TEXAS — According to a database released on Thursday, over 700 schools have been approved to participate in Texas’ new school voucher program for the 2026-27 school year.
About 30% of the schools taking part in the Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) program are in the Houston area. The next largest region was Dallas-Fort Worth, with 195 schools. After that, came San Antonio with 94 schools and Austin with 70 schools. The El Paso area, which includes a large portion of southwest Texas, has 11 schools.
Outside of the major cities, the South Texas region—which includes Corpus Christi and Laredo—has 38 schools, the Rio Grande Valley has 35 schools, East Texas has 37 schools, Central Texas has 25 schools, West Texas has 22 schools, the Panhandle has nine schools and North Texas has six schools.
To qualify to be a part of the program, schools had to be accredited by the Texas Private School Accreditation Commission or by another accreditor recognized by the state education agency, have been operating for at least two years and administer a nationally norm-referenced assessment.
The private school voucher program was passed by the Texas Legislature last year, joining over 30 states implementing some sort of voucher system. It includes $1 billion for up to 90,000 students to use for private school tuition or costs for other schooling programs. The program could grow to nearly $4.5 billion by 2030.
Back in October, the Texas Comptroller’s Office announced it had hired Odyssey, a New York-based finance and technology company, to manage TEFA.
According to the database, “more schools and providers will be added regularly.” For the full list of participating schools, head to the database’s website.
Texas parents can start applying for the TEFA program beginning Feb. 4, 2026. In April, parents will be notified if they will receive funding, and a portion of the funds will be available July 1.