The program will allow parents to use tax dollars to pay for private school education expenses starting next school year.

AUSTIN, Texas — With just a few days left in the six-week-long application window, more than 174,000 students have already applied to be a part of The Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) program when it launches next school year.

Four Muslim parents and three private schools have sued Texas leaders for excluding Islamic private schools from participating in the program.

State lawmakers created the program in legislation passed last year, which will allow parents to use tax dollars to pay for private school education expenses starting next school year.

The number of applications exceeds the 90,000 to 100,000 spots that state leaders estimated would be available in the first year. Lawmakers set aside $1 billion for the program’s first year.

“We’re expecting to sell out in year one,” Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock said in a statement. “We are also laying a strong foundation for school choice in Texas to flourish for years to come.”

The funds are deposited into an education savings account, and parents can direct those funds to participating schools or approved vendors. More than 2,000 schools are signed up to participate in the program. 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.

It is not a first-come, first-served program. Those who apply just before the March 17 deadline will have the same chance of receiving funding as families who applied on the first day.

If demand exceeds available funding, not every student will be selected. The program prioritizes students from low-income families and those who have a disability.

Just because a student is accepted into the program does not guarantee them access. If they plan to attend a private school, they still need to be accepted. 

“Just because you apply in those income priority tiers doesn’t necessarily mean you could be eligible for that voucher, but that doesn’t mean that school will accept you,” said Dee Carney, Director of the Texas Center for Voucher Transparency, an initiative through Our Schools, Our Democracy. “The comptroller’s donut chart will change from application to acceptance.”

The center is pushing for more transparency about the program and the data behind it.

If public demand for the program exceeds available funding, the state will prioritize the following applicants:

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.

According to data from the Texas Comptroller’s Office, through Sunday, 79% of applicants said 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.

“It’s exactly what we knew and that parents want the opportunity to select the best educational environment for their children, and that transcends any barriers, any boundaries, zip codes, socioeconomics, race or any other factor,” Texas Public Policy Foundation Senior Fellow Mandy Drogin said. “That’s what we’re seeing prove up in the applications that have been sent through so far.”

35% of applicants come from households that earn an income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, 36% of the applicants are between 200% and 500% of the federal poverty level and 29% of applicants reported incomes that are above 500% of the federal poverty level.

“I don’t think that we’re surprised by seeing what we’re seeing, over 71% of the families that are applying are in that low-income or middle-income demographic,” Drogin said. “I think that that’s exactly in line with what we would expect to see with the application period.”

As for the priority tiers, the Comptroller’s office said that 31% of applicants come from households with incomes between 200% and 500% of the federal poverty level. 30% 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.

11% 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.

Most students, 20,975, are applying to take part in Pre-K.

“When you look at the comptroller’s map, it’s easy to see there are lots of Texas counties that do not have what we call a brick and mortar elementary, middle, or high school,” Carney said. “We’ve drilled down into that, and we can see out of those 2200 schools, almost 60% only enroll pre-K, and that has been a surprise.”

Fewer people applied for each grade level after Pre-K, with 15,777 applying for Kindergarten, 13,654 for first grade, and 13,303 for second grade.

By Education Service Center region, Austin is fourth in the state with 14,356 students who applied. The Austin region is behind Houston with 38,365, Richardson with 28,525 and San Antonio with 19,422.

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, home school, or who did not attend any school at all last school year.

Houston ISD led the way with 7,553, followed by Dallas ISD with 5,267 and Fort Bend ISD with 4,755. Austin ISD is eighth in the state with 2,969. Leander ISD is the next closest in Central Texas at 18th with 1,712. Round Rock ranks 24th with 1,441, Georgetown is 40th with 957, Pflugerville in 52nd with 818, Hays CISD is 53rd with 815 and Lake Travis ISD is 67th with 681.

You can find a list of all school districts here.

While the data we have seen offers some insight into the program, 

More than 2,200 schools have signed up to participate, but some schools, including many Muslim schools, have found themselves shut out of the program. 

Last month, a group of Democratic state lawmakers sent a letter to Hancock, alleging that accredited Muslim schools are not being equitably included in the program. They argued it amounts to “religious gatekeeping” and opens the state to legal liability under equal protection laws and Texas constitutional protections for religious liberty and due process.

Two federal lawsuits have been filed, demanding that the program be blocked because it discriminates based on religion. 

One lawsuit was filed by a parent 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 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 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 or not it can allow schools that are affiliated with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) 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 Gov. Abbott recently designated as a terror group. CAIR has since sued Gov. Abbott for the terrorist designation, claiming it was defamatory and not based in law.

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

“They are seeking to explore the kindness and generosity and freedoms of Americans. They are in our public institutions, and we need to eradicate them from our public institutions,” Drogin said. “No more teacher training, no more where we’re doing these world cultures and things like that, where we’re bringing in content from hostile foreign nations. We have got to clamp down on that.”

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.

“There is no question that the Comptroller’s Office is statutorily charged with ensuring that our school choice program is protected from abuse by terrorists or the Chinese Communist Party,” Paxton said in a statement when he released the opinion back in January.

In a social media post on Thursday, Gov. Abbott said he agrees with the decision to exclude Islamic schools because funds should not go “to radical Islamic indoctrination.”

“We don’t want school choice funds going to radical Islamic indoctrination with historic connections to terrorism. I signed laws banning Sharia cities,” Abbott wrote. “I designated CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations. And I will pass another law that completely bans Sharia Law in Texas.”

The lawsuit requests the federal court mandate the state to accept any Islamic school that meets the eligibility requirements and not delay or deny access because of religious identity, alleged “Islamic ties” or “generalized associations with Islamic civil-rights or community organizations absent individualized, adjudicated findings of unlawful conduct.”

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.

“We do not have to compromise our freedoms and our rights for individuals who seek to subvert the Constitution, who seek to harm American values and our way of life,” Drogin said. “The government is under no obligation to fund any entities that have direct or even indirect ties to hostile foreign nations or terrorist groups like the designated terrorist groups like CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Drogin said the exclusion of the schools has nothing to do with religion.

“Every single religion, every faith, or those with no religion and faith are welcome and encouraged to apply. We believe that every parent has the right to select the best school for their children. This is about a national security issue, and Americans must take this growing threat seriously,” Drogin said. “We’re going to give Texans education freedom, but it doesn’t mean we’re going to weaponize the Constitution, and it certainly doesn’t mean we’re going to use tax dollars to help fund these entities like we are seeing proven up around the country, where that they have weaponized our generosity, our tax code and our legal system to take our money in an effort to subvert our way of life.”

The program will begin in the 2026-27 school year. Texans have until March 17 to apply for the program.

Sometime in early April, families will be notified whether they have been accepted into the program. The first portion of funding will become available sometime between the start of July and mid-August.