More than 200K school voucher applications submitted as deadline approaches

SAN ANTONIO – We’re seeing more fallout from the crisis in the classroom at so many school districts.

Hundreds of thousands of families are now asking for public money to pull their kids out of public schools. Tuesday’s the big deadline to apply for the state’s first taxpayer-funded voucher program.

We’re seeing more fallout from the crisis in the classroom at so many school districts.

More than 23,000 San Antonio families have applied for what the Texas Comptroller’s office is calling “educational freedom”; while they wait for a final decision — those against the vouchers say they’re bracing for the negative impact on public schools.

The Texas Comptroller’s office has received more than 200,000 applications for Texas Education Freedom Accounts since applications opened in February.

“There’s a lot of excitement in the air right now, because this is giving us a great opportunity to have young people who otherwise couldn’t afford a catholic education to receive that gift,” said Sister Bernadette Mota.

Sr. Mota is a director of mission advancement at St. John Bosco school on the inner west side. They’re one of the more than 2,200 schools across the state accepting vouchers.

“It’s not just that — because people apply that they’re automatically accepted to our school,” sister Mota said. “It’s also a whole process to make sure, like I said, that it’s good for them and it would be a good fit for both us and them.”

Both Northside and Northeast ISD’s are in the top 10 for most applications statewide. Northside has the fourth highest number of applications with more than 5000 submissions.

“We’ve continued to be very clear that vouchers are harmful to access to public education as a whole,” said Northside AFT president Melina Espiritu-Azocar. “We know that that’s going to be the case.”

The teacher’s union has fought against school vouchers since before they made it onto the ballot last November.

“Public taxpayer dollars should never go to private entities without any accountability, and that’s absolutely what we’re seeing here,” Espiritu-Azocar said.

In a press release sent out March 9, Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock said not every family who applies will participate in the program.

Espiritu-Azocar said the future for public schools is uncertain.

“It’s not exactly clear what or how vouchers will impact the school districts as a whole, much less, of course, particularly Northside,” she said. “But again, it’s a huge concern.”

We reached out to the Texas Comptroller’s office for answers, asking about the next steps once applications close. We specifically asked how the program will accommodate certain students, because some private schools are unable to.

“In terms of special needs, we’re not equipped for that,” Sr. Bernadette said. “So, there’s other schools out there that would be better for them.”

We’re still waiting to hear back from the state comptroller’s office.

If the demand for vouchers exceeds the one billion dollars available for the program, children with disabilities and families living below the poverty level will be given priority.

The deadline to apply is Tuesday at 11:59 p.m.