Arkansas LEARNS school vouchers: More than 80% of new enrollees did not attend public school last year
Arkansas LEARNS school vouchers: More than 80% of new enrollees did not attend public school last year
The makeup of voucher students in 2024-25 is similar in many ways to last year, with fewer than 1 in 5 recipients transferring from public school.
Nearly 5,000 students who received vouchers in Year One continued into Year Two of the program. They were joined by more than 9,000 new enrollees who joined the program this year, for a total enrollment of 14,297. As with Year One, the overwhelming majority of the new enrollees — 83% — did not attend public school in the prior year.
Either way, the program has to date mostly provided vouchers to students who are not moving over from public schools. These results fit a consistent pattern in other similar statewide voucher programs nationwide. Most of the public cash doled out winds up boosting the bank accounts of families who were never in the public school system to begin with.