Arkansas just tripled its voucher program: what the new state report means for Conway families

Arkansas published its annual report on the Education Freedom Account program on October 9, and it is the first one that describes a program at full size. Participation tripled. The share of students arriving from public schools doubled. Test results moved up. For a Faulkner County family deciding whether to apply next spring, the useful question is not whether the program is popular — it plainly is — but what the report says about the things you would actually be choosing.

The headline number

There were 44,524 students on an Education Freedom Account in 2025-26, against 14,256 the year before and 5,548 in the program's first year. That is a 212% jump in one year, and it is roughly 8.7% of Arkansas students. The reason is simple: 2025-26 was the first year eligibility was universal, with no income test and no requirement to have attended public school.

The average account was worth about $6,994, which the state sets at 90% of its per-student foundation funding for public schools. About $307.6 million was committed to the accounts.

Where the seats are

The report counts 157 participating private schools and 108 microschools, spread across 55 of Arkansas's 75 counties, with roughly 69% of residents living within 15 miles of a participating school. Another 156 microschools have been approved for next year.

Faulkner County is comfortably inside that radius. All five private schools in our directory take the account: Conway Christian School, St. Joseph Catholic School and Compass Academy in Conway, plus two small Christian schools in Greenbrier. In the previous year's figures, Conway Christian had 290 EFA students and St. Joseph 234 — already the dominant way families paid here before the program went universal.

The switching question

This is the finding that drew the most attention. Roughly a quarter of 2025-26 participants had switched from a public school, rising to nearly 30% in grades three through six. Coverage of the report put the figure at 25.8% of students in grades one through 12 who had attended a public school the prior year, up from about 12% the year before.

Read the other way, around three in four participants were already outside the public system or entering school for the first time. Whether that is the program working or the program subsidizing existing choices is a genuine policy argument, and the report does not settle it. For your household it mostly means you will not be unusual either way.

Almost nobody leaves

Of participating students in grades K-11, 95.8% re-enrolled for 2025-26. That is a high number, and it is the most honest signal in the report about whether families find the arrangement workable once they are in it. It is worth pairing with a reminder that re-enrolling is an active step — the account does not renew itself, and families have to renew every year for every student during the spring window.

What the test scores show, and don't

With 38,892 assessments completed, up from about 12,000, there is finally enough data to report. EFA students placed at the 62nd national percentile in math, up from the 57th, and the 66th in reading, up from the 59th. Homeschool and microschool students averaged the 65th in math and 70th in English.

The authors are careful, and so should readers be: these numbers describe who is participating, not what participation did to them. A program that just tripled in size drew a different population than the one it had the year before, and year-over-year movement can reflect that alone.

Students with disabilities

The report counts 7,254 participants with disabilities, a 41% increase, making up 16.3% of the program — slightly above their share of public school enrollment. That is relevant locally, because Compass Academy serves students with learning differences in grades one through 12 and had 105 EFA students in the prior year's figures. Families in this category should know that students who previously held a Succeed Scholarship carry a higher account amount.

What parents told the state

Among surveyed families, 73% were highly satisfied with how the department administers the program and 79% with the spending platform. Asked their primary reason for participating, 39.6% named academic opportunities. Those are self-reported from people who chose the program, so treat them as satisfaction among participants rather than as a verdict on the program.

The cost side

The report estimates the state saves between $54.1 million and $61.9 million from students who switched out of public schools, after adjusting for declining enrollment, leaving a net cost in the range of $245.7 million to $253.5 million. Both figures will be argued about at the legislature. They are in the report, which is more than could be said in prior years.

What this means for applying next spring

Three practical takeaways. First, there is no cap and no income test, so eligibility is not the hurdle — the hurdle is a seat at the school you want, and Conway's campuses are small. Second, the account for 2026-27 is $7,208, paid as $1,802 a quarter, with the second installment due at the end of October; next year's figure will be set from state funding again. Third, applications and renewals for this year closed June 1, so the next opening is the spring 2027 window.

If you are weighing it, our guide to how the EFA works walks through eligibility and spending rules, and the Conway schools page has participation and enrollment for each campus. Families looking at an online Christian option can read about American Faith Academy; confirm its current Arkansas EFA provider approval in ClassWallet before enrolling.

Sources

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