Thousands of families from North Texas have applied for the state’s new school voucher program. (Kelly Sikkema/Unsplash).
Over 200,000 students have applied for the Texas Education Freedom Accounts program ahead of today’s deadline. Here’s what you need to know.
Ahead of the 11:59 p.m. CT deadline today, March 17, thousands of families in North Texas have submitted their applications for the state’s Texas Education Freedom Accounts, a new school voucher program created to distribute $1 billion of taxpayer funds to families to use on private school tuition. It was approved last year under Senate Bill 2.
Applicants can receive $2,000 for home schoolers, $10,474 for private school education, and up to $30,000 will be distributed to special education students. According to KERA News, around 79% of families requested at least $10,400 in their applications, and about 20% applied for home school funds. The Texas Comptroller’s office did not provide information as to how many applications requested up to $30,000 for special education needs.
Some 3,782 applications have already been received by March 8 from families in Fort Worth ISD, and around 6,707 applications have come from Dallas ISD students. With today’s deadline, more residents are expected to apply for the voucher program.
Officials noted that the program is not first-come-first-serve, meaning families who submit their applications today will receive equal consideration as familes who sent in their requests earlier in the month. They also stated that awards will be distributed based on need.
But how exactly is that need determined? Let’s go over the details below.
Select applications will receive priority funding based on need
The distributed funds can be put toward tutoring, instructional materials, private school tuition, and a variety of expenses approved by the Texas Legislature.
About 200,000 student applications have come in ahead of today’s deadline, and 2,200 schools have also signed up for the program. At the time of publication, requests appear to add up to a total of $1.4 billion, which exceeds the $1 billion funding threshold previously established. The state is expected to hold a lottery to decide which families will receive awards from the school voucher program.
The new law requires low-income and middle-income families, as well as students with disabilities, to be given priority. Eligibility requirements include documentation proving the student is a lawfully admitted resident or US citizen, resides in Texas, and is eligible to attend either a charter school or public school within the state. Once accepted, these children will be able to participate in the program until their education is complete (AKA when they graduate high school). They can become ineligible, however, if they move out of Texas or can no longer attend a public or charter school in the area.
If you’re interested in applying for the program, you can learn more here.
This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
