Texas awards 53,000 more school choice scholarships, exhausting most TEFA funding

Texas announced the awarding of 53,000 additional school choice scholarships Monday, bringing the total to nearly 96,000, the comptroller’s office announced.

The Tier 2 scholarships are for students from families earning 200% or less of the federal poverty level, or about $66,000 for a family of four.

The comptroller’s office announced 51,181 scholarships for this tier, along with about 2,000 additional scholarships for Tier 1, which is for students with disabilities and their siblings from families earning up to 500% of the federal poverty level.

The Tier 2 scholarships were awarded through a lottery system because demand exceeded available funding.

Of those approved, 64% were nonwhite. For schooling preference, 35% indicated homeschooling. Of students entering second grade and beyond, 32% attended public school in 2024-25, with the remainder coming from homeschooling or private school.

The awards exhaust most of the $1 billion budgeted for Texas Education Freedom Accounts.

The state has “issued awards worth about $820 million,” a spokesman for the comptroller’s office told The Lion in an email. “We have held back additional funding to accommodate students who appeal their funding, eligibility, or prioritization determinations, and will make additional awards as funding allows in the coming weeks.”

Scholarships are worth about $10,500 each, although students with special needs can receive up to $30,000, and homeschool students are capped at $2,000.

The state received 274,000 applications for an estimated 100,000 scholarships, meaning students in Tiers 3 and 4 – representing middle- and higher-income families – are unlikely to receive awards this year.

Families in Tier 2 are being notified this week, the comptroller’s office said. Once that process is complete, students on the waitlist will be notified. Parents have 30 days to appeal their award amount, tier status or ineligibility.

Families receiving an award have until July 15 to confirm enrollment in a private school, choose homeschooling or opt out of the program.

TEFA is already one of the largest school choice programs in the nation, behind states such as Florida, Arizona, and North Carolina.

“Texas families have waited a long time for school choice, and the response to TEFA shows just how much this opportunity means to parents across our state,” Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock said in a release. “This first year is groundbreaking for Texas. More students will now have access to an education path that fits their needs, and the Comptroller’s office is working carefully to launch this program the right way and serve families well.”