's kill the income myth first, because it's the most repeated wrong claim about this program.

No income cap. None. A family earning $250,000 is not barred by an income test that a family earning $40,000 passes. There's no lottery and no statutory waitlist either. If you read a forum post about an Arizona income cutoff, it's either describing a different state or pre-2022 Arizona rules.

As of August 10, 2026, ADE reports 102,098 students enrolled for 2026-27, with the department's own caveat that the count won't be stable until September and that about 7,000 renewal-eligible students hadn't finished renewing yet.

Proposition 212

The Arizona Secretary of State's final ballot language says Prop 212 would:

• Limit ESA eligibility to families making $150,000 or less per year, adjusted for inflation, with exceptions for students with disabilities and others
• Add spending limits and restrictions
• Require tutors paid with ESA money to have a high-school diploma and fingerprint-clearance card
• Require schools receiving ESA funds to be accredited or administer state standardized tests, unless they serve only students with disabilities
• Generally return certain unused funds after July 1

Those rules are proposed, not current law.

Proposition 145 and the court case

The Secretary of State's final language says Prop 145 would nullify Prop 212 if both passed, protect certain scholarship funds tied to active-duty military service, and nullify conflicting laws.

On July 28, 2026, the Maricopa County Superior Court ruled that HCR 2048, the measure behind Prop 145, violated Arizona's separate-amendment rule and enjoined the state from placing it on the ballot. Legislative and individual intervenors appealed. The docket available on August 11 was dated August 10 and listed the expedited appeal as pending; reply briefs were due August 11.

We're not going to tell you how to vote. The practical answer for this calculator is simpler: use the law and FY2027 inputs in force today. Recheck this section after the court rules and after the November 3, 2026 election before making a future-year plan.

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What to do after you calculate your Arizona ESA award

After running an estimate, save it, confirm the child's exact category on the current record, gather the birth certificate and Arizona residency proof, then apply through ADE if the program fits. Applications for 2026-27 are open now, and ADE says a completed application is processed within 30 days. Compare the estimate to the contract amount before committing to tuition or services.

Five steps, in order.

1. Save your estimate. Print it or copy it. You want the number and the assumptions in writing so you can hold your contract up against it later.

2. Confirm the code. Pull the most recent IEP, MET report, evaluation, or 504 plan and find the primary eligibility category if one is listed. If it's A, MD, SID, or OI, check whether it says -R or -SC. This one step is worth more than everything else on this page.

3. Gather documents. At minimum: your child's birth certificate in full color and proof of Arizona residency in your name. For the disability route, ADE accepts a current IEP, MET/evaluation report, or 504 plan from an Arizona public school. ADE will not accept a private school's service plan or private-school evaluation. An educational evaluation from a qualified examiner — a licensed physician, psychologist, or psychiatrist — may be accepted under ADE's rules. Check ADE's live list before you submit.

4. Know the 45-day rule if you're using the disability route. For grades 1–12, ADE generally requires 45 days of full-time Arizona public-school enrollment in the current or prior school year before the disability-route application. ADE lists two clean no-prior-attendance exemptions on that route: a child newly eligible for kindergarten and a child newly eligible for first grade. A separate 90-day rule can apply to the Disabled/Displaced tuition-tax-credit scholarship path. Military, ward, sibling, reservation, prior-ESA, and other statutory routes have their own rules; do not treat them as disability-route exemptions without checking the exact route.

5. Compare, then commit. When your contract arrives, put it next to your estimate and check five things: grade band, category code, annual amount, whether it looks like the prior-year or current-year figure, and the quarterly amount. If something's off by more than a few dollars, you now have the statute and the arithmetic to ask ADE one specific question instead of a vague one.

One reader we'd rather send elsewhere

If you want your child to stay enrolled full-time in a district, charter, or public online school, the ESA is not for you — and we'd rather say that than take your click. Charter schools are public schools. Arizona law generally bars a student from receiving ESA money while enrolled in a district or charter school.

An ESA can pay for private school, education at home, tutoring, curriculum, and other approved costs. It is not the same path as staying enrolled in a public charter. If public options are what you want, start with our Arizona school-choice overview instead.

And if you need a guaranteed number before you commit to anything — we get it, but no calculator can give you that. Wait for the contract.

→ Open the official 2026-27 Arizona ESA application — this goes straight to the Arizona Department of Education, not to us.

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How we built this, and what we could not verify

The School Choice Index is an independent comparison and research resource for U.S. school-choice programs. We don't get paid by the state, and no school pays to appear in this calculator, table, or article.

How the numbers were produced. We took the 90% ESA rule from A.R.S. § 15-2402, pulled the 2026-27 base level and charter additional assistance from ADE's own School Finance update published June 12, 2026, pulled every grade and disability weight from A.R.S. § 15-943, and applied the preschool and kindergarten 0.5 rule from A.R.S. § 15-901. We also applied § 15-901's special rule that blocks the 0.292 add-on for preschool DD and SLI. Then we validated the method by running it against ADE's own published chart from a prior year and matching four separate figures within a dollar.

What we deliberately left out of the standard result. ELL, gifted, and FRPL weights; a district-specific support-level factor; and a Teacher Experience Index above 1.00. Those can matter, but a parent-facing calculator cannot safely infer them from a diagnosis or address alone. The advanced fields accept them only when the user has an official factor.

Where we could be wrong. ADE may use a factor or record we cannot see. If ADE's 2026-27 chart, once posted, differs from our table, ADE is right and we'll update and log it. If your contract differs from our estimate, your contract is right. We're the arithmetic; ADE is the authority.

Commercial disclosure. Some schools elsewhere on this site may pay a flat monthly fee for parent-selected introductions. Schools do not pay per lead or per enrollment. Payment does not affect editorial coverage, verification, rankings, badges, placement, or result order. No school pays to appear in this calculator or article.

Found something that changed? Send us the ADE page, statute, or court record and we'll check the input, update the calculator, and record it below. We won't quietly change a number.

Change log

• August 11, 2026 — Formula version AZ-FY2027-v1.1. First public production version. Built on the enacted base level of $5,215.53 and charter additional assistance of $2,174.54 / $2,534.38. Includes the March 31 new-enrollment cutoff, the no-add-on rule for preschool DD and SLI, 504 and TBI handling, corrected Q1 comparison math, and the live Prop 145 court status. Validated against ADE's published prior-year chart at four points.

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Frequently asked questions

Is this the amount ADE will put in my contract? No. It's a planning estimate built from published state inputs and your answers. ADE determines the official amount and your signed contract controls.

What's the standard Arizona ESA amount for 2026-27? About $4,910 for kindergarten, $7,862 for grades 1–3, $7,393 for grades 4–8, and $8,233 for grades 9–12, before any funded disability adjustment.

How much does Arizona ESA pay for autism in 2026-27? About $19,048 for kindergarten and $35,500 to $36,509 for grades 1 through 12, depending on grade and whether the document says A-R or A-SC.

Does an IEP automatically get me more money? No. The category on the accepted record controls. DD, ED, MiID, SLD, SLI, and OHI share a 0.292 weight worth about $1,371 a year over the base award in grades 4–8. Higher amounts require a category with a higher statutory weight.

Does a 504 plan increase the award? A current 504 plan from an Arizona public school can support disability-route eligibility, but Arizona's funding-weight table has no separate 504 row. We show a standard-factor estimate for 504-only cases and flag it.

Does ADHD get the OHI amount automatically? No. Select OHI only if OHI appears on the current eligibility document. A diagnosis alone isn't a funding code.

Does dyslexia get more ESA money? Only if the document lists SLD, which carries the 0.292 weight — about $8,763 in grades 4–8. Dyslexia is not its own funding row.

Does TBI increase the award? Not by itself. ADE's guidance says traumatic brain injury must be recorded with another disability to generate a funding add-on.

How much does preschool DD or SLI receive? About $5,360 under the standard FY2027 assumptions. Arizona law blocks the 0.292 add-on for preschool DD and preschool SLI.

Why is kindergarten lower than first grade? Arizona applies a 0.5 grade multiplier to preschool and kindergarten. Because the multiplier hits only the weighted portion and not additional assistance, kindergarten lands at about 62% of a first grader's award.

Are Arizona ESA payments monthly or quarterly? Quarterly. The annual award is divided into four installments.

Is there an application deadline? Arizona accepts applications year-round. But ADE may not enroll a new applicant from April 1 through June 30. If the child is not enrolled by March 31, 2027, FY2027 funding is $0 and the earliest enrollment is July 1, 2027.

Is there an income limit on the Arizona ESA? Not under the law in force on August 11, 2026. Prop 212 proposes one, but it is not current law.

Why did my Q1 contract show an older amount? The ESA Parent Handbook says contracts signed before the second quarter reflect prior-year funding factors until current-year factors are final. An adjustment follows, and the handbook notes it can be up or down.

Can my child stay in a charter or public online school on an ESA? Generally, no. Charter and public online schools are public schools, and concurrent public-school enrollment is generally an ESA contract violation.

Do my two children get different amounts? Often, yes — and it's normal. Grade band and category code are the two drivers. A third grader and a sixth grader with identical paperwork will differ by $469.

Why do other sites show a wider range like $7,105 to $10,540? That range is from ADE's 2025-26 chart, which reflects factors tied to the district or charter record. The low end is what the standard formula produces. This page applies the published FY2027 inputs.

Will this page update when ADE posts a 2026-27 chart? Yes, after we compare it to our formula and review any differences. Every change gets a dated entry in the change log above.

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Sources

• A.R.S. § 15-2401 — disability routes, 504 eligibility, and public-school attendance routes
• A.R.S. § 15-2401.01 — universal eligibility
• A.R.S. § 15-2402 — 90% formula, public-school enrollment restriction, and allowed expenses
• A.R.S. § 15-2403 — quarterly transfers, applications, 30-day award letters, and the April 1–June 30 enrollment restriction
• A.R.S. § 15-943 — support, K–3, disability, ELL, gifted, and FRPL weights; Teacher Experience Index rule
• A.R.S. § 15-901 — preschool and kindergarten 0.5 count; preschool DD and SLI no-add-on rule
• A.R.S. § 15-771 — five preschool funding categories and age rule
• ADE FY2027 School Finance Fiscal Operations Updates — FY2027 base level and charter additional assistance, posted June 12, 2026
• ADE ESA Eligibility Requirements and Application — current application, documents, preschool rule, 45-day rule, and 30-day processing
• ADE ESA Support — quarter labels, existing-account funding timing, ClassWallet setup, and current program support
• ADE ESA program page — 2026-27 application and enrollment count as of August 10, 2026
• ESA Parent Handbook 2025-2026 — prior-year factors, adjustment language, funding windows, reevaluation effects, and ClassWallet setup
• ADE Approximate Annual ESA Funding chart, 2025-2026 — official ranges and the four published figures used in the formula audit
• ADE FY2026 Quarter 3 ESA Report — actual award distribution across 102,891 students
• ADE Special Education Add-On Weights guidance — disability-weight list and TBI treatment
• Arizona Secretary of State 2026 Final Ballot Language — official descriptions of Propositions 145 and 212
• Arizona Supreme Court docket, CV-26-0247-AP/EL — expedited Prop 145 appeal status
• Superior Court ruling included in the Arizona Supreme Court appellate record — July 28, 2026 injunction ruling

Related guides: How to use ClassWallet for Arizona ESA · Arizona school-choice program overview · What ESA funds can be used for