More than 100 students zoned for the Lampasas Independent School District have submitted applications for the Texas Education Freedom Accounts program for the 2026-27 school year.
The TEFA program is a new statewide school choice initiative, established by Texas lawmakers via Senate Bill 2 in 2025. The program provides eligible Texas families with state-funded education savings accounts to pay for private school tuition, homeschool expenses, tutoring, therapies, instructional materials and other educational costs.
The period to apply for the program began Feb. 4 and was supposed to conclude March 17. Acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock, however, extended the deadline until March 31 after a federal court order involving lawsuits from Muslim parents and Islamic schools alleged religious discrimination in the exclusion of certain Islamic private schools from the program.
According to the TEFA program’s website, a participating child attending an approved private school, pre-K or kindergarten program is eligible to receive 85% of the estimated statewide average of state and local funding per student spent for the previous school year. The Texas Education Agency has set that amount at $10,474 for the upcoming school year.
A participating child with disabilities enrolled in an approved private school, pre-K or kindergarten program may receive up to $30,000. For a child to qualify, the student must have an Individualized Education Plan on file with the TEA. The awarded amount is based on what the child’s local school district would receive for IEP services.
Homeschool children also are eligible to receive funding. A homeschooled child participating in the TEFA program may receive $2,000 annually.
Applicants for the TEFA program are prioritized in this order: (1) children with disabilities from households at or below 500% of the federal poverty level; (2) children from households at or below 200% of the federal poverty level; (3) children from households between 200% and 500% of the federal poverty level; and (4) children from households at or above 500% of the federal poverty level (with sub-priority for those enrolled in a Texas public or charter school for at least 90% of the prior year, and limited to no more than 20% of total program funds).
Between Feb. 4 and March 8, a total of 163,362 applications were submitted. As expected, the majority of applications came from the Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin areas. A total of 122 students zoned for Lampasas ISD submitted applications in that period.
School districts that lose students to the TEFA program are not reimbursed any funding by the state. Average daily attendance, influenced by enrollment, is the primary driver for funding Texas public schools.
LISD Superintendent Dr. Chane Rascoe believes a majority of those who have applied in Lampasas County are homeschooled. The Texas Private School Accreditation Commission does not list an accredited private school in Lampasas County.
“We have not seen an impact with us, so it is not something we have seen a difference in,” Rascoe said of the new school choice program. “It is not something we are worried about. I think parents can see through it right now that there is not a viable option that is still available that public schools offer.”
‘It is not something we are worried about. I think parents can see through it right now that there is not a viable option that is still available that public schools offer.’
Lampasas Superintendent Dr. Chane Rascoe said of the Texas Education Freedom Accounts
