Arkansas Education Freedom Account (EFA): The Complete Parent Guide

Quick answer

The Arkansas Education Freedom Account (EFA) is a state-funded account, created by the LEARNS Act, that any Arkansas resident K-12 student can now use for approved educational expenses — including tutoring, which is a qualifying expense in the statute itself. For the 2026-27 school year the reported award is $7,208 per student ($1,802 per quarter). Families apply through the state’s FACTS portal at arkansasefa.com and spend funds through ClassWallet.

Who is eligible

Since the 2025-26 school year, eligibility is universal: every Arkansas resident K-12 student who is eligible to enroll in a public school qualifies, with no income cap and no cap on participation. At least one parent must be an Arkansas resident, and kindergartners must turn 5 by August 1. (The program phased in over two years first — 2023-24 was limited to specific categories including students with disabilities, and 2024-25 added more categories — but that history no longer limits anyone.)

“Universal” does not mean applications are handled first-come, first-served. For 2026-27, ADE reviewed applications by priority category within each application window:

1. Returning EFA students renewing their accounts
2. Students with specialized needs — disabilities, homelessness, foster care, and former Succeed Scholarship recipients
3. Students assigned to D- or F-rated public schools
4. Children of active-duty military, law enforcement, and first responders
5. First-time kindergartners
6. All other eligible students

If your child has a disability, that tier-2 priority matters — and so does understanding what leaving the public system means for special education services. That tradeoff is covered honestly in our guide to IEPs and the EFA at private school.

Award amounts, by school year

The EFA amount is recalculated each year, so always pin a dollar figure to its school year:

Deposits are quarterly. For 2026-27, four payments run from August 2026 through April 2027. ADE has not published the exact 2026-27 deposit dates; the 2025-26 pattern was August, October, February, and April.

Rollover: unused funds carry over quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year, up to $8,500. That cap was cut from $20,000 by program rules approved in June 2026 — a meaningful change for families who had been banking large balances.

What EFA funds can pay for

The statute defines the qualifying expense categories. The ones families use most:

• Private school tuition and fees at participating schools — the largest use in practice (76% of 2024-25 accounts were private-school students)
• Tutoring — “instructional or tutoring services” is a statutory qualifying expense under Ark. Code Ann. § 6-18-2503(11)(B)(ii); the Family Handbook lists “tutoring services or academic enrichment classes from an approved tutor or learning center”
• Educational services for students with disabilities — a separate statutory category (§ 6-18-2503(11)(B)(vii)) covering services by licensed or accredited practitioners; the handbook names speech therapy, occupational therapy, behavioral therapy, and other specialized educational services by licensed providers
• Curriculum and instructional materials for homeschooling families

Every purchase must meet the program’s “ordinary and necessary” standard, and families can email [email protected] for pre-approval when unsure whether an expense qualifies. If tutoring is your use case, the step-by-step walkthrough is in how to use your EFA for tutoring.

How applying and spending work (two different systems)

Applying: families apply through the FACTS portal at arkansasefa.com — that is the state’s site. The 2026-27 application window ran March 9 – June 1, 2026, and is now closed; late applications may be waitlisted or funded mid-year, though that depends on ADE’s handling. Renewing families complete a Renewal Survey inside ClassWallet rather than re-submitting documentation. The full calendar, sub-windows, and what to expect for 2027-28 are in the renewal and deadlines guide.

Spending: once awarded, funds live in ClassWallet. Families pay approved providers directly through Direct Pay (no money out of pocket), shop the in-portal Marketplace, submit reimbursements for out-of-pocket purchases, or make tuition payments to schools. The mechanics — and the June 2026 processing-backlog context — are explained in how EFA payments work in ClassWallet.

How big the program is

• 14,256 active accounts in 2024-25 — 76% private school, 24% homeschool (ADE’s 2024-25 annual report)
• 36% of 2024-25 participants were IDEA-identified students with disabilities (same ADE report) — more than a third of the program is special-needs families
• More than 44,000 accounts reported for 2025-26, the first universal year, and 54,442 applications reported for 2026-27 (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

That 36% figure is why this site exists. A large share of EFA families are navigating dyslexia, ADHD, autism, or other learning differences at the same time they are navigating the program itself — and for those families, the special education tradeoffs deserve their own honest treatment. Start with what happens to an IEP at private school or homeschooling a child with special needs on the EFA.

Common tutoring use cases

Most families do not research the EFA in the abstract — they are trying to fund a specific kind of help. The most common support paths on this site are dyslexia tutoring, ADHD tutoring, executive function coaching, autism tutoring, and math support for dyscalculia.

If the need is narrower, there are pages for dysgraphia and written output, auditory processing, visual processing, and twice-exceptional learners. If the need is still fuzzy, parent-first pages like reading struggles and focus problems are the better starting point.

Frequently asked questions