TYLER, Texas (KLTV) – Over 2,500 East Texas public school students are receiving school voucher award notices as a new wave of school vouchers are being sent out across Texas, with several thousand more already being in private schools or homeschool according to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.
On Monday, Acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock announced that more than 53,000 students are being awarded TEFA accounts this week, also known as school choice awards or school vouchers, for the 2026-2027 school year. These students are from households with income at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, which is $66,000 per year for a family of four.
School vouchers can provide $10,474 for private school, $2,000 for homeschool, and up to $30,000 for students with disabilities.
In late April, more than 42,600 students with disabilities at or below 500% of the federal poverty level, along with their siblings, were awarded school vouchers, bringing the total amount of students receiving school vouchers to roughly 96,000.
East Texas students awarded school vouchers
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts released the number of students that received awards based on the public school district they were attending, for both the first and second wave of awards.
KLTV has broken down the data for the number of East Texas public school students received an award. In total, 2,542 East Texans in public school were awarded a school voucher award notice. If an East Texas school district is not listed below, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts did not publicly release that data due to privacy concerns because of the low number of awards the district received.
School DistrictTotal # of studentsFirst wave of students (students with disabilities and their siblings below 500% federal poverty line)Second wave of students (students at or below 200% of the federal poverty line)Tyler ISD607254353Longview ISD245111134Nacogdoches ISD18255127Marshall ISD18164117Harmony ISD1576097Pine Tree ISD1054362Lindale ISD1054560Whitehouse ISD1044658Livingston ISD100*?100Wells ISD98*?98Bullard ISD934746Chapel Hill ISD884345Lufkin ISD703535Jacksonville ISD51*?51Van ISD49*?49Sulphur Springs ISD4646*?Rusk ISD45*?45Winona ISD40*?40Henderson ISD39*?39Kilgore ISD37*?37Jefferson ISD34*?34Athens ISD33*?33Wills Point ISD33*?33
*Numbers marked with ? were not found in documents provided by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. The agency notes that “districts with fewer than 30 applicants were omitted to protect student privacy.”
Majority of students awarded already in private school, homeschooling
Across the state, students already enrolled in private school or homeschooling make up the majority of students receiving school vouchers. In the first wave of students, 47% of applicants were already in private school or homeschool, with 53% being in public school during the 2024-2025 school year. While that’s a nearly 50/50 split, 68% of students in the second wave of awards were in private school or homeschool during the 2024-2025 school year, with 32% of them in public school.
While there’s no publicly released data on the number of East Texan students being awarded who are already in private school or homeschool, using statewide percentages would mean more than double the amount of students are being awarded, from 2,542 to more than 5,000.
Demand for school vouchers exceeds $1 billion funding, waitlisting over 150,000 students
Texas received more than 248,000 eligible applications. Those applications were then split between four priority groups to decide which students get a school voucher first. “Tier 1″ students include students with disabilities at or below 500% of the federal poverty level, with “tier 2″ students applying to students at or below the 200% federal poverty level. Because of demand, there’s not enough funding for all “tier 2″ students. Instead, the students were randomly selected in a lottery to decide who gets awards and who gets waitlisted.
All students who applied with more than 200% of the federal poverty level are being automatically waitlisted in a random order. If anyone who received a school voucher award opts out of the program, those in the waitlist may be eligible.
The number of students sent award notifications so far is not the exact number of students that will participate, as people can opt out of the program. Applicants have until July 15th to prove enrollment at a private school, claim homeschool funds, or opt out of the program entirely.
When are awards notifications being received?
Families who applied at or below the 200% federal poverty level will get an email by Wednesday, either with an award notification or a waitlist position. Anyone who applied above 200% of the federal poverty level will get an email next week with their waitlist position.
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