Are Arizona families satisfied with education savings accounts?

ARIZONA EDUCATION SAVINGS ACCOUNTS Who Uses Them What They Think #ParentOpinions ANATOMY OF ESA FAMILIES ELIGIBLE → Students with disabilities → Students in foster care 220,000 eligible for ESAS in 2013/ 1,096,040 total student population in Arizona? = 20% of alI Arizona students? → Students in military families → Students in schools graded D or F → Must have attended public school for at least 100 days with exception of kindergartners STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES13 3.6% of all Arizona children live with disabilities 100%) of parents surveyed used ESAS for children with disabilities HOME CENSUS' 18% use ESAS for more than one of their children 82% use an ESA for only one child 72% are families with multiple children living at home 28% are single-child families Most ESA families have multiple children, but the majority only use an ESA for one of their children. It is possible that public schooling works well for all but one of their kids. TAKEAWAY GENDER12 49% of AZ students are girls of AZ students are boys 51% 30% of ESA users are girls 32.5% of children with disabilities are girls 70% of ESA users are boys 67.5% of children with disabilities are boys ETHNICITY12 ESA Students All AZ Students 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 12% Hispanic 43% 76% White 41% Multiracial/ 3% Non-Hispanic 1.9% African 1.5% American GEOGRAPHY 5.2% 85% live in Maricopa Co. 5% live in Yavapai Co.- Native American/ Non-Hispanic 1.5% 4.9% 3% live in La Paz Co.- 3% live in Pima Co. Asian/ 0% 2% live in Coconino Co. Non-Hispanic 2.8% Pacific 0% Islander/ 0.2% HOUSEHOLD INCOMEA Non-Hispanic 6% Other 1% Compare to Arizona's median household income: $50,752 - 39% make $71,000 or more 19% make between $57K - $71K Compare to median household income of 8% make between $42K - $57K 19% make between $28K - $42K Arizonans below poverty line: about $12,500 - 15% make $28K or less – compared to the roughly 13.3% of Arizonans who fall below the poverty line ($23,550 for a family of four) PSYCHOLOGY OF AN ESA FAMILY Are ESAS easy to apply for?! Parents: Satisfaction with Former Public School vs. Satisfaction with ESAS' YES 18% 89% NO 100% 75% 50% 25% 43% |SATISFIED 8% NEUTRAL How much of your personal funds did you spend after ESA funds?' 49% DISSATISFIED Vs. SATISFIED WITH ESA 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 100% $0 | 24% Parents who were unhappy TAKEAWAY with their child's public school now are happy with the choices ESAS allow them. $1-$1K 49% $1K-$10K 22% Parents who were happy with their child's public school are happy also with the choices ESAS allow them. $10K+ TAKEAWAY How parents spend ESA funds and the top P0O® ways they would spend extra funds if they had them.' (respondents could select multiple choices) 65% private school tuition/fees 3 35% wish they had more 0% public school classes 3% college savings 4 30% wish they had more 41% education therapy O 70% wish they had more 14% online classes 17% textbooks 19.5% other - 33% tutoring 2 59% wish they had more 33% homeschool curriculum- Only 33% of people in $28K or less income bracket were able to use funds on education therapy, but 100% of them would purchase more if they had more funds. Expense of education therapy is likely out-of-reach for most of the lowest-income families at the current ESA funding level. TAKEAWAY SOURCES 1. http://www.edchoice.org/SchoolingSatisfaction 2. http://www.azed.gov/research-evaluation/arizona-enrllment-figures/ 2012-2013 October 1 Enrollment, XLS file name: 2013octenrfinal.xls 3. http://www.census.gov/...used the fact finder to find: U.S. Census Bureau, 2012 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, PDF file name ACS_12_1YR_S0201.pdf 4. Estimate based on author's calculations f facebook.com/edchoice twitter.com/edchoice