The Arkansas LEARNS Act, signed in 2023, includes a landmark initiative: Education Freedom Accounts (EFAs). These are state-funded accounts that allow families to use public K–12 funding for approved educational expenses outside the public school system – think private schools, homeschooling, curricula, uniforms, supplies, electives, arts, physical education, or tutoring.
For the 2026–27 school year, each eligible family may receive approximately $7,200 per student.
How It Affects Parents
Expanding Options: EFAs offer real educational choice – ideal for families pursuing private schools, micro schools, or homeschools.
Phased Rollout:
2023–24: Eligible groups included students with disabilities, foster care, military families, or those from low-performing schools. Capped at ~1.5% of public student enrollment.
2024–25: Expanded eligibility to include more groups like first graders and additional demographics – cap raised to ~3%.
2025–Present: Open to all Arkansas K–12 students. No eligibility restrictions beyond age and Arkansas residency.
Oversight & Accountability: Participating schools or providers must administer state-approved testing and are subject to random audits.
Enrollment Scale: In 2026, over 50,000 students (private + homeschool) were approved – demonstrating strong uptake.
Yes! We’ve been an approved Direct Pay vendor since 2023. This means you will be able to “direct pay” us right from your EFA ClassWallet account rather than pay up-front and wait for reimbursement.
Yes! Once you’re approved for EFA funding, we will need you to use our registration form to sign up for music classes. This form has nothing to do with EFA – it’s simply for our own record keeping and invoicing system.
Our regular students receive an invoice on the 1st of each month. For EFA students, you will receive your invoice on the 1st of the month 30 days before the next quarter. We do this because it typically takes 4 to 6 weeks for us to receive our funding from your account.
Quarterly Billing (Dates listed below):
August 1 (September, October, November)
November 1 (December, January, February)
February 1 (March, April, May)
May 1 (June, July, August)
After you receive your invoice, you will then access your EFA portal and “direct pay” us through your student’s account by uploading the invoice. Each child will have their own invoice each month. Our category is “co-curricular” which is an unlimited option. For more info on how to submit payments, view our Onboarding pdf!
Our music classes are considered co-curriculum, so there are no limits!
Yes! All of our courses – both in person and online – are approved.
As of 2025, they now allow “reasonably priced instruments” to be funded. We offer bundles that have been pre-approved by EFA to make things easy for you.