Texas awards more than 42,000 school choice scholarships to disabled students and their siblings in inaugural year

Everything is bigger in Texas, especially school choice.

Texas’ Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock announced the state is awarding more than 42,000 scholarships in just the first round. 

In a statement released Wednesday, Hancock revealed 42,600 students with disabilities and their siblings as the first recipients of the brand-new Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA).

“The 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,” Hancock said. “These awards put tens of thousands of Texas families one step closer to the educational path that works best for their children.”

While families earning up to 500% of the Federal Poverty Level – $165,000 for a family of four – are included in Tier 1, more than half of awardees make less than 200% of the level, or $66,000 for a family of four.

On April 27, Texas will continue awarding TEFAs via a lottery to its Tier 2 applicants, all of whom come from families earning less than 200% of the poverty metric.

Texas leaders expect 100,000 scholarships to be awarded in the inaugural year, making it one of the largest school choice programs in the nation.

The average student will receive about $10,500 through a TEFA, although disabled students could receive as much as $30,000 and homeschoolers are capped at $2,000. The funds can be used for private school tuition, tutoring, curriculum and other education expenses.

Critics of school choice often claim such programs only help rich, white students already attending private schools, but Texas’ data disproves those accusations.

Of the 274,000 TEFA applicants – which represent nearly 5% of Texas’ K-12 population – only 45% were white. More than half identified as Hispanic (23%), Black (12%), multiracial (11%) or Asian/Pacific Islander (8%).

And among the 42,000 Tier 1 awardees, 53% previously attended a public school.

But just because Texas is going big does not mean it’s going for broke.

The state already spends nearly $19,000 per student in its public schools. In the 2024-25 school year, the public education system spent more than $100 billion.

Comparatively, TEFA’s first year budget of $1 billion is quite small.

“Through this program, families will receive funds to send their children to a school that is the best fit for them,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in February. “Texas families are now more in control of their child’s academic success, regardless of their location or income.”