Which states have ESA money in 2026-27: an operator's map

Operators keep asking the same first question: which states actually have ESA money flowing right now, on which platform, and how much per student? Here is the map as of June 2026, in one place, with the same standard we hold everywhere on this site: a figure appears only if we verified it against the state agency or the administering organization, and where it varies or is set annually we say so instead of printing a guess.

The nine states with live ESA money

Live means the program is funded, families hold accounts, and a school can register as a provider today. Each state below also has its own page on this site with the provider checklist and reporting cadence.

Three platform families to learn, not nine

The operational work clusters by platform, not by state. If you learn three systems, you have covered the live map:

• Odyssey runs Texas TEFA, Utah Fits All, Louisiana GATOR, and Iowa Students First. Provider onboarding, family accounts, and disbursements live in one provider dashboard per state.
• ClassWallet handles payments for Arizona ESA and Arkansas EFA. Vendor approval sits with the state agency or program (Arizona's runs through the ADE ESA Portal), and ClassWallet moves the money. Missouri's MOScholars used ClassWallet through 2025-26 but moves to Odyssey for 2026-27 (announced by the Treasurer's office in June 2026).
• Single-state platforms: Florida runs on Step Up For Students' EMA system (MyScholarShop is the materials marketplace inside it, not the account), and West Virginia's Hope Scholarship runs on Student First Technologies.

Three platform notes that still trip operators up in 2026: Utah and Iowa both moved to Odyssey, so any guide describing a ClassWallet flow for those states is out of date, and Missouri follows them for 2026-27. In Arizona, the official vendor route is the ADE ESA Portal; third-party directories are not the registration system.

Launching and baseline states

• Tennessee: two programs exist side by side. The new universal Education Freedom Scholarship pays $7,530 for 2026-27 across 35,000 seats on the state's Theodore platform. The original ESA Pilot (Memphis-Shelby, Nashville, and Hamilton County zones) continues separately at $10,148.88 for 2026-27. Always ask a Tennessee family which program they hold.
• Wyoming: the Steamboat Legacy Scholarship launches for 2026-27 at $7,000 per K-12 student, universal eligibility. The platform vendor is not yet selected, so provider registration details are TBD.
• Indiana: the Career Scholarship Account pays $5,000 for grades 10-12. Administration transfers to the Indiana Department of Education on July 1, 2026; provider details are TBD until that lands.

What is not on this map, on purpose

Ohio's EdChoice is a voucher program, not an ESA, so it does not belong on an ESA map even though it often appears on lists like this one. Montana's program is a special-needs ESA currently paused by court order, not a universal program. When a state is missing here, it is because we could not verify a live, school-payable ESA, not because we forgot it.

If your school is in one of these states

1. Confirm the program facts directly. Award amounts and platform contracts change year to year (Utah and Iowa both switched platforms in the last two years). The state agency page, not a Facebook thread, is the source of record.
2. Register as a provider before enrollment season. Every program above pays only through approved providers, and approval queues stretch exactly when you need them shortest.
3. Keep dated records from day one. Every one of these programs expects attendance, tuition, and compliance records that agree with the platform's payment trail. That is the job CohortLedger exists to do, and the public demo shows it running on a multi-state roster.