EDUCATION
Acting Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Kelly Hancock released approval figures for the first round of Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) awarded in March 2026.
The program, which has drawn the ire of many public education advocates, provides school vouchers in the form education accounts, which are awarded to cover non-public school tuition or homeschooling costs.
The first round of vouchers was awarded to students with a disability, classified as Tier 1, and their siblings.
Among this group of 42,644 students initially selected, 63 percent qualify in Tier 1 of the priority list while the other 37 percent are siblings of the applicants, putting the total at 26,866 students with a disability and 15,778 siblings approved for the Texas Education Freedom Account program.
According to officials, every single Texas student in the top priority tier who applied for the state’s new education savings accounts has been approved for funds, which will be issued next school year.
According to state rules, the top-priority tier includes children with a qualifying disability who live in a household with an income level at or below 500 percent of the federal poverty level.
According to the comptroller, there are more applicants in the second-priority tier than available dollars in the program, so officials in conjunction with an independent agency conducted a lottery this week to award the remaining funds, and assign waitlist numbers for the remaining applicants who were not chosen.
Results of the second round of awards are expected in the coming weeks.
According to a breakdown from officials, 53 percent of the group are in public school while 47 percent attend private school or are homeschooled.
More than 31,500 of these students plan to attend private school next year.
Local Numbers
Of the nearly 275,000 applications for Texas Education Freedom Accounts, 325 were received listing San Angelo ISD as their current or previous school district, and 125 of these applications contained an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) or other documentation for the disability of the student. Of these students, 70 accounts were awarded.
Abilene ISD, with slightly higher enrollment than San Angelo ISD, had nearly the same submitted, but with 102 awarded. You can view the full breakdown of local area schools below.
In San Angelo, there are two private schools participating in the TEFA program: Angelo Catholic Schools and Trinity Lutheran. In December 2025, two months before the TEFA application window opened, Angelo Catholic told the Concho Observer that they were 25 seats away from their enrollment goal for the new year, and Trinity Lutheran reported just under a dozen.
Statewide Information
For total applications, 37 percent of applicants listed a household income less than 200-percent of the Federal Poverty Level, which for a family of four is currently $66,000. Thirty-six percent made between $66,000 and $165,000 annually, and 27 percent made more than $165,000 annually.
Students whose applications indicated a disability were classified as tier one applications.
Average benefit estimates for the equity-based program were set at up-to $10,474 per child, if the student attends an approved private school. Students with disabilities who have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) on file with their school district may receive up to $30,000 per year and home-school students may receive up to $2,000 per year.
Numbers for what percentage of applicants were seeking private school tuition support versus homeschool were not provided by the comptroller on an ISD level.
Information on small school participation was not available as school districts with fewer than 30 applications submitted were omitted citing student privacy.
Local Schools
Data provided for this table was categorized by which school district the applicant resides in the district of – of the set below, 53 percent of the group are in public school while 47 percent attend private school or are homeschooled.
| ISD | Total Applications Submitted | Tier One Applications Received | Applications Awarded | Percentage Awarded Among Tier One | |
| San Angelo ISD | 325 | 140 | 70 | 50% | |
| Abilene ISD | 328 | 128 | 102 | 79.6% | |
| Midland ISD | 942 | 353 | 172 | 48.7% | |
| Wichita Falls ISD | 344 | 142 | 91 | 41.3% | |
| Lubbock ISD | 621 | 201 | 186 | 92.5% |
Enrollment numbers sourced from the Texas Tribune.
Application data sourced from the Office of the Texas Comptroller.
