The Texas Comptroller’s Office has begun distributing the first round of money under the new Texas Education Freedom Account program, officials announced Wednesday, including more than 1,000 within Dallas ISD’s boundaries.
The comptroller’s office plans to send award notices this week to more than 42,600 students. That total includes all applicants with disabilities who are in low- to middle-income households and their siblings, officials said. The first round of distribution continues through Friday.
The voucher-like program gives students public money for educational expenses like private school tuition or homeschooling costs. About three-quarters of the applicants intend to use the money for private school, according to figures from the comptroller’s office. The rest plan to use it for homeschooling or some other educational option.
About 53% of the students who received awards were in public schools last year, the comptroller’s office reported. Students who live in Houston ISD’s geographic boundaries represented the largest group, with 1,558 awards distributed. Dallas ISD came next, with 1,313, followed by San Antonio’s Northside ISD, with 1,139. Those figures include all awardees who live in those districts’ boundaries, not only those who are currently enrolled in those schools.
The awards announced Wednesday represent just the first round of money to be distributed. The comptroller’s office expects to send award letters to more families in the coming weeks, officials said. Applications for the first year of the program far outstripped the $1 billion available. The students receiving award letters this week are in the program’s first priority category — those with qualifying disabilities whose families earn at or below five times the federal poverty level.
The comptroller’s office will conduct a lottery next week to distribute the remaining money to students in the program’s second priority tier, those whose families earn less than twice the poverty level.
In a statement, acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock said the program’s launch puts families on a path toward being able to pick the educational path that works best for their children.
“The Legislature made low- and middle-income students with disabilities the first priority for the first year of school choice here in Texas, and that is exactly where this process starts,” Hancock said.
Gov. Greg Abbott, who has championed a school voucher plan for years, lauded the news. After seeing a voucher plan die in the 2023 legislative session, Abbott campaigned against Republicans in the Legislature who opposed the plan. The governor managed to unseat enough of those incumbent lawmakers to give him the votes to pass the bill in last year’s session. Abbott signed the bill creating the program into law in May.
“These accounts will give parents the freedom to choose the best learning environment for their children, regardless of their income or location,” Abbott said. “I congratulate Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock for his work on kick-starting the program, aiding in the success of so many young Texans and the future of our great state.”
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