Some North Texas school districts could lose thousands of students to school voucher program

The deadline for Texas families to apply for Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA), also known as school vouchers, is on March 17.

TEFA is the $1 billion program that provides families with taxpayer money to help pay for private school. A longtime priority of Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas Republicans were able to pass it through the Legislature in a special session in 2025 after years of opposition from a coalition of Democrats and some Republicans worried about it negatively impacting public schools.

In the period from when applications opened on Feb. 4 through March 8, more than 160,000 Texas families have applied for the vouchers. Acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock expects the program to reach capacity in its first year.  

Texas school voucher application data by income

According to data from the Comptroller's Office, 79% of the applicants for TEFA are using the funds for private-school-related expenses. Lawmakers who advocated for the program said it was designed to give public school and homeschooled students an opportunity to switch to a private education.

After applications close, the Comptroller's Office will allocate funding to eligible families through a lottery that prioritizes students with disabilities first. Eleven percent of all applicants, about 18,000, are students with disabilities from families at or below 500% of the Federal Poverty Level.

Next on the priority list is students from low- and middle-income families. Just 35% of applicants are from households that earn 200% or less of the Federal Poverty Level:

• 200% or less of the Federal Poverty Level ($66,000 or less for a family of 4): 35%
• Between 200% and 500% of the Federal Poverty Level ($66,001-$164,999 for a family of 4): 36%
• 500% or more of the Federal Poverty Level: ($165,000 or more for a family of 4): 29%

The Comptroller's Office will report the waitlist to the Texas Legislature to determine funding for future years.

Texas school voucher application data by grade

The highest share of applications are for students who will be entering pre-K in the fall. Nearly 21,000 applications, about 12.8%, are in that cohort. The number of applicants per grade level declines as the students get older:

• Pre-K: 20,975
• Kindergarten: 15,777
• First grade: 13,654
• Second grade: 13,035
• Third grade: 12,922
• Fourth grade: 12,449
• Fifth grade: 12,273
• Sixth grade: 12,262
• Seventh grade: 10,953
• Eighth grade: 9,600
• Ninth grade: 9,464
• Tenth grade: 7.921
• Eleventh grade: 6,731
• Twelfth grade: 5,347

Texas school voucher applications by school district

The Comptroller's Office also released a list that broke down the number of applications submitted in each school district across the state.

How much money public school districts will miss out on will depend on how many enrolled or prospective students they lose to private school because of TEFA, since state funds follow the student. But since 79% of applicants are already in private school, the extent of the impact on public school funding may be limited. 

Here are the North Texas school districts with the most TEFA applications from within their boundaries:

• Dallas ISD: 5,267
• Fort Worth ISD: 3,151
• Plano ISD: 2,875
• Richardson ISD: 1,803
• Frisco ISD: 1,793
• Arlington ISD: 1,746
• Northwest ISD: 1,661
• Garland ISD: 1,622
• Lewisville ISD: 1,614
• Keller ISD: 1,541