Less than one-third of students in North Texas who applied for the Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) voucher program have been awarded funding, according to recently released data from the Texas Comptroller’s office. The figures reveal significant demand but limited participation in the inaugural year of the state-funded school choice initiative.
The TEFA program, which offers public funds to families seeking private education alternatives, received over 274,000 applications statewide. More than 88,000 of those came from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where more than 25,800 students are expected to participate in the program’s first year. Dallas Independent School District (ISD) and Fort Worth ISD led the region in applications, with over 8,000 and 4,000 applicants, respectively. However, only 2,645 children living within Dallas ISD boundaries have been awarded vouchers, the second-largest participant count statewide after Houston ISD’s 3,327. Fort Worth ISD ranked fifth with 1,764 students receiving awards.
Under TEFA, families can receive up to $10,474 in public funding to enroll a child in private school annually. Students with disabilities are eligible for up to $30,000, though most awards remain substantially below that limit. Homeschooled students qualify for $2,000. In total, about 122,000 students across Texas were awarded funds, but only 85,344 have confirmed their participation to date. Meanwhile, over 121,000 applicants remain on a waiting list, and thousands have opted out of the program altogether.
The report highlights a prioritization system for distribution of awards. Students with disabilities were given precedence, with approximately 29,400 deemed eligible and 20,700 receiving accounts. Additionally, siblings of these students qualified for funding, adding 12,800 participants. The second priority tier includes families earning up to 200% of the federal poverty level (around $66,000 annually for a family of four), with roughly 79,700 applicants awarded but only 51,800 confirming participation. Families with incomes between 200% and 500% of the poverty level were expected to be awarded last, with fewer than 30 students currently funded in that category due to limited remaining funds.
The program’s demographic makeup shows TEFA participants are 41% white, 28% Hispanic, 14% Black, 12% multiracial, and 5% Asian, with less than 1% identifying as American Indian or Alaskan Native. Most applicants are in kindergarten through middle school, with pre-kindergarten having the highest number of funded students at approximately 9,400, followed by third grade with about 7,200 students.
Critics of the program have expressed concerns that TEFA could divert resources from Texas’ public schools, which serve more than 5.5 million students. A 2025 legislative analysis projects that by 2030, roughly 98,000 students—about 1.8% of public school enrollment—may transition to private education via voucher programs. Additional challenges cited include the difficulty for some families in finding private schools that accept voucher students, given admission policies, tuition costs exceeding voucher amounts, and geographic distance.
Privacy protections limited detailed reporting on the number of participating schools, with data available from only 434 campuses out of nearly 7,000 public schools attended by TEFA students. Thousands of families have chosen not to confirm participation, and the comptroller’s office plans to update data before the Texas Legislature convenes in January.