(March 2026) More than 135,000 Arkansas students attend charter, home or private schools, or are enrolled in a public choice program in the current school year, state Department of Education and other records show. The niche school choice market has grown from 66,627 students (2013) to 136,726 (2025-26), setting an all-time enrollment record in the current school year.
The niche school choice market increased by 15,305 students from 121,421 in the last school year (2024-25). Factors contributing to growth include dissatisfaction with “failing” public schools in letter-grade surveys, technology that makes distance learning feasible, and religious affiliations.
Charters Are Largest Group
School choice has advanced since Policy Foundation analysts Allyson Tucker and Donna Watson wrote their landmark 1996 study (2) recommending charters. Students enrolled in charters total 45,399 in the 2025-26 school year.
Education department records show 30,573 students enrolled in public open-enrollment charters in the current school year. An open-enrollment charter is operated by “a governmental entity, an institution of higher learning or a tax-exempt non-sectarian organization.” Another 14,826 students are enrolled in public district conversion charters. A conversion school “is a public school converted to a public charter school. Conversion schools can only draw students from within the school district’s boundaries,” the department notes. (3)
Home Schools Are Second Largest Group
Students attending home schools are the second largest group. Educational research shows 35,419 students were enrolled in the 2024-25 school year, an increase of 7,891 from the previous school year. (2023-24) (4)
Private Schools
Private school enrollment increased to 30,350 in the current school year, according to a report from Private School Review, a publication. (6)
Public School Choice
Another 25,558 students are “enrolled in a traditional public school district via school choice, which allows them to transfer to another school district. (5)
— Greg Kaza
Sources
(1) “Arkansas School Choice Market Expands” (Policy Foundation research memo) February 2014
(2) Tucker, Allyson and Donna Watson. Arkansas’ Weak Charter School Law: Failing the Grade (Policy Foundation study) 1996
(3) Office for Education Policy (OEP), Univ. of Arkansas. https://oep.uark.edu/data/demographics/
https://adedata.arkansas.gov/statewide/ReportList/Schools/CharterSchools.aspx
https://adedata.arkansas.gov/statewide/ReportList/Schools/EnrollmentCount.aspx
(4) Home school enrollment for the 2024-25 school year. The education department releases data with a lag, and has yet to release its report for the 2025-26 school year.
https://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/Files/24_25_Annual_Report_revised_1_2026_OSCPE_OSCPE.pdf
(5)
https://adedata.arkansas.gov/Statewide/ReportList/Schools/SchoolChoice.aspx
Arkansas Department of Education communication to Policy Foundation. March 18, 2026
(6) https://privateschoolreview.com/arkansas
Appendix: Open Enrollment Charter Schools (30,573 students)
Academies of Math and Science School 606; Arkansas Arts Academy Elementary School 484; Arkansas Arts Academy High School 443; Arkansas Connections Academy 5,780; Arkansas Virtual Academy Elementary School 1,454; Arkansas Virtual Academy Middle School 1,352; Arkansas Virtual Academy High School 2,973; eSTEM Elementary School 1,071; eSTEM Junior High Public Charter School 334; eSTEM High School 613; Exalt Academy of Southwest Little Rock 855; Exalt Academy High School 254; Founders Classical Academies of Arkansas Bentonville 766; Founders Classical Academies of Arkansas Rogers High School 125; Founders Classical Academies of Arkansas Rogers 531; Founders Classical Academies of Arkansas West Little Rock 49; Founders Classical Academies of AR. West Little Rock Elementary School 34; Friendship Academy Little Rock Elementary School 175; Friendship Aspire Academy Downtown Pine Bluff 165; Friendship Aspire Academy Hazel Street Pine Bluff 440; Friendship Aspire Academy Little Rock Middle School 91; Friendship Aspire Academy North Little Rock Elementary School 49; Friendship Aspire Academy Southeast Middle School Pine Bluff 233; Friendship Aspire Academy Southeast Pine Bluff 118; Friendship Aspire Lab School for Dyslexia 55; Future School of Fort Smith 156; Garfield Scholars’ Academy 94; Graduate Arkansas High School 807; Haas Hall Academy 468; Haas Hall Academy Fort Smith 102; Haas Hall Academy Jones Center 149; Haas Hall Academy Rogers 152; Imboden Area Charter School 53; Institute for the Creative Arts School (Fort Smith) 100; ISchool Virtual Academy 31; Ivy Hill Preparatory Academy (Scholarmade) 341; Jacksonville Lighthouse Elementary School 194; Jacksonville Lighthouse Middle School 197; Jacksonville Lighthouse High School 58; KIPP Blytheville College Preparatory 275; KIPP Blytheville Collegiate High School 106; KIPP Delta Collegiate High School 230; KIPP Delta Elementary Literacy Academy 433; LISA Academy Arkansas Hybrid School 216; LISA Academy Fayetteville 416; LISA Academy Fayetteville Middle School 67; LISA Academy North Elementary School 640; LISA Academy North Middle School 333; LISA Academy North High School 286; LISA Academy Rogers-Bentonville Elementary School 416; LISA Academy Rogers-Bentonville Middle School 112; LISA Academy Rogers-Bentonville High School 22; LISA Academy Springdale 467; LISA Academy West Elementary School 556; LISA Academy West Middle School 381; LISA Academy West High School 408; Maumelle Charter Elementary School 618; Maumelle Charter Middle School 667; Maumelle Charter High School 527; Premier High School of Fayetteville 40; Premier High School of Fort Smith 77; Premier High School of Little Rock 54; Premier High School of North Little Rock 57; Premier High School of Russellville 61; Premier High School of Springdale 111; Premier High School of Texarkana 68; Premier High School Online 280; School for Advanced Studies-NW Arkansas 135; Scott Charter School 189; The Excel Center 222; The Excel Center Springdale 68;Westwind School for Performing Arts 83.
Appendix: Conversion Charter Schools (14,826 students)
Academies at Rivercrest High School 481
Batesville Charter High School 964
Batesville Charter Junior High School 694
Bauxite Miner Academy 4
Cabot Panther Academy 318
Caddo Academy 254
Cave City Middle School Career & Collegiate Preparatory 257
Cave City High Career & Collegiate Prep School 350
Cross County Elementary Technology Academy 365
Cross County High School, A New Tech School 308
Don Tyson School of Innovation (Springdale) 1,928
Fayetteville Virtual Academy 153
Fort Smith Virtual Academy 76
Fountain Lake Charter High School 387
Guy Berry College & Career Academy (Mountain Home) 51
Hot Springs Junior Academy 819
Hot Springs World Class High School 744
Lincoln High School 354
Mountain Home High School Career Academies 1,456
Mountainburg Middle School Brain Academy 126
Mountainburg High School 200
North Little Rock Center of Excellence 408
Polk County Virtual Academy (Mena) 9
Prairie Grove High School 606
River Valley Virtual Academy (Van Buren) data unavailable
Siloam Springs High School Conversion Charter 1,384
Southside Charter High School (Independence County) 459
Southside Junior High (Independence County) 437
The Academies at Newport High School 349
Vilonia Pathways Academy 13
The Academies of West Memphis 872
KEY SCHOOL CHOICE DEVELOPMENTS
(March 2026) Following is a list of key school choice developments in Arkansas since the Policy Foundation’s founding as a market-based think tank in 1995.
(1996) Policy Foundation analysts Allyson Tucker and Donna Watson author first Arkansas study recommending charter schools as an education reform.
(1998) Three Policy Foundation education studies raise the issue of charters and school choice. One observes, “The most callused aspect of the current education monopoly in Arkansas is that it willingly and deliberately forces children–except those whose parents have wealth–to attend bad schools.”
(1999) State Sen. Jim Argue, D-Little Rock, and state Sen. John E. Brown, R-Siloam Springs, tour a Texas charter school serving economically-disadvantaged children and author the Arkansas Charter Schools Act (PA 890).
(2001) Academics Plus in Maumelle is first open-enrollment charter school.
(2002) KIPP Delta College Preparatory School opens as a charter in Helena and later receives recognition. The policy debate over charters is won by school choice proponents in Arkansas’ Delta region in the 21st century’s first decade.
(2010) The Policy Foundation hosts a one-day virtual education summit at the
Clinton Presidential Center featuring ex-Gov. Bob Wise, D-West Virginia, and Susan Patrick, a former Bush appointee at the U.S. education department.
(2011) PA 987 removes the cap on Arkansas open enrollment charter schools.
(2013) Policy Foundation notes school choice market includes 66,627 students enrolled in charter, home, and private schools; and public transfer options.
(2015) PA 1178 establishes the Succeed Scholarship Program, Arkansas’ first school choice initiative for private school students. The program is designed for students with disabilities or in foster care, and children of military families.
(2020) Policy Foundation notes nearly 100,000 in school choice market.
(2023) LEARNS Act creates first education savings account (ESA) program.
