At least 85,000 students will use Texas' new education savings accounts during the 2026-27 school year, an Aug. 3 report shows. Enrollment may grow as the school year kicks off and more families opt in to the program, according to the state comptroller’s office.
The overview
The Texas Education Freedom Accounts program gives families state funds to send their children to private schools or homeschool them, with priority going to students with disabilities and children from low-income households.
Republican state leaders and other proponents of the program have said it will expand educational opportunities for students who are not receiving the services or support they need in their local public schools, including those who cannot afford to pay for a private education. Critics have expressed concerns that the program will unfairly benefit students already enrolled in private schools and divert funding from public schools facing financial challenges.
About 24% of students participating in the TEFA program have a disability, according to state data, and 80% of participants are from low-income families.
“Parents from every walk of life are demanding the power to direct their children’s education,” newly-appointed Comptroller Don Huffines said in a statement. “The initial success of this program speaks for itself.”
White students make up about 40% of all TEFA participants, followed by Hispanic students at 28% and Black students at 14%. In comparison, about 24% of students attending Texas public schools during the 2025-26 school year were white, while 53% were Hispanic and 12.9% were Black, according to Texas Education Agency data.
Zooming in
The comptroller’s office was required under state law to submit a report detailing the demographics of participating students to the Legislature by Aug. 1. Huffines, a businessman and former state senator, was sworn in as the new state comptroller Aug. 1 after acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock stepped down, and Huffines’ office released the report Aug. 3.
The comptroller’s office previously stated that about 43% of students selected for the program had previously attended a Texas public school, while the other 57% were enrolled in a private school or homeschooled. The Aug. 3 report did not include that information.
State Sen. Sarah Eckardt, an Austin Democrat running against Huffines in November, criticized the report for doing “the bare minimum required by law.”
“The report fails to disclose how many voucher recipients already attended private school, nor does it project future growth as waitlists clear and siblings automatically qualify,” Eckhardt said in an Aug. 4 statement to Community Impact. “The comptroller’s office should track these details, but I doubt we will get answers while an appointed acting comptroller with a history of hiding the truth remains in power.”
Texas lawmakers created the program in 2025, allocating $1 billion for its first year. As of July 29, about 122,000 students had been selected for the program, and 85,344 of those students had confirmed enrollment in a participating private school or notified the state of their homeschooling plans, per the report. Other accepted students either have opted out of the program or have not yet made a decision.
Once a family is selected for the program, they have four weeks to opt in or out, according to the comptroller’s office.
How it works
Students using state dollars for private education are receiving $10,474 each for the 2026-27 school year, although that amount may vary in future years. Parents who are homeschooling their children are eligible for up to $2,000 per student, while students with disabilities can receive up to $30,000 each, depending on their individual needs.
The comptroller’s office prioritized the roughly 248,000 applicants who were deemed eligible for the program in the following order:
- Tier 1 includes students with disabilities whose annual household incomes are at or below 500% of the federal poverty line—about $165,000 for a family of four—and their eligible siblings. About 12% of applicants and 39% of participants were in the first tier.
- Tier 2 includes children with household incomes at or below 200% of the federal poverty line, which is about $66,000 for a family of four. About 32% of applicants and 60% of participants were in the second tier.
- Tier 3 includes families earning between 200%-500% of the federal poverty line. About 29% of applicants were in the third tier, although less than 30 students in this tier were participating in the program as of July 29.
- Tier 4 includes families above 500% of the federal poverty line. About 27% of applicants were in the fourth tier, although none had been accepted into the program.
The comptroller’s office also shared information about the grade program participants were enrolled in for the 2026-27 school year. At 11%, the largest cohort of participants were going into pre-K, followed by third grade students at 8%.
The largest numbers of students participating in the program live in Texas’ largest school districts, state data shows. The report lists that 3,327 participants live in Houston ISD’s boundaries, followed by 2,645 participants from Dallas ISD’s boundaries, 2,271 participants from Northside ISD’s boundaries and 2,024 participants from Fort Bend ISD’s boundaries.
Looking ahead
Ahead of next year’s state legislative session, the comptroller’s office is required to provide information about how much money will be needed to fund each participating child, their eligible siblings and each child on the waiting list.
Over 274,000 students applied for the first year of the program and about 248,000 were deemed eligible, Community Impact previously reported. The comptroller’s office said over 121,000 students are currently on the program’s waitlist.
Based on participation rates from similar programs in other states, about 325,000 students are expected to apply for the TEFA program in the 2027-28 school year, and 400,000 students are expected to apply in the 2028-29 school year, according to Colyandro Public Affairs, a firm that lobbied for the TEFA program and is led by a former aide to Gov. Greg Abbott.
The current state budget includes $1 billion in TEFA funding for the 2026-27 school year. The nonpartisan Texas Legislative Budget Board previously projected that demand would drive lawmakers to expand the program to $3.3 billion by 2028 and $4.8 billion by 2030.
“No Texas child should be trapped in a failing school or forced to attend a school that is unable to provide the services they need to address disabilities such as dyslexia, dysgraphia or auditory processing disorders,” Huffines said in an Aug. 3 statement. “I am committed to improving and growing this program so every Texas child can have the opportunity to reach their dreams.”
Families who did not apply this year and are interested in participating in the program during the 2027-28 school year should fill out this form, per the comptroller’s office. The agency said it would also use form signups to "inform the Texas Legislature about public interest in the program.”
