{"id":2211179,"date":"2024-04-02T08:18:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-02T12:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/arkansas-expands-eligibility-for-education-freedom-accounts\/"},"modified":"2024-04-02T08:18:26","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T12:18:26","slug":"arkansas-expands-eligibility-for-education-freedom-accounts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/arkansas-expands-eligibility-for-education-freedom-accounts\/","title":{"rendered":"Arkansas Broadens Qualifications for Education Freedom Accounts"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Farkansas-expands-eligibility-for-education-freedom-accounts%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2211179&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The\u200d Education Freedom Accounts \u200cprogram in Arkansas, spearheaded by Governor Sarah Huckabee \u2062Sanders, is set to expand its eligibility criteria to include \u2064a broader range of students for the upcoming academic year. \u2063This expansion will now encompass children of veterans, military reserve members, first responders, law enforcement officers, and students from\u200c D-rated schools. The program, initially targeting specific student groups, now aims to offer more parental choice in education. Governor Sanders emphasized\u200b the \u2064importance \u2064of prioritizing Arkansas&#8217; heroes and their families in \u2063this\u200d initiative, which forms part of the LEARNS \u200dAct, a significant legislation \u2062passed recently.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>(The Center Square) \u2013 More Arkansas students will be eligible for Education Freedom Accounts this upcoming school year, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The program will expand to children of veterans, military reserve members, first responders, law enforcement officers, and students who previously attended D-rated schools for the 2024-2025 school year, the governor said.<\/p>\n<p>Previously, the program was open only to first-time kindergarteners, students from F schools or Level 5 districts, students from the Succeed Scholarship Program, homeless students, current or former foster care students, students with disabilities, and children of active-duty military members.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m a mom of three, so I know that every child in our state learns a little bit differently. Education Freedom Accounts recognize that parents\u2019 choice, not random geography, should be the primary determining factor in where a child goes to school,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cI\u2019m proud that we are prioritizing Arkansas\u2019 heroes and their families in this year\u2019s expansion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Education Freedom Account Program was one of the key features of the LEARNS Act, passed last year. It provides families up to 90% of Arkansas\u2019 prior year per-student foundation funding, which was $6,600 during the 2023-2024 school year, according to the Department of Education.<\/p>\n<p>The largest increase in the governor\u2019s proposed budget for fiscal year 2025 is an additional <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/arkansas\/article_b3134f04-dbe7-11ee-8ab7-3f11d26fcb5d.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">$100 million for education<\/a><\/strong> to support the LEARNS Act. Lawmakers meet on April 10 to discuss the spending plan.<\/p>\n<p>The money from the EFAs is sent directly to participating schools and service providers through a digital wallet. Previously, unused funds did not roll over into the following year. However, during the next school year, the difference between qualifying expenses and the amount made available may roll over to the following year, the Department of Education said.<\/p>\n<p>The funds can be used on eligible expenses like private school tuition, uniforms, and other expenses required by the school, according to the Department of Education.<\/p>\n<p>Eligible expenses will expand starting in the 2024-2025 school year to include instructional materials, tutoring services, curricula, supplemental supplies, certain technology devices, transportation costs, and fees for college courses.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, 5,407 student applications were funded, with more than 100 schools participating, according to the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are pleased to extend EFA program eligibility to these additional categories of students,\u201d said Education Secretary Jacob Oliva. \u201cFor most parents, public schools will be the first and best choice for their child, but a one-size-fits-all approach does not meet the needs of all students and families. Parents want and deserve options. The EFA program provides that, and now additional children will be eligible for those opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The application window opened Monday for students, schools and service providers.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced that more students in the state will qualify for Education Freedom Accounts in the next school year. Eligibility is expanding to include children of veterans, military reserve members, first responders, law enforcement officers, and students previously enrolled in D-rated schools for the 2024-2025 academic year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3017,"featured_media":2211180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/iStock-1448272566-1024x607.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2211179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/iStock-1448272566-1024x607.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2211179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3017"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2211179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2211179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2211180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2211179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2211179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2211179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}