Texas spent months advertising that its new school voucher-style program would give students with disabilities up to $30,000 a year for private school. The figure appeared on flyers, on the program's website, and in news releases. According to state records, almost no one is getting it.
Out of roughly 28,700 students with special needs approved for the Texas Education Freedom Accounts, fewer than 25 were awarded the full $30,000, according to records dated June 23 and provided to The Dallas Morning News. The vast majority were awarded less than $20,000. The average award for a student with special needs was about $16,000, the program reported, while tuition at some private schools in the Dallas-Fort Worth area runs well past $40,000.
Where the Money Actually Landed
The records show how the awards for students with special needs broke down:
| Award amount | Students |
|---|---|
| $2,000 (chosen for homeschooling) | about 8,370 |
| $10,474 (standard first-tier amount) | about 7,360 |
| $10,475 to $14,999 | 2,340 |
| $15,000 to $19,999 | about 10,430 |
| More than $20,000 | about 220 |
Of the roughly 220 students awarded more than $20,000, only 20 families received between $25,000 and $30,000. Source: TEFA records, June 23, via The Dallas Morning News.
The $1 billion program, which launches this fall and is run by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, has awarded funding to nearly 110,000 students out of about 250,000 who applied.
The Program's Answer: It Was Always "Up To"
Travis Pillow, a spokesperson for the program, said the $30,000 was a ceiling, not a promise, and that some materials carried a disclaimer that "most students will receive less than the maximum." "That round number of $30,000 can sometimes stick with people," Pillow said. "But it was an 'up to,' and that is really important."
The award is not set by the program's discretion, Pillow said, but by a state formula meant to mirror what a student's own public school district would receive for their special-education needs. Parents apply by attaching their child's individualized education plan, or IEP, the legally binding document that lays out services like speech therapy or time in a separate classroom.
That formula ties the amount to district size, which produces some counterintuitive results. For a student who spends more than 60% of the day in a special-education classroom, the records show, Dallas ISD would generate about $15,700 in voucher funds, while Garner ISD, a rural district about 80 miles west of Dallas, would generate about $21,000 for the same profile. "What students receive through the public school funding formula for special education has historically been a bit of a black box," Pillow said. "We are shining a light into the special education formula."
Critics: The Number Was Misleading, and Tuition Moves
To advocates who watched the rollout, the gap between the advertised figure and the awards was predictable. "It just seemed impossible that the math would work," said Steven Aleman, a senior policy specialist at Disability Rights Texas. "The $30,000 figure was very arbitrary. It may have been very misleading to families who think, 'Well, I'll be getting what seems to be a generous amount.'"
The award is only half the equation. Dee Carney, director of the Texas Center for Voucher Transparency, said her group reviewed more than 100 voucher-approved private schools and found many do not post their tuition publicly and can raise it at will. "That's confusing to public school families who haven't had to navigate the voucher marketplace," she said.
The timing can compound the problem. Green Oaks School, a private school for students with special needs in Arlington, set its 2026-27 tuition at $23,000, up from $15,900 the year before, an increase of nearly 45%. In a statement, executive director Jean Jewell said the increase would expand programming and that tuition had not historically covered the school's costs, adding that "the availability of TEFA to families made it a good time to make this 'right-size' adjustment."
Private schools can also decline to enroll a student with disabilities, which public schools cannot do. For Aleman, that is the core objection. He would rather the money go to the public system, which is legally required to serve the state's roughly 911,000 students with special needs. "TEFA," he said, "is the luxury that we cannot afford." Program officials counter that the goal was funding parity, giving families who choose a private option something closer to what the state already spends on students in public classrooms.
Sources
The Dallas Morning News: Texas promised students with disabilities up to $30,000 for private schooling. Few got the full amount
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts: Education Freedom Accounts
