PHOENIX — Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program has reached a significant milestone, with more than 100,000 students now enrolled in the controversial school choice initiative.

The ESA program allows parents to use tax money that would have been allocated for their child’s public school education to pay for private schooling or homeschooling expenses instead.

Since the program’s universal expansion in 2022, more than 6,000 students join each quarter on average, and the state’s ESA website shows 100,208 ESA students are currently enrolled as of January 20.

Shift in student demographics

Early data showed most ESA students represented additional expenses – children already homeschooled or attending private schools. However, recent trends show a significant shift.

Now, four in 10 new ESA students weren’t previously funded by public education dollars, down from eight in 10 when the program began.

Geographic concentration in suburban areas

ESA enrollment is most popular in the Valley’s suburban communities, particularly in the southeast region. Four of the five ZIP codes adding the most ESA students are located in Queen Creek and San Tan Valley.

The one outlier is ZIP code 85365, which covers the Yuma Proving Grounds area and serves mostly military families.

Public schools losing students to ESA

The school districts experiencing the highest percentage of students leaving for ESA include Kingman Unified, Alhambra Elementary, Dysart Unified, Amphitheatre Unified in Tucson, and Queen Creek Unified.

Among charter schools, online institutions are seeing the most departures. These include ASU Preparatory Digital, Arizona Connections Academy, American Virtual Academy, American Leadership Academy, and charter schools run by Eduprize Schools.

How ESA funds are being spent

Nearly six in 10 ESA dollars spent last quarter went toward private school tuition or textbooks, totaling almost $104 million.

About $70 million was spent on homeschooling or supplemental materials – a category that has drawn scrutiny for some questionable expenses.

Spending drops significantly for other categories, including online learning, disability services for non-universal students, technology, and classes at postsecondary institutions like Mesa Community College.

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If we look at the Cardinals’ history with hiring head coaches, four guys stand out this time around.

The Arizona Cardinals have had a bit of a pattern in the way they hire new head coaches. Since they moved to Arizona, they have alternated between hiring coaches with significant head-coaching experience and guys doing the job for the first time, with one exception.

It is uncanny.

Cardinals history hiring head coaches since coming to Arizona

Their first head-coaching hiring in Arizona was in 1990, They fired Gene Stallings in 1989. He previously had been a head coach in the college ranks at Texas A&M.

Joe Bugel replaced him with no experience. It has gone back and forth since then with one exception.

• 1990 – Joe Bugel, no head-coaching experience
• 1994 – Buddy Ryan, previous NFL head coach
• 1996 – Vince Tobin, no head-coaching experience
• 2001 – Davie McGinnis, no head-coaching experience
• 2004 – Dennis Green, previous NFL head coach
• 2007 – Ken Whisenhunt, no head-coaching experience
• 2013 – Bruce Arians, was interim head coach in 2012 for 12 games
• 2018 – Steve Wilks, was a head coach at a D-II school, never in FBS or NFL
• 2019 – Kliff Kingsbury, head-coaching experience in college (FBS)
• 2023 – Jonathan Gannon, no head-coaching experience

Winter is here in Arizona, and there’s plenty of sports activity. The college athletic seasons are well underway, including those at Arizona State and Grand Canyon. Meanwhile, the Phoenix Suns’ NBA G League affiliate, the Valley Suns, has started its season.

Here are the news and events happening around Arizona sports:

Diamondbacks announce times for all games

The Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday, Jan. 20, joined Major League Baseball in announcing game times for all regular season and spring training games.

Spring training home games start at 1:10 p.m. MT, starting Feb. 20. The Diamondbacks play exhibition games on March 23 and 24 at 6:40 p.m. and 12:40 p.m.

Opening Day for the regular season is on Thursday, March 26. The Diamondbacks will be in Los Angeles to open 2026 against the back-to-back World Series champion Dodgers at 5:30 p.m. Phoenix time.

The Diamondbacks’ home opener is March 30 against Detroit Tigers at 7:10 p.m. Arizona will be the home team for two games in Mexico City, hosting the San Diego Padres at 3:05 p.m. on April 25 and 1:05 p.m. on April 25.

Eight-time All-Star Nolan Arenado, recently acquired by the Diamondbacks in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals, will return to Busch Stadium when Arizona plays four-game series against the Cardinals starting on June 11.

The Diamondbacks have series against the Dodgers in June, July and August, the home series in June and August at Chase Field.

— José M. Romero

Rising FC signs former MLS draft pick

Phoenix Rising FC on Wednesday, Jan. 21, announced it has signed Serbian defender Aleksandar Vukovic to a multi-year contract.