Can You Use ESA Funds for Financial Literacy Curriculum?

From the team behind Networthy, an elementary financial literacy curriculum and an approved vendor on several state education savings account programs.

Short answer: in most states with an education savings account, yes, as long as it is bought as curriculum and the vendor is approved. The longer answer is where families lose money, because the rules that matter are about categories and paperwork, not about the subject.

This is written for the parent side. If you run a curriculum business and want the vendor view, that is a different article.

The one distinction that decides everything

Programs do not ask "is this a good use of money". They ask "which approved expense category is this". The same purchase can be eligible or not depending on which box it lands in.

Curriculum and instructional materials is almost always an approved category, and it is usually uncapped. Other categories are not. Arkansas, for example, caps extracurricular activities at 25% of the annual account, shared with things like PE and field trips. A course filed as curriculum draws on the whole account. The identical course filed as an enrichment activity competes for a quarter of it.

So the first question to ask a vendor is not "do you take ESA funds". It is "what category are you approved under in my state".

Some programs only fund core subjects

This is the rule that surprises people, and it is worth knowing before you fall in love with something.

Several states require that curriculum support a core academic area first. Louisiana's LA GATOR guidance says funds "must first support a student's learning in English language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science", with other approved expenses coming after. Wyoming limits eligible curriculum to required core content areas, a list that does not include personal finance by that name. Alabama's CHOOSE Act works from an enumerated subject list.

That does not mean financial literacy is out. It means the subject framing has to be accurate. In Texas, personal financial literacy is not an elective sitting beside math, it is a strand inside the mathematics standards: TEKS 5.10 is a grade 5 math standard whose strand name is Personal Financial Literacy. Florida writes it into social studies. Iowa puts it in social studies too. A course that genuinely teaches those standards is core-subject curriculum, and describing it that way is accurate rather than clever.

If a vendor cannot tell you which state standard their course maps to, that is worth noticing for reasons beyond funding.

The three ways the money actually moves

Almost every program runs one of these, and knowing which one yours uses saves two weeks.

1. Direct pay against an invoice

You ask the vendor for an invoice, then upload it in your program portal and submit it for approval. This is the most common route on ClassWallet states. The invoice usually has to carry the student's name, the vendor's name and address, a description, dates, an itemised list and a total. Handwritten will be rejected.

2. A payment request from the vendor

Newer, and easier where it exists. You link the vendor in your account, the vendor sends a payment request for the amount, and you accept it and pick the expense category. No invoice to chase. Arkansas added this for the 2026-27 year.

One thing families get tangled in here: linking to a vendor is not the same as linking to a school. School linking is enrolment verification and is required to receive funds at all. Vendor linking just authorises payment requests. Do not unlink your school.

3. Buy it yourself and get reimbursed

Available in some programs and not others, and the only route in states where a vendor is not yet listed. Keep the receipt, submit it, wait. Florida's PEP works this way for a lot of purchases.

Two things that will cost you time

Approval is not instant, and you usually cannot see it fail. Settlement typically runs several business days to a couple of weeks after the program approves an order. In Arizona, vendors explicitly cannot see pending, incomplete or rejected transactions, so if an order is declined the vendor will not know unless you tell them. If something goes quiet, chase it from your side.

Refunds usually go back to the program, not to you. This catches people. If you return something bought with ESA funds, the money generally returns to the account or to the department, not your bank. Arizona requires a specific form and a check mailed to the Department. That is normal and it is not the vendor being difficult.

The two questions to ask before you spend

• "Which expense category are you approved under in my state, and is it capped?" This is the question that separates a smooth purchase from a denied one.
• "Which state standards does this map to?" If the program gates on core subjects, this is the answer that gets it through, and if it does not, you have still learned something useful about the course.

Where Networthy stands

Networthy is an approved vendor on several state programs and in review on others, and the position changes as applications clear. Rather than publish a list here that goes stale, we keep it current in one place.

See the current state-by-state position, including which programs we are approved on and which are still in review. We say "in review" when that is what is true.

The course maps to TEKS 5.10 in Texas, SS.4.FL in Florida, the Iowa social studies standards, New York's elementary objectives and the 2021 national standards. The crosswalks are published, and you are welcome to hand them to whoever is asking.

Sources: Arkansas Department of Education, Education Freedom Account vendor guidance and 2026-27 vendor training; Arizona Department of Education, ESA vendor welcome guidance and refund procedure; Louisiana LA GATOR program guidance; Wyoming Steamboat Legacy Scholarship eligible expense rules; Alabama CHOOSE Act approved subject list; Step Up For Students, PEP Purchasing Guide; ClassWallet direct pay documentation. More on the research behind starting early is on our research page.