Texas Catholic Voice February 2026

It has been an exciting week as we supported families in completing their applications to the Texas Education Freedom Account program! On Wednesday, when the portal for applications opened to families, more than 42,000 student applications were submitted. Applications have now surpassed 80,000, making TEFA the largest day-one school choice program in US history.  

Families can apply from now until March 17. The date of applications within that time period is not relevant  – all completed and eligible applications have equal opportunity, regardless of submission date.

According to the comptroller’s office, nearly three in four applications are in one of the three top priority groups established by Senate Bill 2:

• One in ten, or 10 percent, are in the top priority tier for students with disabilities and household incomes below 500 percent of the federal poverty level. 
• Almost three in ten - 29 percent - are in the second priority tier for students with household incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. 
• One third (33 percent) are in the third priority tier for students with household incomes between 200 and 500 percent of the federal poverty level. 

Eligible families will be entered into the lottery according to their prioritization and families will be notified beginning April 6 about awards. The award amount for a child in a private school (without increased funding due to a disability) is $10,474. Home school families are qualified for $2,000.

We encourage all families to consider applying. Please review the checklist for parents before beginning your application and use the Odyssey smart assist tool with any application questions. If parents have all information on hand, the application can be completed in less than 10 minutes.  

We offer special tips for all parents who are completing the application, in English and Spanish, and much more, at txcatholic.org/efa.

Texas Education Freedom Accounts provides children with special needs access to additional funds. To qualify for these funds, a child must receive an evaluation and an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) from their public school district and have the ISD upload the IEP to the APEX platform before March 17, the application deadline for the TEFA.  

Important information for parents of children with special needs is also on our website, including a video and step-by-step instructions on how to complete the application and how teachers can complete the necessary Disability Certificate form. This information is in English and Spanish.

This website will be updated regularly as there are new developments in how private school parents can access the program.