The Arkansas Department of Education says its Education Freedom Account system is expanding school choice for families across the state.The program has been open for the past four weeks. In that time, the state says the program has seen a surge in applications — and there's still time to apply."That's another big priority," said Arkansas Education Secretary Jacob Oliva. "We've said as a state with Arkansas LEARNS that we're going to empower parents, and we know that 'one size fits all' doesn't work. We need to create some options."In November, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders proposed a nearly $6.5 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year, with half of the budget's increase to go toward Education Freedom accounts.The state says the program has covered about 90% of the prior year's per-student public school funding, which totals about $6,600 per student. The total funding for the upcoming school year is divided between scholarship and regular students.In February, 40/29 News talked to Farmington School District Superintendent Jon Laffoon about the opening of Education Freedom Account applications. He also serves as the president of the Rural Education Association."We're going to have people that want to collect that money for their homeschooling or their private schools," said Laffoon. "I think, across the state, our superintendents and our schools recognize that people want choice. And so, we're just working with our state."The upcoming academic year will be the first time all Arkansas student applications will be accepted. Previously, only select students with specific criteria were eligible.The state says the program has seen a surge in participation. More than 34,000 applications have been submitted for the upcoming school year, an increase of 20,000 from last year.At a state board of education meeting on March 13, Oliva answered a question about the program's size limit."Well, we have a number that has been built into the governor's budget, so I want to say that number is close to 40,000," Oliva said. "It's a hard exact size to navigate, but we're still under that ceiling. We're hoping that we're going to be able to accommodate all the families."When applying, parents need to create an account through the online portal and submit proof of residency as well as their student's birth certificate.