Arizona families of children with special needs have until Wednesday to apply for the initial round of Empowerment Savings Accounts to pay for private school or other education services.
State legislators passed a law creating the accounts in the spring. They can be awarded to qualified students who have attended a public school in the last 100 school days or who received a school tuition organization scholarship for children with disabilities last school year.
Families that qualify can receive an account that totals 90 percent of the cost the state would have paid for the child to be in public school. The funds can be used to pay for private school tuition, tutoring, curriculum, educational therapies, or can be saved for post-secondary education in a qualified college savings plan.
Applications and verification forms are available on the Arizona Department of Education website, www.ade.gov.
Because the law didn't go into effect until July 20, this first round has a shortened application period. There will be another round of applications in the fall, said state spokesman Andrew LeFevre.
