(The Lion) — When Adriana Vaughan decided she wanted to keep her son from “the agenda” in government schools, she faced two options: homeschool the boy or place him in private school.
With the first option she worried about his social development, since Ethan, 5, is an only child. But the latter looked too expensive for Vaughan, a registered nurse whose husband is disabled.
She had visited Mountain Home Christian Academy and found it too expensive but knew there had to be a way. Then she learned about Arkansas’ Education Freedom Accounts (EFA) from a conservative news site, and the flicker of hope within her soon became a flame.
“My husband unfortunately is now disabled, so we have a lot of bills and I still need to pay for my school,” Vaughan told Opportunity Arkansas, a conservative think tank which supported the school choice bill that made EFAs a reality. “I became a nurse three years ago, so I have student loan debt. Then we also have to pay the bills for utilities and things like that.
“We couldn’t afford private school. If we had applied and not been able to get it [EFA funds], he would have had to be homeschooled, because we were not going to send him to public school. But now that we’re able to have this, it’s a huge blessing for us.”
The program launched in 2023 under Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a Republican, and is slated to go fully universal for the 2025-26 school year, meaning anyone in the state can use it. The EFA is popular and offers up to $8,000 per student for parents to use toward their child’s education.
For Vaughan, who is originally from Mexico, she appreciates that it allows families to “use our tax dollars to put our kid wherever we want.”
Ethan’s developing social skills and has already been invited to three birthday parties. “He’s making friends, which is a good thing,” she says.
Vaughan and her husband are also grateful to the lawmakers who passed the school choice program.
“I know they work many hours, and it’s a very good thing they’re doing for our community,” she said. “I hope we can keep using it for the years to come.”
National School Choice Week is January 26 through February 1, with events happening in states across the country.
