New data on Ark. vouchers: More than 80% of new enrollees did not attend public school last year

October 31, 2024 5:59 pm



Little Rock Christian Academy remains the top voucher recipient of any private school in the state, education department data shows.

On Monday, almost a month after a deadline required by state law, the Arkansas Department of Education finally publicly released its annual report on the state’s school voucher program, now in its second year. As we reported Tuesday, that report failed to provide a detailed picture of where things currently stand with the program, as it focused almost exclusively on the 2023-24 school year rather than 2024-25 (and the testing data it provided for last school year was almost non-existent).

In response to a Freedom of Information request, the department has now provided more specific data to the Arkansas Times on enrollment figures for the current school year.

The makeup of voucher students in 2024-25 is similar in many ways to last year — with the exception of a large wave of homeschoolers, who were not eligible in Year One.

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.

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https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2024/10/31/new-data-on-ark-vouchers-more-than-80-of-new-enrollees-did-not-attend-public-school-last-year