{"id":262016,"date":"2026-04-23T01:26:52","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T01:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/262016\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T01:26:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T01:26:52","slug":"texas-school-voucher-rollout-for-students-with-disabilities-nbc-5-dallas-fort-worth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/262016\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas school voucher rollout for students with disabilities \u2013 NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth"},"content":{"rendered":"

A release from acting comptroller Kelly Hancock announced the first round of awards for the Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA)<\/a>. The release states more than 42,600 Texas students are receiving the first round of awards under the State’s new school choice program.<\/a><\/p>\n

The comptroller’s office said Tuesday that these families will receive award notices this week, including all students in the top priority: students with disabilities who are at or below 500% of the federal poverty line, or $165,000 for a family of four.<\/a> Qualified siblings are also in this priority group.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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,\u201d said Hancock in a release. <\/p>\n

Who is getting the first awards, and where do they plan to go?<\/p>\n

A state fact sheet <\/a>shows more than 42,000 applications in the top tier. <\/p>\n

63% of applicants are students with documented disabilities<\/p>\n

37% are siblings of students with disabilities.<\/p>\n

53% previously attended public school, while 47% were in private or home school<\/p>\n

Most families plan to use the funds for private education.<\/p>\n

74% say they are planning to enroll in a private school.<\/p>\n

26% say they are considering homeschooling or other options.<\/p>\n

Income breakdown:<\/p>\n

The program is designed to favor lower and middle-income families.<\/p>\n

51% of applicants come from households that fall at or below 200% of the federal poverty level<\/p>\n

49% fall between 200% and 500% of the poverty level<\/p>\n

Racial and demographic breakdown:<\/p>\n

State data shows a diverse group of applicants:<\/p>\n

42% White<\/p>\n

25% Hispanic<\/p>\n

16% Black<\/p>\n

12% multiracial<\/p>\n

Smaller percentages of Asian\/Pacific Islander and American Indian students<\/p>\n

North Texas applications<\/p>\n

North Texas school districts are among the highest in the state for applications, underscoring strong regional demand. Data released from the comptroller’s office breaks down applications by district:<\/p>\n

Dallas ISD: 1,313 applications<\/p>\n

Fort Worth ISD: 808 applications<\/p>\n

Plano ISD: 702 applications<\/p>\n

Arlington ISD: 515 applications<\/p>\n

Denton ISD: 429 applications<\/p>\n

Garland ISD: 414 applications<\/p>\n

Mansfield ISD: 389 applications<\/p>\n

Frisco ISD: 384 applications<\/p>\n

McKinney ISD: 284 applications<\/p>\n

Irving ISD: 218 applications<\/p>\n

Mesquite ISD: 210 applications<\/p>\n

Prosper ISD: 212 applications<\/p>\n

Rockwall ISD: 206 applications<\/p>\n

Dallas ISD ranks second statewide, behind Houston ISD, for total applications.<\/p>\n

Initial award notifications began today and will continue through Friday, April 24. Parents can appeal funding determinations within 30 days of receiving their notice. Though the comptroller’s office warns that changes will only be made based on school district and Individualized Education Plan documentation. <\/p>\n

Additional families will receive TEFA notifications in the weeks ahead. <\/p>\n

The comptroller’s office says it will conduct a lottery in partnership with an independent agency during the week of April 27 to identify students in the second priority tier. The second priority tier is students who are from lower-income households. <\/p>\n

The lottery will then assign waitlist positions to the remaining students. <\/p>\n

The comptroller’s office stated students will have until July 15 to confirm enrollment in a participating school. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A release from acting comptroller Kelly Hancock announced the first round of awards for the Texas Education Freedom…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[163,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-262016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-education","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262016","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=262016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}