Can I use my Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) for Eden's Table?

Is there an Arizona ESA approved curriculum list?

No. The ESA program does not create or keep a list of recommended schools, vendors or providers, and the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) does not regulate or oversee vendors, even the ones in ClassWallet. What ADE does publish is a list of purchases that are not allowed.

You do not need pre-approval to buy curriculum. If you want ADE's answer on a specific item before you buy, you can submit an ESA Support Ticket.

What does Arizona count as a curriculum expense?

State law lists curricula and supplementary materials as an allowable ESA expense, and defines a curriculum as a course of study for content areas or grade levels, including the supplemental materials it requires or recommends. ADE's ESA Support page says an off-the-shelf curriculum does not have to be justified by another curriculum, and that ESA staff treat buying one as an allowable expense under state law.

Each year, part of every student's ESA must be spent on reading, grammar, math, social studies and science.

What does an Arizona ESA curriculum purchase need?

The handbook lists four ways to spend in ClassWallet: the marketplace, Pay Vendor, a debit card (offered to account holders with a student with a disability) and reimbursement. To pay a curriculum vendor's invoice you use Pay Vendor and upload the invoice. A complete invoice shows the provider's name, address and contact details, the invoice date and number, the student's name, an itemized description of the charges and the total. Ask for exactly the invoice total, because anything over it may be rejected.

A reimbursement needs proof of payment too, because an invoice alone is not enough. The receipt has to come from the vendor's own receipt system and show the vendor's details, the date, a receipt or order number and an itemized list of what you bought.

One student's ESA cannot pay for another ESA student's items, and a purchase has to arrive within the same July to June contract year it is paid in.

What gets an Arizona ESA purchase turned down?

A vendor accepting ESA funds does not make an item allowable. An order that goes through automatically is not treated as approved until it is audited or the audit window passes, and ADE can ask for repayment of items approved in error. Purchases are turned down for reasons like these:

• An incomplete invoice, or a request for more than the invoice total.
• A reimbursement request with an invoice but no proof of payment.
• A receipt that is not itemized or did not come from the vendor's own receipt system.
• Items on ADE's unallowable list, such as gift cards of any kind, food, fees like Amazon Prime, and items that are mainly not educational.
• Items bought for another ESA student, or bought to resell.
• Anything bought before your ESA contract was signed.

How does Eden's Table fit Arizona's rules?

Eden's Table is an off-the-shelf, Bible-based science and nature study curriculum in printed books: a Teacher's Guide, a Student Notebook and a Read-Aloud Storybook for a 36-week year. Science is one of the five subjects Arizona requires part of every ESA to cover.

Eden's Table is a registered Arizona ESA vendor, which by itself does not make a purchase allowable. Our Arizona invoice is made for one student and shows our name, address and contact details, the invoice date and number, the student's name, each book with its price, and the total. The ClassWallet processing fee is its own line, which the handbook allows a vendor to charge.

Our books are printed to order and arrive about two to three weeks after payment, so allow for that if you order close to the end of June.