HOUSTON \u2013 Texas families can begin applying today, Feb. 4 at 9 a.m., for the state\u2019s new Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), also known as the school voucher program, which runs through March 17. <\/p>\n
State officials said that this is not first-come, first-served, but parents and guardians should have key documents ready before they start the application. <\/p>\n
While the window is open now, if the number of applicants exceeds available funding, capped at roughly $1 billion, the state will prioritize applicants based on income and special-needs status. It may conduct a lottery to allocate funds. <\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what families should prepare before applying online:<\/p>\n
Valid ID and Social Security numbers for parents and children \u2014 proof of U.S. citizenship or lawful residence is also required. <\/p>\n
Income documentation, such as recent tax returns, because it is partially determined by household income. <\/p>\n
Documentation of special needs (like an IEP) if applying under that category. <\/p>\n
A plan for where the voucher money will go \u2014 funds are sent directly to registered schools or providers, not to families. <\/p>\n
Families whose applications are approved can receive up to about $10,400 per student, with higher amounts, up to around $30,000, available for students with documented special needs. <\/p>\n
About 1,600 private schools across Texas, including many in the Houston area, have already opted in to participate, and families must select one eligible school in the portal if they plan to use the funds for private education. <\/p>\n
State officials say the application should take about 10 minutes to complete, and the portal will remain open until 11:59 p.m. on March 17. <\/p>\n
Award notifications are expected beginning in early April, and initial funding for approved families will be available starting July 1 for the 2026-27 school year. <\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 Texas families can begin applying today, Feb. 4 at 9 a.m., for the state\u2019s new Education…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[16999,4380,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-150570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-private-school","tag-school-vouchers","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}