TEFA awards are not first-come, first-served. Officials from the Texas Comptroller\u2019s Office of Public Accounts, which is overseeing the program\u2019s rollout, said all applications submitted by the deadline would be reviewed, and families can edit their submissions, upload additional documents and update their children\u2019s information up until the deadline.<\/p>\n
While the TEFA program is universal, available to all families with K-12 students in Texas, there are different priority groups. The highest-priority group is students with disabilities. After that, tiers are determined by family income, with lower incomes receiving more priority.<\/p>\n
In the first three weeks since the portal launched in February<\/a>, Texans submitted more than 130,000 applications and more than 2,000 schools signed up to accept TEFA dollars, according to the comptroller\u2019s office. As of March 8, the number of applications surpassed 160,000.<\/p>\n When state officials created the program, they estimated the first year of TEFAs would serve about 100,000 families, with awards averaging about $10,000, or 85% of the amount their local school district receives in state funds per student.<\/p>\n Depending on need, special education students could receive up to $30,000 awards. Travis Pillow, a spokesperson for the TEFA program, said parents should provide documentation of their child\u2019s disability and check on the application that they qualify for special ed. <\/p>\n In the case that demand exceeds the program\u2019s $1 billion in funding, Senate Bill 2, which passed TEFAs into law, requires that 80% of the program\u2019s funding be reserved for families who make less than or up to 500% of the federal poverty line.<\/p>\n Who is applying for vouchers? <\/p>\n In the Education Service Center Region for San Antonio, which includes all of Bexar County, surrounding counties and stretches southwest to the Mexico-Texas border, 19,422 families have applied for a TEFA as of Sunday. <\/p>\n Families in the Northside Independent School District have submitted the fourth highest number of applications in the state, at 4,102. In San Antonio, that number is followed by North East ISD at 3,386 and 1,335 in San Antonio ISD.<\/p>\n According to a report<\/a> shared by state officials, the first priority group accounts for 11% of TEFA applicants across Texas. Students with family incomes at or below 200% of the federal poverty line make up 30% of applicants, and students between 200% and 500% of the federal poverty line make up 31% of applicants. The rest are families above that threshold.<\/p>\n An income for a family of four that\u2019s 200% of the federal poverty line is $66,000 a year. <\/p>\n While the number of applications has surpassed initial estimates, officials say a large chunk of applications \u2014 21% \u2014 have been for homeschool families, which can only get $2,000 awards per student.<\/p>\n The Texas Center for Voucher Transparency, launched by the nonprofit Our Schools Our Democracy around the same time the state launched education savings accounts, found that 76% of TEFA applications came from families whose children aren\u2019t currently enrolled in public school.<\/p>\n As of March 4, approximately 36,000 families statewide who applied to TEFA had children enrolled in public schools, representing less than 1% of the state\u2019s 5.5 million publicly-enrolled students.<\/p>\n \u201cEarly voucher application data suggests that the overwhelming majority of families continue to choose and trust their local public schools to educate their children,\u201d said Dee Carney, director of the voucher transparency center. <\/p>\n Final application numbers won\u2019t be available until after March 17.<\/p>\n What you need to know<\/p>\n As schools are closed for spring break this week, the Archdiocese of San Antonio and other education groups are hosting TEFA workshops<\/a> to help families navigate the application process step-by-step. In October, the archdiocese announced its Catholic schools would participate in the voucher-like program<\/a> and accept state dollars for private tuition.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1604-txdot-cooper-drone.jpg\")
Families in San Antonio\u2019s Northside ISD have submitted the fourth-highest number of education savings account applications in the state. Credit: Cooper Mock for the San Antonio Report<\/p>\n