What can you buy with an ESA? Allowed expenses by state, 2026-27

An education savings account (ESA) puts state money into an account that a parent spends on approved education costs instead of a public school place. Every state publishes its own list of what that money can buy, and no state publishes anyone else's. So a family moving from Utah to Texas, or a curriculum company selling into eight states, has to read eight handbooks to answer one question. We read them. On 5 October 2026 we opened the official programme page, statute or administrator guide for 17 state programmes and recorded, for each, whether ESA money can pay for private school tuition, homeschool curriculum, online courses, tutoring, therapies and technology, and how the money is actually spent.

The 17 programmes at a glance

The first table answers "who runs it, how much, and can a homeschooled child take part". Amounts are for the 2026-27 school year where the official page states one. Where the official page gives a formula, a ceiling or last year's figure, the cell says so rather than borrowing a number from a news story or an advocacy group.

FPL means the federal poverty level. "Not verified" means the official page we could read did not state it on 5 October 2026; it does not mean the answer is no.

Award amounts, plotted

Award amounts are not like for like: some are flat, some are ceilings, some depend on income tier or disability. The chart takes one figure per state, the standard private-school award where the official page states a single number, so the spread is visible. Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Missouri and New Hampshire are left off because their official pages give a formula, a range or no 2026-27 figure.

The amount matters less than it looks for the question on this page. A $2,000 Texas homeschool account and an $8,000 Utah private-school account buy from the same categories; what differs is how much, and through which shop.

The expense matrix: what ESA money can buy, state by state

Each cell reports what the state's official page, statute or administrator guide says about that category, read on 5 October 2026. "Yes" means the category is listed as allowed. "Conditional" means allowed with a named condition. "Not verified" means the official material we could read did not settle it. Sources for each row are the ones linked in the programme table above, plus the handbooks named in the methods section.

Checked 5 October 2026. BoEE is Iowa's Board of Educational Examiners; GaPSC is Georgia's Professional Standards Commission; EAO is a Missouri education assistance organisation; FES-UA is Florida's scholarship for students with unique abilities. Arizona's own site (azed.gov) refused automated reading on the day we checked, so its row rests on the statute and ClassWallet's programme page.

Five patterns in the matrix

1. Tutoring and therapies are near-universal, but the credential rule is the real gate. Every programme we verified pays for tutoring, and the state decides who counts as a tutor. Texas, under section 29.358 of its statute, requires a current or retired accredited-school educator, a relevant licence, or a higher-education teaching post, plus a national criminal history check. Tennessee requires an active Tennessee teacher licence. Georgia requires a Georgia Professional Standards Commission certificate. Iowa requires a Board of Educational Examiners credential. South Carolina asks for at least a bachelor's degree. A national online tutoring company can be a perfectly good choice and still not be payable in a given state until it has a tutor who meets that state's rule.

2. "Homeschool" means different things to different programmes. Arizona's statute requires families not to file a homeschool affidavit while in the programme. New Hampshire ends home-education status when the account starts. Tennessee requires enrolment in a registered non-public school, and Iowa does not fund homeschooling at all. Texas, Utah, Alabama, Wyoming and West Virginia fund learning at home directly. If you homeschool today, read your state's line in the programme table before you assume the account fits your arrangement.

3. Technology is the most tightly policed category. Caps run from a percentage (Texas, 10% of the year's deposit) to item prices (Utah's $1,500 laptop limit, Alabama's computers under $1,200, Georgia's $1,000 laptop limit) to frequency rules (one device every two or three years in North Carolina, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia) to an outright ban (Florida's PEP students "cannot use scholarship funds to purchase digital devices, such as laptops, computers", in the handbook's words).

4. Shopping has moved inside the marketplace. Texas's Comptroller wrote on 30 June 2026 that "Families will not be reimbursed for purchases made outside the TEFA Marketplace." Alabama's parent guide says "There is no reimbursement to families." North Carolina says the ClassWallet marketplace "is the only place you can purchase products with ESA+ funds." For a parent, the practical consequence is that the vendor you want has to be listed in your state's marketplace, not merely eligible in principle. Utah, Wyoming, New Hampshire, Florida and West Virginia still allow some reimbursement under their own rules.

5. Online courses are allowed far more often than online schools. Most programmes pay for an approved online course or programme. Full-time online schools are more restricted: Indiana's page says full-time online schools are excluded, Missouri's online-school line names private virtual schools located in Missouri, and Texas requires a virtual private school to have a Texas office before it can be a TEFA private school. Our online private school tuition comparison lists which states each school itself says it is approved in.

What each category buys, with real vendors

A category on a state list is abstract until you can picture the purchase. Below, each category is paired with real vendors as examples of the kind of purchase it covers. Naming a vendor here is not a statement that it is approved in your state. Where a vendor's own website says it is approved in a named programme, we quote that statement and the date we read it; that is still the vendor's claim, and your programme's marketplace is the authority.

Homeschool curriculum and instructional materials

This is the broadest category: full online curricula, textbook sets, phonics programmes and literature packages. Examples of the kind of purchase it covers are Time4Learning and Miacademy (all-subject online curricula), Sonlight (a literature-based Christian curriculum) and Reading Eggs (a learn-to-read programme). On 5 October 2026, Time4Learning's ESA page listed itself as a "pre-approved vendor or is available for reimbursement" in 23 states, noting that some of those are reimbursement-only. Miacademy's Texas page said it is "now an approved vendor for the new Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA)" through the Odyssey marketplace. Sonlight's ESA page described it as an "approved curriculum vendor for select state ESA programs" and named 14 states, including Texas through Odyssey. Reading Eggs' support article listed programmes including Alabama's CHOOSE Act "(Book purchases only)". Our homeschool curriculum for working parents page compares three of these on price and parent hours.

Online courses and online schools

Online course marketplaces and accredited online schools both sit here, but states treat them differently (pattern 5). Outschool, a live online class marketplace, is an example of a course purchase; the state picker on its own ESA hub listed 18 states on 5 October 2026, and its Alabama guide described it as a "confirmed approved Education Service Provider". Laurel Springs School, Forest Trail Academy, K12 Private Academy and Sora Schools are examples of full online school purchases; each lists ESA states on its own pages, quoted with prices in our online private school tuition comparison. Laurel Springs, for example, says it is "currently approved as a vendor" in Arizona, Alabama, Arkansas and New Hampshire.

Tutoring

Tutoring covers one-to-one lessons, small groups and learning centres. Kumon, Mathnasium and Thinkster are examples of the kind of purchase this category covers, compared in our Kumon vs Mathnasium vs Thinkster page. Mathnasium's own pages described it as a "UFA-approved provider" for Utah Fits All and an "approved provider for Step Up For Students" in Florida (read 5 October 2026); because Mathnasium is a franchise, check that the centre you use is the listed provider. Kumon's site did not load for our check, so we make no statement about its approvals.

Educational therapies

Speech-language, occupational, physical and behavioural therapy appear on most lists. These are usually local licensed practitioners rather than national brands, which is why the state's licensing rule matters more than any brand name. Texas pays only for therapies "not covered by any federal, state, or local government benefits", and Florida pays for therapies through FES-UA, not PEP.

Technology, STEM kits and learning apps

Computers fall under the caps in pattern 3. Educational kits and apps are usually bought as instructional materials instead. KiwiCo is an example of a STEM kit purchase; its homeschool page said it is "approved with 70+ homeschool charters and ESAs" and named programmes including Arizona, Florida and Utah. Prodigy, a maths game, said on its grant-funds page that it is approved as a ClassWallet marketplace vendor in several states. For coding classes and subscriptions, which states may treat as courses or as materials, see our STEM and coding subscriptions for kids 8-12 page, where none of the eight vendors stated ESA acceptance on the pages we read.

Tennessee: the marketplace opens 19 October

Tennessee's Department of Education published its 2026-27 Education Freedom Scholarship timeline as a PDF. Read on 5 October 2026, it lists "October 19, 2026 Projected Marketplace Launch (for students with no pending tuition)". The same timeline lists "March 31, 2027 2026-27 Vendor Application Window Closes", "April 30, 2027 Marketplace Closes for Products (Technology and Uniforms) at 4 p.m. CT" and "June 25, 2027 Marketplace Closes for All Remaining Services". The state notes that all dates are projected and subject to change.

Two things are worth knowing before the launch. First, EFS money pays tuition first: the family handbook places tuition and fees ahead of other spending, and the marketplace launch applies to students with no pending tuition. Second, Tennessee's homeschool route is narrow: the programme's FAQ says a homeschooled student can apply but "must enroll in an EFS-registered Category I, II, or III non-public school", and curricula are covered only through that school. Vendors selling into Tennessee should read our companion guide, How to become an ESA-approved vendor.

Where official documents disagree

Reading the primary sources side by side surfaced five places where a programme's own documents do not agree with each other. We report both readings rather than choose one.

• South Carolina technology caps. The ESTF FAQ lists "Computers, laptops, and iPads up to $1500". The 2026-27 participant and provider guides limit a laptop or desktop and a tablet to $1,000 each, one each every two academic years. The matrix uses the 2026-27 guides.
• Tennessee device frequency. The 2026-27 family handbook allows one laptop and one tablet, each once every three calendar years. The 2026-27 FAQ says "not more than one device per student per year."
• Louisiana amount labels. Odyssey's LA GATOR article labels the $15,253, $7,626 and $5,243 tiers as 2026-27; the Department of Education's own page still labels them 2025-2026.
• Texas application window. The TEFA homepage says the 2026-27 window ran 4 February to 31 March 2026; the families page says 4 February to 17 March 2026.
• Georgia provider applications. The programme homepage says provider applications are accepted year-round; the provider handbook describes an open application period.

States not in the matrix

Idaho's parental choice programme is a refundable tax credit rather than an account, so it answers a different question. Programmes in Mississippi, Montana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Nebraska and other states were not verified on an official page for this edition, and Arizona's expense handbook could not be read on the day we checked. Those rows are left out rather than filled from secondary sources. Advocacy groups such as EdChoice (which supports school choice) publish state counts; we have not used them for any figure here.

How we built this page

On 5 October 2026 we read, for each of the 17 programmes, the official programme website, the authorising statute where it is published online, and the administrator's family handbook or expense guide; every document is linked in the source list at the end of this page. We did not use news reports, vendor blogs or advocacy summaries for any programme rule. Where a state's own site refused automated reading (Arizona's azed.gov, and North Carolina's HTML pages, whose PDFs did load), we say which document we relied on instead. Vendor statements were read on each vendor's own site the same day and are quoted as the vendor's claim.

No vendor on this page paid to be included, and this page contains no affiliate links. ESA rules and amounts change every school year, so the freshness pill at the top gives the date of our last check. For the wider picture of what learning costs from early years to adult study, start at our hub, Paying for learning at every age.

Primary sources read for this page (5 October 2026)

• Texas: TEFA programme site, families page, SB 2 (89R) enrolled text, Comptroller release, 30 June 2026.
• Odyssey programmes: Utah Fits All expense guide, Iowa eligible expenses, LA GATOR, Wyoming ESA, Georgia Promise, MOScholars.
• ClassWallet programmes: A.R.S. 15-2402, Alabama CHOOSE Act parent guide 2026-27, Arkansas EFA handbook 2025-26, G.S. 115C-595, NH EFA parent handbook, SC ESTF FAQ, Indiana ESA.
• Other administrators: Step Up For Students PEP handbook, Tennessee EFS family handbook 2026-27, Tennessee EFS timeline 2026-27, West Virginia Hope parent handbook.
• Vendor statements (each vendor's own site): Time4Learning, Miacademy, Sonlight, Outschool, Mathnasium, KiwiCo, Prodigy, Reading Eggs, Laurel Springs.

This page describes published programme rules for parents and guardians. It is not legal or financial advice, it does not determine eligibility, and it makes no prediction about any child's results.