School choice by the numbers, a closer look at the Texas students who qualify for the new taxpayer funded program

The Texas Comptroller's Office announced nearly a quarter of a million students are eligible to take part in the state's new taxpayer-funded school choice program called Texas Education Freedom Accounts.

The $1 billion program will be the largest of its kind in the U.S. Exactly who applied and who will be accepted into the program have always been the source of contention and debate. The state will start sending acceptance notices to families this month. Students must be enrolled in a private school by July 15th.

School choice applications by the numbers

The Texas Comptroller's Office said it received 274,183 applications to take part in the program. 

Of those, 247,032 were ruled eligible, while 24,941 were declared ineligible, and 2,210 are still under review.  

Of the 247,000 students who qualify, nearly 30,000 or 12% are in the first priority tier, which is low- or middle-income students with disabilities. 

These students come from families who are at or below 500% of the federal poverty line, which is a total income of $165,000 for a family of four. 

Another 79,000 applicants are in the second priority tier, which is students in low-income families. Those students come from families who are within 200% of the federal poverty line, which is a total income of $66,000 for a family of four.

The program's first year will include pay for about 100,000 students. The Comptroller's Office says that means funding will cover all of the first priority tier students and run out within the second priority tier. 

There will be a lottery to allocate the rest of the funding for students in the second priority tier. The state will set up a waitlist order for the other applicants. Most students will receive $10,300 while disabled students can get up to $30,000, and home-schooled students will receive $2,000. 

Money is also available for school-related expenses.

Travis Pillow, spokesman for the Texas Comptroller's Office, told CBS News Texas that among the eligible students, 68,000, or 27.5% previously attended public school. Nearly 180,000 students did not attend public school and were in either private school, were home-schooled, or were too young to attend kindergarten. 

Pillow said the state doesn't have a breakout of how many previously attended private schools. 

State representatives react to the statistics

Republican State Representative Mitch Little of Lewisville, who supports the program, told CBS News Texas he was pleased by the number of applicants. "It's very encouraging that there are that many people interested in the program," said Little. 

"There's obviously a pent-up demand. Part of me wonders if there had been more demand if more Texans felt like the program was accessible to them. The legislature set the bar for qualification based on income, and there are probably a lot of people who are interested in accessing the program, but they're probably going, well, the likelihood of getting into the program is low because I perhaps make too much money to be considered."

Democratic State Representative John Bryant of Dallas has opposed the program from the start. In an interview with CBS News Texas, he said the state hasn't been forthcoming enough. "They did not tell us how many of these students are already in private schools," said Bryant. 

"The estimate given prior to the release of these numbers was that as many as three-fourths of these people are already in private schools, so it's a subsidy for people who are not in the public school system now and are seeking to help us subsidize our private school education. It's a serious policy question there. I'm very much opposed to these vouchers because they undermine public education."

The state's Republican lawmakers approved the program last year after hours of debate with Democrats, especially in the House. Republicans may want to expand the program in the next legislative session that begins in January. 

Representative Little said offering families a choice is good for students. "These are people who would otherwise be essentially isolated to the public school system, and now they've got an opportunity to do something else. So that's exciting," said Little. 

"You wonder, with over 200,000 applicants to the school choice program, what are we going to do as a state with all that pent-up and unsatisfied demand, and how successful might this be for other families who won't have a chance to access it under the initial funding?"

But Representative Bryant said the new program comes at a cost to the state's public schools. "It undermines our entire public school structure," said Bryant. 

"For every ten students that leave the public schools, we lose one teacher. For every one teacher we lose, we lose another contributor to our teacher retirement system. Meanwhile, we have to pay for the buildings and the operations of the public schools, while the Republican policies are draining students out of public schools. It's a very bad program from that point of view."

Students must be enrolled in a private school by July 15. 

While the deadline has passed for students to apply, the state is still accepting accredited private schools that wish to join the program. 

This week's full episode can be found below: