Under Texas' new school choice program, most admitted students receive $10,474 for the 2026-27 school year to pay for education-related expenses, including private-school tuition. Those with disabilities may be awarded as much as $30,000, and families who homeschool are allotted $2,000. The money flows through Texas Education Freedom Accounts that families use for approved expenses.
State Comptroller Don Huffines is seeking roughly $2.3 billion in his January appropriations request to fund the program over the next two years. Because a Texas fiscal year overlaps two school years, the request amounts to $1.15 billion per year - $150 million more each year than the program's first-year funding, which was capped at $1 billion. He said higher funding is partly needed because costs can rise when students shift from homeschooling to private school or when a student receives an Individualized Education Program that is new or revised.
Almost 110,000 families are participating this year, and about 250,000 eligible applications were filed, according to the comptroller's legislative request. The waitlist stands at 106,127 students. Huffines' request says funding the waitlisted students, as required by statute, would add about $980 million per year, and covering siblings of current participants would add another $82 million. "Texas is home to the longest school choice waitlist in the country, which demonstrates strong demand from parents to choose the education that's right for their children," Huffines said in a statement.
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