Over 700 Texas private schools, pre-K providers approved for education savings account program

Hundreds of Texas private schools have been approved to participate in the state’s new education savings account program, per a map released by the state comptroller’s office in early January.

Under the $1 billion program, known as Texas Education Freedom Accounts, eligible families will receive thousands of dollars in state funds to send their children to a private school or homeschool them beginning in the 2026-27 school year.

The latest

As of press time, 775 private schools and prekindergarten providers had been approved to accept education savings accounts, or ESAs. There are over 1,300 accredited private schools in the state, according to the Texas Private School Accreditation Commission.

About 87% of all approved private schools will offer pre-K services, with some schools serving a range of grades and others catering to pre-K students only. Roughly 450 schools will serve students in kindergarten through fifth grade, middle school or high school, the map shows.

The majority of approved schools are located in and around Texas’ largest cities, with:

• 233 schools in the Houston area
• 195 schools in the Dallas-Fort Worth area
• 94 schools in the San Antonio area
• 70 schools in the Austin area
• 38 schools in South Texas
• 37 schools in East Texas
• 35 schools in the Rio Grande Valley
• 25 schools near Bryan-College Station and Waco
• 22 schools in West Texas
• 11 schools in the El Paso area
• 9 schools in the Panhandle
• 6 schools near Wichita Falls and Sherman

Other approved educational service providers, such as tutors and behavioral or speech therapists, will also be listed online. The map will be updated as more schools and providers are accepted into the program, the comptroller’s office said.

About the program

Texas lawmakers created the ESA program during the 2025 state legislative session, making Texas one of at least 30 states with a program that funnels public funds into private schools, according to EdWeek, an education news organization.

With oversight from the comptroller’s office, the program is administered by Odyssey, a New York-based tech company that operates similar programs in five other states, Community Impact previously reported.

Families can begin applying for the program Feb. 4. Those accepted for the first year of the program will receive $10,474 per student to spend on private education and related expenses, including textbooks, transportation, tutoring and therapy services. During the 2023-24 school year, the average cost of Texas private school tuition was $10,965 for kindergarten through eighth-grade students and $14,986 for high school students, according to the Texas Private Schools Association.

Students with disabilities will be eligible to receive up to $30,000 annually, depending on their individual needs, while homeschooled students will receive up to $2,000 per year.

If applications for the program outpace available funding, state law requires that Odyssey and the comptroller’s office prioritize students in the following order:

• Students with disabilities whose annual household incomes are at or below 500% of the federal poverty line, or about $160,000 for a family of four
• Families with incomes at or below 200% of the federal poverty line, which is about $64,000 for a family of four
• Families earning between 200%-500% of the federal poverty line
• Families above 500% of the federal poverty line—limited to 20% of total program funding

To be eligible, students must:

• Reside in Texas
• Be U.S. citizens or lawful residents
• Be eligible to attend a Texas public school, open-enrollment charter school or pre-K program

Students must be enrolled in a pre-K program or private school to be eligible for the $10,474 in private education funding, according to the program website. This means that some families may need to apply to private schools before they are accepted into the ESA program.

Looking ahead

Texas families interested in receiving ESA funds can apply for the program beginning Feb. 4. Applications will close March 17 and families will be notified about their acceptance status as soon as April, according to the comptroller’s office.

A timeline on the program website states that accepted families will be able to access at least 25% of their ESA funds by July 1 and at least 50% by Oct. 1. All funding for the 2026-27 school year will be available in April 2027, per the timeline.

Families, schools and educational vendors can sign up for email updates about the program here.