Students

Students receive the greatest benefit from ESAs. Every child is different and has different learning needs. Parents and students can use an account to customize a child’s education. Students can take classes online for part of the day, work with a personal tutor in the afternoon, and participate in public school extracurricular activities after school. Children can attend private school full-time or choose to use multiple educational products and services simultaneously. One Arizona student attended a private school full-time with an account, but his parents decided he would be better served meeting with individual tutors and educational therapists—so they left the private school and used the account to pay for services à la carte. Students who struggle with certain material can use an account to find additional learning resources or instruction to help them catch up. Students can also use an account to access advanced courses or materials. These accounts are as flexible and challenging as students and parents need them to be.

Parents

The accounts give parents a new way to help their children when their district school is not a good fit for their child. Parents who cannot change their neighborhood or have no other public school option for their child have little recourse when their child falls behind in class, routinely gets picked on by other students, or simply needs learning options better matched to his needs. With an account, parents can decide immediately about where and how a child learns. Parents do not have to wait until the next school year for a different class placement or hope that school administrators will intervene—they can improve a child’s situation right away with an account.