Applications for Texas Education Freedom Accounts open on Feb. 4.

The accounts are the first time the state has offered public funds to help Texans attend private schools. Vouchers can cover the cost of tuition or other school-related expenses. 

Children with special needs are eligible for up to $30,000. In order to receive it, parents will need to submit an Individual Education Plan, or IEP, with their application to the Texas Comptroller's office.

Experts in the program advise starting that process now if families have not already done so. If a student does not have an IEP finalized in time, they could miss out on up to $20,000 for the 2026-27 school year.

Grant Coates, the president and CEO of The Miles Foundation, a Fort Worth-based education advocacy group, said the process to obtain an IEP starts at a public school district. The Miles Foundation has created a step-by-step resource on how to start. The CBS News Texas Learning Curve team also has a step-by-step guide.

Coates recently spoke with CBS News Texas about the process. Read the conversation below:

Grant Coates, President and CEO of the Miles Foundation: There's a federal law that gives the authority to the local school districts to issue IEPs for students with disabilities. The private schools don't issue these. If a family gets an IEP from a local district and they take it to a private school, the private school can take that and say, yes, we can actually deliver this service for you.

Lacey Beasley, CBS News Texas lead education reporter: Even if you have an IEP, private schools are not obligated to accept to your IEP.

Coates: Families should only apply to the schools where their kids are going to be served. If there's a school that doesn't serve special needs students, you wouldn't want to send your child to that school.

Beasley: Do they need to go to their nearest district? Can they go to any school district?

Coates: The question is not 100% clear. It's our understanding you need to go to the district that you live in.

Beasley: What if a student doesn't get their IEP in time for the next school year?

Coates: They would still be eligible to receive the ESA [education savings account], but they wouldn't be eligible for the additional amount if they don't have an IEP.

Beasley: For families who are wanting to get out of public school, they want to switch to private education, is it counterintuitive that they still must get an IEP from a public school?

Coates: You could argue that, yes, I think there's some challenges. It's not really the public schools' fault. It's just the backlog, so it'll be a little slower than maybe it would otherwise be. I just encourage families to start now, gathering information to apply for this program. If you're working on the IEP specifically, do that yesterday.