Inspire Prep Academy
Arizona gives families an education account they can spend on the school and the instruction they choose — kindergarten through twelfth grade. This page walks you through getting one, then enrolling in the academics: every step, in order, with links to the exact pages where you do each thing.
It takes about 30 days for the State to process an application, so the sooner you start, the better. If you get stuck anywhere on this page, call us — we do this with families every week.
Your Inspire Prep Academy program fee covers your student's training. Your Arizona ESA can go toward the coached instruction here — we invoice only for the sessions your student actually attends. Every Inspire Prep student is enrolled at Smart Schools — all of them, no exceptions. This is required, and we connect you with their enrollment team so you can enroll directly. A student is not eligible to compete for Inspire Prep until it is done.
Funding window
Arizona releases ESA funding in four quarterly instalments, and which ones your family receives is set by the date you SIGN the ESA contract — not the date you apply. Sign by September 30, 2026 and the first instalment is included. Sign after it and that quarter is gone for the year; it is not backdated. The State processes a completed application within about 30 days, so start on the Arizona Department of Education ESA portal now, then finish enrollment with us at /prep/enroll.
If you are reading this after that date, apply anyway — applications are open all year and you would simply start at the next quarter. Apply on the ADE ESA portal, or begin at /prep/enroll and we will walk you through it.
Three things happen, in this order. Most of the waiting is in the first one, which is why it goes first.
Apply to the State of Arizona. About 30 days. This is the funding.
Academics are through Smart Schools. Required for every student — we put you in touch with their enrollment team and walk you through it. Accredited, online, year-round.
Sign the waiver and we put your student in a pod.
What your student actually gets
Physical education is not an add-on to the Inspire Prep day — it is the core of it, and it is mandatory for every student in the academy. Inspire Academy LLC is a registered Arizona ESA vendor. Your Arizona ESA can go toward the coached instruction here.
Every training day is built around individual skill work — handle, finishing, shooting mechanics, footwork — coached and corrected in the moment rather than left to reps alone. Small groups and one-on-one, so nobody hides in a drill line.
A real strength and conditioning program running alongside the skill work, scaled to the athlete's age and stage. This is the half of development most young players never get, and it is the half that decides who is still healthy and improving at seventeen.
Skills that only exist in a drill do not survive a game. Live team-practice instruction turns individual work into decisions made at speed — spacing, reads, communication, and basketball IQ under pressure.
Game film captured at tournaments, then reviewed with coaches. Players see what they actually did instead of what they remember doing, which is where the fastest correction happens.
National competition against real talent, plus highlight reels and direct exposure to college coaches. Development that nobody sees is only half the job.
Kindergarten through twelfth grade. Every age trains — the work is scaled to where the athlete actually is, not to a one-size program. Tell us your student's grade and we'll tell you exactly what their week looks like.
Gathering these first is the difference between finishing the application in one sitting and abandoning it halfway.
Part 1 — Do this first
An Empowerment Scholarship Account — everyone calls it an ESA — is an account the Arizona Department of Education funds for your student. You choose how to spend it on their education, within the State's rules. This is the part that takes the longest, so start here.
Most families qualify. The State's list starts with every Arizona student in kindergarten through twelfth grade. There is no income limit. You do not need a special reason. Other categories cover preschoolers with disabilities, students with an IEP or 504 plan, and military families.
Read the State's eligibility listHeads up: Your student cannot be in a public school and have an ESA at the same time. In Arizona, charter schools count as public schools. Is your student at one now? Call us before you apply. This is the thing families get surprised by most.
You're done when: You've found your student on the State's eligibility list.
You need two things. Your student's birth certificate. And proof that you live in Arizona. The State lists exactly which documents it accepts. Open that list and pick one you already have.
See which documents count as proof of Arizona residencyHeads up: Bills not in your name? That happens. The State has a form for it, called an Affidavit of Shared Residence. You are not stuck.
You're done when: You have both documents saved on your phone or computer, ready to upload.
Go to the State's ESA portal. The first thing it asks is whether you have an "ADEConnect" account. Do not let that stop you. ADEConnect is just the State's login system. If you have never used one, click "No — Create my account." It walks you through it.
Open the Arizona ESA portalHeads up: Have more than one child? Register once. You add each student inside the same account. Do not make a second login.
You're done when: You can log in to the portal and see your own account.
Fill out the application for your student. Upload the two documents from step 2.
Heads up: Stuck on the form? Ask us. We can sit down with you in person and go through it line by line — bring your documents. And finish the form in one sitting if you can. A half-finished application does not start the 30-day clock.
You're done when: The portal shows your application as submitted.
Taking an ESA means signing a contract with the State. You agree to two things. First, that your student is taught reading, grammar, math, social studies and science. Second, that you spend the money only on approved education costs. The coursework in our program covers those subjects.
Heads up: You cannot use an ESA and a tax-credit scholarship at the same time. A tax-credit scholarship is called an STO. You may switch from one to the other during the year. You just cannot hold both at once. Has your student got an STO now? Tell us before you sign.
You're done when: The contract is signed and submitted through the portal.
The State says it processes a complete application within 30 days. The answer comes by email. Heard nothing after 30 days? Call the ESA service center. That is what it is there for.
Call the State's ESA service center — 602-364-1969Heads up: This is the step families underestimate. Money is released four times a year. The later you apply, the less of this year's funding you can still use. Applying early is the whole game.
You're done when: You receive the State's decision email. Forward it to us and we'll take it from there.
Your ESA money arrives in a system called ClassWallet. That is where the State holds it. Money comes in four times a year. From ClassWallet you can pay a school directly, order from its store, use a linked debit card, or pay yourself back for approved things you already bought.
Heads up: You have to track what you spend and report it four times a year. Keep every receipt from day one. Hunting for them later is miserable.
You're done when: Your ClassWallet account is open and shows your first quarterly deposit.
Part 2 — We take it from here
Every Inspire Prep student is enrolled at Smart Schools — all of them, no exceptions. This is required, and we connect you with their enrollment team so you can enroll directly. A student is not eligible to compete for Inspire Prep until it is done. We connect you with the enrollment team at Smart Schools, the accredited online school we partner with, and we go over how the school side works with you before you enroll. Getting your student enrolled is our job, not yours. The coursework is accredited, online and self-paced, which is what makes a full training day possible. Here is all you need to do.
Smart Schools covers fifth grade through twelfth. If your student is in that range, you are set — go to the next step.
Heads up: Younger than fifth grade? Call us. Your student is still welcome at Inspire Prep — we train kindergarten through twelfth — and your ESA is unaffected either way. We may be able to work something out for the school side too. That is a conversation, and we will start it for you.
You're done when: You know whether your student is fifth grade or above.
Find a transcript, a homeschooling portfolio, or recent test scores — whichever you have. Any one of them is usually enough. Do not worry if you cannot find everything.
Heads up: Does your student have an IEP or a 504 plan? Tell us early. That support is available, and raising it up front is much easier than retrofitting it later.
You're done when: You have whatever records you have, ready to hand to us.
Academics are through Smart Schools, an accredited online school we partner with. We put you straight in touch with their enrollment team and tell you exactly what to do. You enroll with them directly — it is your account and your student's record, so you are never waiting on us to file something. You do not have to go hunting for a school, and you are not sorting it out alone. Every Inspire Prep student is enrolled at Smart Schools — all of them, no exceptions. This is required, and we connect you with their enrollment team so you can enroll directly. A student is not eligible to compete for Inspire Prep until it is done. Enrollment runs year-round, so there is no deadline to miss and no term to wait for.
Heads up: We go over the school arrangement with you before you enroll, so nothing about it is a surprise later.
You're done when: Your student is enrolled at Smart Schools and has course access.
We keep your student's schooling arrangement in place for as long as your account with Inspire is current. If your account lapses, we will give you 30 days' written notice before the arrangement ends. We will contact you — nobody should find this out from a login that stopped working.
Ask us about this before you enroll. Here is the honest picture. To play NCAA Division I or II, a player must pass a set number of NCAA-approved core courses. The NCAA approves those one course at a time, school by school. A school being accredited does not make its courses NCAA-approved. Those are two different things, and we are not going to blur them. We do not claim NCAA approval for our coursework. What we will do is check it with you directly against the NCAA Eligibility Center — before your student takes a course that might not count.
Call us and we'll walk through it with you on the phone — this is genuinely part of what we do, and nobody should lose funding over a form. For questions only the State can answer, their ESA service center is the right call.
You can start your Inspire Prep enrollment now — you do not have to wait for your ESA to be approved first. Tell us where you are in the process and we'll pick it up from there.
Start enrollmentWe checked every step on this page against the State of Arizona's own website on 2026-08-05. These processes do change, and the State is always the final word on your family's ESA — if anything here doesn't match what you're seeing, call the ESA service center at 602-364-1969 or call us and we'll sort it out with you.
