As Texas launches its new school voucher program, Corpus Christi private schools weigh the benefits—and drawbacks—for local families.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — With Texas set to roll out its new Education Freedom Account program in early February, private schools across the Coastal Bend are weighing whether the state’s school voucher initiative aligns with their missions and academic models.

RELATED: School closures/delays in the Coastal Bend-area due to winter storm

Signed into law in May by Gov. Greg Abbott, the program will provide eligible families up to $10,500 per student each year to help cover private school tuition. Applications open Feb. 4 and run through March 17, but participation among private schools is optional — and locally, not all are signing on.

The Diocese of Corpus Christi, which oversees 12 eligible Catholic schools, says the program offers families another educational option at a time when public schools are facing financial strain. The announcement comes as seven Corpus Christi Independent School District campuses are being consolidated amid a $27 million funding deficit.

“We are a full community of faith. We embrace the whole child,” said Dr. Rebecca Hammel, superintendent of the Diocese of Corpus Christi. “One of the reasons that we support this program is that parents are the primary educator of their children. They ought to decide where their children go to school. That shouldn’t be determined by a ZIP code or other financial constraints.”

Hammel emphasized that Catholic schools are open to students of all faiths and are rooted in close-knit communities that extend beyond the classroom.

“We’re able to partner with parents to have that community that becomes a spiritual hub for the whole family, not just the child,” she said.

That sense of community is what drew Amanda Cavazos to St. Patrick Catholic School. A parent who later joined the school’s staff, Cavazos said the support families show one another is constant and often unseen.

“People genuinely want to help,” Cavazos said. “You wouldn’t even know they were donating this money. We had a parent at the book fair donate $100 for kids who didn’t have enough money — that’s the kind of community we have.”

Not all private schools, however, view the voucher program as a good fit.

The Jewish Community Center’s preschool and kindergarten, which enrolls about 180 students — only four of whom are Jewish — has opted out of the program, citing concerns about maintaining its accelerated academic approach.

“We have an accelerated program, meaning that we are very flexible in education,” said Manuela Sela, the JCC’s preschool director. “We can work with students one on one, and when they graduate our kindergarten program, they’re at a first- or second-grade level by CCISD standards.”

Sela said participating in the state program would limit that flexibility and make it harder to prepare students for first grade at their current pace.

As families prepare to apply for vouchers in the coming weeks, private schools across Corpus Christi continue to evaluate whether participation aligns with their educational philosophies — underscoring that the impact of the state’s new program will vary from campus to campus.