ESA Programs by State: Who Each One Lets In for 2026-27

If you are reading this in the second half of October 2026, Iowa's half-year ESA application is open and Tennessee's second-semester window closed four days ago. Montana's disability ESA lists a November 1 window, though its dated banner still says 2025. Wyoming's shut in August. "Which states have an ESA" is the wrong first question this late in the year. The useful one is narrower: which of these programs would take my child, in the setting we have actually picked, before the next deadline passes?

That question has fourteen different answers below, one per program, and they disagree on things families assume are settled — whether homeschoolers count, whether last year's school matters, whether income is a ceiling or just a place in line.

Scope: 2026-27 school year. Every row was read from the state's statute or the administering agency's own page on October 19, 2026, and the source is linked in that row's section. I am not affiliated with any program and this is not legal advice. Programs change their rules between legislative sessions, so open the linked page before you act on anything here. If you are not sure whether your state's program is an ESA, a voucher or a tax-credit scholarship, that sorting job is its own article.

The table: fourteen programs, four kinds of gate

The column that matters most is the third one. "Universal" here means the program's eligibility test has no income ceiling and no disability requirement. It does not mean everyone who applies gets money; several universal programs ran out and ranked applicants. By that test eight programs qualify, Wyoming's K–12 track among them, because Wyoming applies its income limit only to pre-K.

"Not checked" and "not on the page read" are honest blanks. I would rather leave a cell empty than fill it from a vendor blog. Where a cell is empty, the state's own handbook is the place to look.

Four states that do run ESA-type programs are missing on purpose. They are covered further down.

Universal on paper: what still keeps a child out

Eight programs in the table have no income ceiling and no disability test for 2026-27: Arizona, Florida's FES-EO, Utah, Iowa, West Virginia, Texas, New Hampshire and Wyoming's K–12 track. Each one still has a gate. They are just different gates.

Arizona writes its universal clause as an add-on. A.R.S. 15-2401.01 says that "beginning in the 2022-2023 school year" a qualified student includes a resident who "Is eligible to enroll in a public school in this state" in a preschool program for children with disabilities, kindergarten, or grades one through twelve, and who "Does not otherwise qualify for an Arizona empowerment scholarship account pursuant to this chapter." That second condition sounds circular. In practice it means the older, narrower categories in 15-2401 — disability, a D- or F-rated school, military family, foster care, tribal land and others — still exist and still matter, because some of them unlock extra spending categories such as educational therapies. The Department of Education's ESA page showed 108,416 students enrolled for 2026-27 as of October 13, 2026, and warned that 7,000 students eligible to renew had not finished renewing.

Florida's FES-EO test in s. 1002.394(3)(a) is residency (or a military family with PCS orders to Florida) plus being eligible to enroll in kindergarten through grade 12 in a public school. Income comes in only as priority: first households at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty level or children in foster or out-of-home care, then households above 185 but not above 400 percent. The disability track, FES-UA, under paragraph (3)(b), reaches down to children who are 3 or 4 years of age and requires an IEP or a diagnosis from a listed type of licensed professional.

Utah's definition sits in 53F-6-401(8): eligible to participate in public school in kindergarten or grades 1 through 12, not yet 19 before September 1, a Utah resident, and not also on a Carson Smith scholarship. Section 53F-6-402 sets the amounts that make the setting matter: up to $8,000 for a private school student, $4,000 for a home-based student aged 5–11 on September 1, and $6,000 for one aged 12–18. The same section tells the program manager to process siblings together and approve or deny the whole household on its priority tier.

Iowa is universal on income since July 1, 2025, but Iowa Code 257.11B attaches the money to a pupil who attends a nonpublic school. The Students First ESA page is explicit that a child who was homeschooled in 2025-26 can apply "as long as they are enrolled as a full-time student at an Iowa accredited nonpublic school." Homeschooling itself is not funded.

West Virginia's Hope Scholarship requires a resident student enrolled or eligible to enroll in a West Virginia public school in grades K–12 when applying, under 21 and without a completed secondary program. The change for this year is a single sentence: "Existing private school and traditional homeschool students who have not previously been eligible for the Hope Scholarship Program will be eligible to participate beginning in the 2026-2027 school year." Families who were turned away in earlier years because the child was never in public school should read that twice.

Texas sets eligibility wide and the ranking tight. The Education Freedom Accounts site lists citizenship or lawful presence, eligibility for a Texas district, charter or pre-K program, and a Texas-resident parent. The four-tier priority order from SB 2 did the real sorting: disability at or below 500% FPL, then at or below 200%, then 200–500%, then 500% and above, with that last group limited so its funds "may not exceed 20 percent" of the appropriation. More than 274,000 applications arrived for the February 4 – March 31, 2026 window. The Texas walkthrough covers how the tiers played out.

New Hampshire's EFA, per the Children's Scholarship Fund NH application page, takes a resident child eligible to enroll in a public elementary or secondary school, in grades K–12, at least 5 years old by September 30. Income at or below 350% of the federal poverty level buys priority, alongside current recipients, their siblings and students with disabilities. The exclusion that catches families: a student who will attend the local district or charter school full-time in 2026-27 is not eligible, and the page warns that a family who fails to notify the scholarship organization is liable for funds the student was not entitled to.

Wyoming's K–12 gate is enrollment: the child must not be enrolled in public school. The income limit of 250% of the federal poverty guidelines on the Department of Education page is listed under additional qualifications for pre-kindergarten students only, so K–12 applicants face no income test. Two other things matter more this year: the 2026-27 application closed August 6, 2026, and the program is operating under a lawsuit, covered below.

Income ceilings: Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee

Three programs in the table refuse eligibility above an income line for 2026-27. Each draws the line differently, which is why a household that qualifies in one would fail in another.

Alabama uses adjusted gross income. The Department of Revenue's CHOOSE Act page limits Year 2 (2026-27) to students whose family AGI did not exceed 300 percent of the federal poverty level for the preceding tax year. Inside that group, the first 500 ESAs go to students with special needs, then to students awarded the year before, then to active-duty military dependents at a priority school, then by income. Siblings get priority throughout. Alabama is also a classification oddity: the department describes the ESAs as refundable income tax credits. Amounts are $7,000 per student at a participating school and $2,000 per student in home education, capped at $4,000 per family. The 2026-27 portals "closed at midnight on March 31, 2026."

South Carolina uses household income against the federal poverty guidelines, and the ceiling moved this year. S.C. Code 59-8-110 set it at 300 percent for 2025-26 and 500 percent from 2026-27 on. The ESTF program site prints the 2025 guideline table: 500% is $160,750 for a household of four. The same page adds three exclusions families tend to miss. The student "Cannot attend their resident public school for the 2026-2027 school year," cannot also take the Educational Credit for Exceptional Needs Children, and cannot be homeschooled under South Carolina's Options 1, 2 or 3. The age floor is five on or before September 1; the ceiling is under 22. Eligibility mattered less than the cap this year — the program "has reached its maximum capacity of 15,000 awarded students for 2026-2027" and is running a waitlist.

Tennessee's ESA is the narrowest program here, because it is also geographic. The department's 2026-27 comparison sheet limits it to students zoned to Memphis-Shelby County Schools, Metro Nashville Public Schools or Hamilton County Schools, with "Household annual income for the previous year does not exceed twice the federal income eligibility guidelines for free lunch." The ESA page lists awards of $10,093.89 for Hamilton County and $10,132.54 for Metro Nashville and Memphis-Shelby. Tennessee residents outside those three districts are not shut out of state aid; they are routed to the Education Freedom Scholarship, which is statewide and has no income requirement for eligibility, only for priority groups. Read the comparison sheet before applying, because it also says a student can be in only one of the three programs in a school year.

Disability programs: Montana, Indiana, North Carolina

These three exist alongside, or instead of, a universal program, and each proves disability through a different document. That document is what gets an application rejected.

Montana's OPI ESA page requires a resident identified as a "child with a disability" under IDEA and "between the ages of 5 and 19 on September 10," who was counted for district funding the year before, was in one of the listed programs, or is eligible to start kindergarten. Montana describes it as a reimbursement program. OPI lists the application windows as recurring each year, May 1 – June 1 and November 1 – December 1; the dated banner on the same page still refers to the 2025 window, so confirm the November 2026 opening on the page itself.

Indiana's INESA, per the Treasurer of State page, funds K–12 students with disabilities and, since July 1, 2024, their siblings: up to $20k for a student with a disability and up to $8k for a sibling. "Effective July 1, 2026, administration of the ESA program will transfer" to the Indiana Department of Education, so 2026-27 questions now go to ESA@doe.in.gov rather than the treasurer's office. Indiana's much larger Choice Scholarship is a voucher, not an ESA, and is not in this table.

North Carolina's ESA+ asks for one specific paper: an eligibility determination issued by a North Carolina public school in the last three years. The FAQ says an IEP is not the required document; the eligibility determination is. Awards are $9,000 base and $17,000 for certain designated disabilities, and the 2027-28 application "will open on the first Monday in February." From 2027-28 the family must already live in North Carolina when it submits, with an exception for military families holding relocation orders.

Tennessee's IEA belongs in this group too. It is statewide, has no income requirement, and needs an active, implemented Tennessee IEP in effect when the window closes, listing one of eleven eligible disability categories. Florida's FES-UA is the other disability track already described above.

The homeschool line is where states disagree most

Families who homeschool often assume an ESA is either for them everywhere or for nobody. Read across the table and it is closer to a three-way split: seven programs fund home education in some form, three do not, and for five the pages read did not settle it.

• Funded, at a lower rate: Utah ($4,000 or $6,000), Texas ($2,000), Alabama ($2,000, family cap $4,000).
• Funded, same program: Arizona, whose ESA page says the money follows the child to the school parents choose, "including education at home"; West Virginia, newly open to existing homeschoolers in 2026-27; Tennessee's IEA, which allows independent homeschooling; North Carolina's ESA+, which lists home schools among enrollment options.
• Not funded: Iowa (full-time accredited nonpublic school required), South Carolina (Options 1, 2 and 3 excluded), Tennessee's ESA and EFS, both of which state that enrollment in "an independent home school is not permitted."
• Did not verify from the pages read: Florida, New Hampshire, Wyoming, Montana, Indiana. Their pages list curriculum or tutoring as expenses, which hints at home use, but a hint is not an eligibility rule.

The wrinkle that trips people is the setting choice at application. Texas sets the award by setting ($2,000 homeschool vs. $10,474 private) and counts an IEP only if it is on file by the end of the application period, and Utah prices the account by setting and age. A family that marks "private school" and then homeschools, or the reverse, is not filling in a form wrong. It is applying for a different amount.

Two programs running under a lawsuit

Wyoming. The Department of Education page describes residents aged 4 and up in pre-K through grade 12 who are not enrolled in public school, at $7,000 a year, with a pre-K income limit of 250% of the federal poverty guidelines. The Wyoming Education Association sued on June 13, 2025, and the program was blocked after the state Supreme Court denied a request to stay a Laramie County District Court injunction; the page ties the date October 7, 2025 to that step. The page now says the Supreme Court has lifted that injunction and payments are proceeding while the underlying case continues; it does not give the date of the lifting, so neither do I. Because the lifting was not retroactive, only the $1,750 fourth-quarter payment from 2025-26 can roll into 2026-27 for previously approved students. The 2026-27 application period closed August 6, 2026.

Utah. Utah Fits All is operating under a district court ruling, from April 2025, that the program is unconstitutional; the judge entered no injunction, and the state appealed to the Utah Supreme Court (K-12 Dive's report on the ruling). I did not find a ruling from that court when I searched on October 19, 2026, and the statute itself (53F-6-402, marked effective May 6, 2026) is in force. If you depend on the account, the Utah Supreme Court's docket is the page to watch, not this one.

Showing up in the same search, but not ESAs

Idaho. Idaho Code 63-3029N creates the Idaho parental choice tax credit: a refundable credit of up to five thousand dollars ($5,000) per eligible student, claimed by a parent on a full-time resident Idaho return. There is no account; you spend first and claim after. The record-keeping looks more like a tax file than an ESA ledger.

Ohio. EdChoice is a scholarship paid toward private school tuition. The part of the page worth knowing even here: since July 1, 2025, only federal or state 1040 forms are accepted for income verification. The page as read still described the 2025-2026 application window, so check the current year directly.

Florida's FTC scholarship under s. 1002.395 is a tax-credit scholarship funded by business contributions, a separate track from FES. Also coming: the federal scholarship tax credit that starts in 2027, which depends on whether your state opts in — what is and is not decided about it.

Four states not in the table, and why

Arkansas (Education Freedom Accounts), Louisiana (LA GATOR), Georgia (Promise Scholarship) and Mississippi all run state programs that families search for under "ESA." On October 19, 2026 I could not load an official page for any of them: Arkansas's department page returned 404 and its program subdomain did not resolve, Louisiana's state site blocked automated access, Georgia's program addresses I tried did not resolve, and Mississippi's education department page returned 404 or 502. Rather than fill those rows from secondhand summaries, I left them out. If you live in one of those states, go to the state department of education's site directly and look for the program handbook's eligibility chapter and its revision date.

That gap also says something about the table's count. Fourteen is the number I could confirm from primary sources on one day, not the number of states with programs.

Still possible for 2026-27, and what opens next

If your child has no account yet this school year, these are the doors that the agency pages read on October 19, 2026 still show as open or opening:

1. Iowa, half-year ESA. "8:00 a.m. on October 15, 2026 through 11:59 p.m. on November 15, 2026," for $4,074. Approved half-year students must be attending an accredited nonpublic school and pay tuition and fees through the ESA portal by January 14, 2027 at 11:59 p.m., or they are ruled ineligible on January 15. If you already submitted a full-year 2026-27 application, the half-year application needs a new portal account.
2. Montana, disability ESA. OPI lists November 1 – December 1 as a recurring window; the page banner is still dated 2025, so check it before planning around the date.
3. New Hampshire, EFA. Applications are rolling; verification by July 15 gets a full EFA, and after that families "may apply through February" for a prorated one.
4. West Virginia, Hope. The site shows the 2026-27 application open. Hope prorates awards by submission date; the schedule as read in August is in the application documents guide.

And the next cycle's markers: North Carolina ESA+ opens the first Monday in February for 2027-28; Texas has a 2027-28 interest list on its program site; South Carolina's site lists Window 1 for returning students and siblings opening November 1 and closing January 14, with priority Window 2 from January 15 to February 8 and Window 3 for all eligible students from February 9. The South Carolina page does not attach a year to those windows, so confirm on the site that they refer to 2027-28 before relying on them.

One last practical point. Every program above writes its age rule against a different date — September 1 in Utah and South Carolina, September 10 in Montana, September 30 in New Hampshire, January 1 in Arizona's kindergarten rule, July 1 for West Virginia kindergartners. A child with a late-summer birthday can be eligible in one state's program and a year too young in the next state's. Check the date in the rule, not just the number.