TYLER, Texas (KLTV) – Applications for Texas school vouchers, formally known as Texas Education Freedom Accounts, open tomorrow. Parents who successfully apply and are sending their kids to private school or homeschooling can get up to $30,000 per child for the 2026-2027 school year.
The program is part of Senate Bill 2, which passed in April. The bill requires Texas to provide one billion dollars towards funding students going to private school or home school programs in the upcoming school year, with new funding for future school years.
Am I eligible to apply for my child?
To qualify, children need to:
Be a citizen or national in the U.S. (or be lawfully admitted into the country).Be eligible to attend a public school, open-enrollment charter school or an open-enrollment/public pre-K/kindergarten program.Live in Texas.
If the application is accepted, the child stays in the program until they graduate high school, enrolls in a Texas public school/charter school, moves out of Texas, or is no longer eligible for public schooling/charter school.
For pre-K programs, children between 3-5 years old is eligible under specific circumstances, which can be found on the Texas Education Freedom Accounts website.
How much money can be awarded for my child?
Children going to a Texas private school or pro-K program can get awarded $10,474 for the 2026-2027 school year. That amount is based on the estimated statewide average of state and local funding per student in average daily attendance from the prior school year.
Children with a disability get a boost in funding, up to $30,000 per school year. The final amount is based on how much funding that the child’s school district would get under the child’s individualized education program (IEP).
If you’re instead enrolling your child into homeschooling, each child is eligible for $2,000 annually.
What can I spend the money for?
Money gained from the program can only be used on certain educational expenses. That includes tuitions and fees for the educational program a child is a part of, textbooks, and required school uniforms. Funds can also cover academic assessment costs, private tutoring, transportation to and from approved providers (like schools), educational therapies, computer hardware/software, and meals at private schools.
Funds can also be used for online and out-of-state programs that apply for approval and are accepted into the program. The same applies for Career and Technical Education programs.
If not all of the funds are spent in a given school year, the remaining amount will rollover year to year as long as the child stays in the program. Funds can’t be used to pay a family member.
Is my child guaranteed funding if I apply successfully?
It depends. If the state of Texas gets more applications than they can financially support with their one billion dollar budget, children will be enrolled in the program through a lottery process, with priority being given to students with disabilities and low-income families. For the upcoming school year, priority is set in four groups, in the following order
Children with a disability whose family’s household annual income is at or below 500% of the federal poverty level.Children whose family’s household income is below 200% of the federal poverty level.Children whose family’s household income is between 200%-500% of the federal poverty level.Children whose family’s household income is at or above 500% of the federal poverty level.
If all accepted applications can be covered by the one billion dollar budget, then all applicants will receive funding. The above priority list only applies if there’s too many applicants for the amount of funding available.
Additionally, siblings of children accepted into the program is also accepted into the program. Once accepted into the program, the student remains in the program and does not need to reapply year to year.
When will the funding be available to use?
If an application is accepted and funding is approved, funding will roll out over time, with at least 25% of funding available in education accounts. By October 1, at least 50% of funding will be available, with 100% of funding being available by April 1, 2027.
What private schools/programs are allowed to accept funding from school vouchers?
Not every private school is allowed to accept funding from the school voucher program. Schools must be in Texas and be accredited by the Texas Private School Accreditation Commission (TEPSAC) or an accreditor recognized by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). The school must also have successfully run a campus for at least two years, and assign nationally norm-referenced assessments, like the SAT or ACT. norm-referenced means that an exam is graded by comparing the scores of peers with other peers.
Those schools must then apply to the Texas Education Freedom Accounts program to be approved and listed. Those applications for schools opened on Dec. 9 last year. The schools accepted into the program can be found on an interactive map, with several dozen locations across east Texas
For pre-K and kindergarten programs, additional requirements must be met, which can be found on the Texas Education Freedom Accounts website.
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