More than 102,000 students participating in new school choice program

Audio By Carbonatix

(The Center Square) – More than 102,000 students have been accepted in Texas’ new school choice program, Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA), a state and national record. Nearly 70% will be attending private school in the fall using taxpayer money.

The TEFA program begins in the 2026-2027 school year. 

This week, the latest batch of waitlisted students – more than 4,100 – received notification of their TEFA acceptance. 

“Our history-making progress bringing school choice to Texas continues,” Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock said. “Our office is working diligently to ensure that as many families as possible are able to join this program in its first year as we manage the longest school choice waitlist in the country.” 

This is after more than 3,300 waitlisted students were notified of their acceptance roughly one week ago. 

Texas’ first Education Savings Account program launched in February with 274,183 students applying. The number of applicants set a national record for the first year of a new school choice program, according to the state comptroller’s office, which is administering the program. 

In April, the first round of students, more than 42,600, were notified of their acceptance to TEFA. In early May, the second round, more than 53,000, were notified, The Center Square reported. 

The first round included priority students stipulated by law: Tier 1 students and their siblings with qualifying disabilities in households at or below 500% of the federal poverty level. The second round included Tier 2 students from households with incomes at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, or $66,000 per year for a family of four, according to a state law governing the program.

After the Memorial Day holiday, 3,317 waitlisted students began receiving notifications that they had been accepted after more funding was made available. This was due to previously accepted students opting out of TEFA or selecting “homeschool/other,” reducing their allotted funding amount to $2,000.  

An additional 294 special education students and 183 of their siblings were also accepted into the program, the comptroller’s office said.

With these additional students, and including the nearly 96,000 previously awarded students, 102,037 students have now been awarded TEFA as of June 10, according to comptroller data. 

The newly awarded previously waitlisted students were classified as Tier 2. 

So far, about 2,000 students previously awarded TEFA grants have opted out. Nearly 145,000 students, including nearly 13,000 Tier 2 applicants, remain on the waitlist, the comptroller’s office said.

TEFA demographic data reveals that slightly more boys than girls were accepted to the program, 52%. Of those accepted, 38% are white, 27% are Hispanic, and 16% are Black. 

TEFA advocates argued the $1 billion taxpayer-funded program would benefit students seeking alternatives to failing public schools. The majority of students enrolled in the 2024-2025 school year that applied to the program were enrolled in private schools, 57%; 43% were enrolled in public schools, according to the data. The data excludes pre-k through first grade.

The majority of TEFA students will be attending private school in the 2026-2027 school year, 68%; 32% will be homeschooled, according to the data.

Last year, the Texas legislature established taxpayer-funded ESAs through TEFA. It allows families to enroll their children in a school of their choice, pay for private school tuition, cover homeschool expenses, tutoring, career and technical education programs, among other expenses.  

The legislature allocated $1 billion to fund TEFA to support up to roughly 100,000 students. The program allocates roughly $30,000 for disabled students, $10,000 for other students and $2,000 for homeschool students. Eligibility is based on economic need, prioritizing disabled and low-income students, divided in tiers. 

Because demand exceeded slots, more than half of eligible applicants were waitlisted. After Tier 1 students received notifications and accepted, the total number of Tier 2 students exceeded available funding. As a result, accepted applicants were chosen by a random lottery, as required by state law, the comptroller’s office said. 

The newly awarded students have until July 15 to confirm their enrollment in a TEFA participating private school, select homeschool or other or opt out. Those who opt out will potentially make available additional funding for waitlisted students.