Thousands of North Texas families have applied for the state's new school voucher program ahead of Tuesday's deadline.
As of March 8, the Texas Comptroller's office had already received more than 163,000 applications for the state's Texas Education Freedom Accounts. Last year's Senate Bill 2 set aside$1 billion for the program that subsidizes the costs of private and home schooling — $10,474 for private school, up to $30,000 for special education students, and $2,000 for home schoolers.
The majority of applications — 79% — sought at least the $10,400 amount. It's unclear how many asked for up to $30,000.
Just over 20% sought home school funding, according to the Comptroller's office.
The program prioritizes low and middle-income families and those with special education needs.
Data requested and analyzed by the Texas Center for Voucher Transparency – part of the public education advocacy group Our Schools Our Democracy – found about three-quarters of applications were for students already enrolled in a non-public school.
As of March 8, the state received 6,707 applications for students living in Dallas ISD, and 3,782 for students in Fort Worth ISD.
In total, TEFA requestshaveexceeded$1.4 billion, with more applications expected to come in, according to the Comptroller's office. The state will hold a lottery to determine which families will receive a TEFA.
Bill Zeeble is KERA's education reporter. Got a tip? Email Bill at bzeeble@kera.org. You can follow him on X @bzeeble.
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