The application period, which was set to close on Tuesday night, will now remain open until March 31.

AUSTIN, Texas — Texas families will have a little more time to apply for the state’s “Education Freedom Account” program after a federal court order on Tuesday. The decision came hours before the application window was set to close.

Starting next school year, those education savings accounts will allow Texas families to use tax dollars to pay for private school education expenses.

The state has accepted 2,200 schools in the program but has excluded Muslim ones. Four Muslim parents and three private schools have sued Texas leaders for excluding Islamic private schools from participating in the program. Two federal lawsuits have been filed, demanding the program be blocked because it discriminates based on religion. 


Judge orders temporary injunction, extension

On Tuesday morning, U.S. District Judge Alfred Bennett in Houston granted a temporary injunction and extended it from midnight Tuesday until March 31.

During that time, parents will be able to submit new applications, and those who have already submitted applications will be able to update their existing ones. 

“This two-week extension will give families an additional opportunity to apply for the first year of school choice in Texas,” Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock said in a statement. “We look forward to building on the record-setting demand for educational options that we have seen over the first six weeks.”

Bennett ruled the Texas Comptroller’s Office, which is administering the program, must allow two Islamic schools, Excellence Academy and the Houston Quran Academy, to apply and provide them with a registration link within 24 hours.

Lawyers representing the Islamic schools and families told KVUE on Wednesday they want the court to extend the order beyond March 31 until the next hearing in the case on April 24.


Details of the lawsuits

A parent filed one lawsuit on behalf of their two children in Houston against AG Ken Paxton, Hancock and Education Commissioner Mike Morath. Three parents and three schools filed a second suit. The lawsuits argue that no Islamic school had been approved to participate in the program. 

The first lawsuit filed by Mehdi Cherkaoui accuses Hancock of using Gov. Greg Abbott’s designation of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as a terrorist organization to deny the ability of any Islamic school to participate in the program.

It argues that the Islamic schools that have been blocked from joining the program meet all eligibility requirements and have no “connection to terrorism or unlawful activity.”

Cherkaoui, whose kids attend private school Qur’an Academy Spring in Houston, where tuition is almost $18,000 per year, argues he should be able to participate in the program to offset some of the educational expenses.

In the second lawsuit, one school, Bayaan Academy, claims it was approved to participate in the program back in January but was later removed. A second school, Islamic Service Foundation, said it applied for both schools it operates to participate in the program, but has not received an update on the status of its application. A third school, The Eagle Institute, said it has not even been able to start the pre-approval process.


State seeks legal guidance on eligibility

In a letter to Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office in January, Hancock asked for clarification about the eligibility of certain schools to receive funds.

In the letter, Hancock asked for the AG’s office to issue an opinion on whether it can allow schools that are affiliated with the or the Chinese government to be a part of the program, stating that he was concerned they were linked to foreign terrorist organizations, transnational criminal organizations or foreign adversaries.

Hancock identified two schools, one of which he said had hosted events organized by CAIR, which Abbott designated as a terror group. CAIR has since sued Abbott for the terrorist designation, claiming it was defamatory and not based on law.

The second school, Hancock alleged, was controlled by an “advisor to the Chinese Communist government.”

In a legal opinion, the AG’s office said the comptroller’s office can prohibit schools from participating in the program if they violate “laws barring it from providing material support to a designated terrorist organization” or restricting certain foreign ownership.


Significant number of applicants

In the final hours for families to apply to be a part of the state’s new Education Freedom Account program, the Texas Comptroller’s Office said it received a flood of new applications.

“We have smashed all records for a new school choice program. We expected that might happen going in since everything’s bigger in Texas,” Travis Pillow, a spokesperson for the Texas Comptroller’s Office, said. “We have seen tremendous demand from families across the state, and that demand has been picking up as the deadline approaches.”

More than 229,000 families have applied for the program as of mid-morning on Tuesday – 20,000 more since Monday afternoon when the Texas Comptroller’s Office announced that the number of applications had crossed 200,000.

The funds are deposited into an education savings account, and parents can direct those funds to participating schools or approved vendors. The funds can be used for education-related expenses, such as private school tuition, textbooks, tutoring and transportation.

The standard award is set at 85% of the statewide average per-student funding in Texas public schools. The TEFA program will provide each student with $10,474 that families can spend on private school tuition and other educational expenses.

Students with disabilities can qualify for significantly higher amounts – up to about $30,000 per year in some cases – to help cover therapies, specialized services and tuition. Families who plan to homeschool their children rather than enroll them in a private school can receive about $2,000 per student each year.


Funding limits and lottery system

Lawmakers set aside $1 billion for the program’s first year. Only about 90,000 to 100,000 students are expected to get into the program in the first year, but the accounts are not first-come, first-served. Those who apply just before the deadline will have the same chance of receiving funding as families who applied on the first day.

With demand exceeding available funding, the comptroller will use a lottery system to determine who gets into the program, giving priority to children with disabilities and children from low-income families.

“After applications have closed, we will go through and we will prioritize first students with disabilities and then students in low- and middle-income households, and that will be who we prioritize for funding,” Pillow said. “Once we run out of the available funding, we will conduct a random lottery to ensure that every family has an equal chance of receiving funding. In the first year of this new program.”

Applicants will be considered in the following order:

Students with disabilities in families with an annual income at or below 500% of the federal poverty level, which includes a four-person household earning less than roughly $165,000 a year.Families at or below 200% of the poverty level, which includes any four-person household earning less than roughly $66,000.Families between 200% and 500% of the poverty level.Families at or above 500% of the poverty level; these families can receive up to $200 million of the program’s total budget.


Breakdown of applicants

According to data from the Texas Comptroller’s Office, through Monday morning, nearly 80% of applicants said that if they are accepted into the program, they intend to use the funding at a private school, and 21% said they plan to use it to homeschool their students.

Thirty-five percent of applicants come from households that earn an income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, 37% of the applicants are between 200% and 500% of the federal poverty level, and 28% of applicants reported incomes that are above 500% of the federal poverty level.

“You never know what demand is going to look like in year one of a new program. What we have seen is that there is demand across the state,” Pillow said. “We’re seeing low-income families, middle-income families and higher-income families all applying in roughly equal proportions, with some of the low- and middle-income Texans showing increased enthusiasm.”

As for the priority tiers, the comptroller’s office said 30% of applicants come from households with incomes between 200% and 500% of the federal poverty level. Thirty percent come from households that earn an income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, and 23% are at or above 500% of the federal poverty level.

Twelve percent of those who applied have both a disability and come from a family living at or below 500% of the federal poverty level, and 5% of applicants come from a household living at or above 500% of the federal poverty level and were enrolled in a public school last school year.


Pre-K demand and eligibility rules

The largest number of students, 25,841, are applying to take part in pre-K. The next three highest after pre-K were 19,202 applying for kindergarten, 16,550 for first grade and 15,839 for second grade.

“That makes sense because many families want to begin making choices, taking charge of their child’s educational journey right as they’re getting started,” Pillow said. “But one thing that has been a misconception is that there are different eligibility criteria for pre-K than there are for grades K-12.”

To qualify for private pre-K, children must be at least 3 years old and meet at least one of the eight criteria for free pre-K at public schools. It includes those who are low-income and qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, those who are not able to speak and comprehend English, children who are homeless or are in foster care or have previously been in foster care, children of active duty military or whose parents were injured in the line of duty as a member of the military or first responders and children of public school teachers.

“A child has to be eligible for state free pre-K to receive pre-K funding through the Education Freedom Accounts program, and that means that there are typically income restrictions or students who are working on learning English,” Pillow said. “There are specific qualifications that students must meet to participate in free pre-K, and those apply to Texas Education Freedom accounts as well.”

Pre-K families need to include additional documentation with their applications. If they are qualifying under the low-income criteria, they need tax documents. If they are unable to speak or comprehend English, they need to get a home language survey completed, which can be done at their local school district.

This criterion is nearly identical to the Texas Education Agency’s requirements for free pre-k. The incentive only applies to the 3- and 4-year-olds who meet at least one of the criteria. Those families now have the option to use state funding from the TEFA program to send their children to an accredited private pre-K provider, provided they do not simultaneously attend a public program.

Specifically in pre-K, Pillow said half of the applications have been ineligible. As of Friday, only 12,000 of 24,000 applications met the criteria and were eligible to participate in the program.

“That’s in contrast to K-12, where the vast majority, over nine in 10 K-12 students who apply, have been found eligible,” Pillow said. “But in the pre-K grade, there’s a much lower proportion; it’s closer to about a 50-50 split.”


Challenges for students with disabilities

There has also been some confusion over the rules of the program and what families of children with disabilities need to qualify for additional funding. 

To apply for the program’s disability priority level, families can submit a Social Security determination letter or a physician’s note as proof of their child’s disability. To get into the upper range of up to $30,000, families must submit an Individualized Education Program (IEP) from their local school district, which essentially states that a child needs certain special education services. In some cases, that can take months to produce, much longer than the few weeks during which applications are open.

“We know that some students with disabilities have had challenges getting their IEP evaluations completed through their school district in time to meet this deadline,” Pillow said. “We have given families alternate methods to document their child’s disability, whether that’s a form signed by a doctor or whether that’s an older or out-of-date IEP. We want students with disabilities to have multiple options to confirm their priority and allow us to move their application to the front of the line.”

Pillow clarified that families of students with disabilities can still apply, even if they don’t have every single piece of documentation they need.

“Our message to families who are running into administrative hurdles and paperwork issues is get your application in with as much information as you’re able to provide by the deadline,” Pillow said. “We would rather have you get your application in, and then we’ll work on performing the verifications we need to and following up, rather than you not having your application in and then we may not be able to support you.”


Regional and district breakdowns

By Education Service Center region, Austin is fifth in the state with 18,153 students who applied. The Austin region is behind Houston with 45,817, Richardson with 35,866, Fort Worth with 28,499 and San Antonio with 23,367.

The Comptroller’s office also released a breakdown of students by school district. However, it is important to note that the numbers do not include only public school students; they can encompass anyone living in that region, including those in private schools, homeschool or who did not attend any school at all last school year.

Houston ISD led the way with 8,962, followed by Dallas ISD with 6,707 and Fort Bend ISD with 5,815. Austin ISD is seventh in the state with 3,794. Leander ISD is the next closest in Central Texas at 17th with 2,106. Round Rock ranks 24th with 1,815, Georgetown is 40th with 1,152, Pflugerville in 50th with 1,061, Hays CISD is 53rd with 1,013 and Lake Travis ISD is 67th with 852.

Data from the Texas Center for Voucher Transparency showed the majority of applicants for the program are not currently enrolled in Texas public schools. The initial data showed that 71% of voucher applications so far are from families with students already attending private schools or homeschooled. 

The Center for Voucher Transparency is run by nonprofit organization “Our Schools, Our Democracy.” It’s a public-facing hub for research, data and policy recommendations, as well as a confidential system for Texans to report concerns about the private school voucher program.

The center says it’s a sign that families enrolled in public schools will continue supporting them.


What happens next

The comptroller’s office said it plans to release finalized data from the application pool later this week.

The application window is now set to close on March 31 at 11:59 p.m., and families could be notified of their admission to the program sometime in April. Families will have until July 15 to select where they will attend school next year. If they do not plan to homeschool, families approved for the TEFA program still have to find a private school that will accept their child. More than 2,200 schools have signed up to participate so far, and Pillow said they are adding more every day. 

“Some families are selecting the private school where their child will attend right when they apply. Other families haven’t quite made up their mind yet. They’re still looking for other options,” Pillow said. “The deadline for families to select a school for next school year is not going to be until July 15, so there’s plenty of time for families to make an informed decision.”