Texas families will soon be able to access $1 billion in taxpayer dollars through education savings accounts, also known as school vouchers, to pay for private school tuition, tutoring, transportation and several other education-related costs.  Passed during the 89th legislative session, the state is calling the universal program Texas Education Freedom Accounts. Families can start applying Wednesday, Feb. 4.  The application portal closes March 17 with selected families getting funds for the 2026-27 school year. State officials estimate the first year of TEFAs will serve about 100,000 families, with awards averaging about $10,000. view article

Gov. Greg Abbott sent a letter to Cy-Fair ISD leaders Wednesday demanding that they cancel a sporting event with the Islamic Games of North America scheduled for later this year, citing alleged ties to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which Abbott recently declared a "foreign terrorist organization."   "You cannot invite such dangers through the front doors of our schools," he wrote. "Radical Islamic extremism is not welcome in Texas — and certainly not in our schools."  The move comes after the Dallas-area Grapevine-Colleyville ISD canceled a similar event on Tuesday, saying that they had learned that CAIR New Jersey was a sponsor of a related event at one point, according to news reports.  view article

Funding was only made available for approximately 100,000 students.  With a week still remaining for families to submit applications for the Texas Education Freedom Accounts, the Office of the Comptroller has announced that more than 174,000 students have applied for the 2026-2027 school year.  Lawmakers budgeted $1 billion for the program last year, which is estimated to cover 100,000 students. That spending was in addition to historic increases in public school spending. view article

Third Future Schools will partner with the Edgewood Independent School District to operate Brentwood Middle School after the district’s school board approved the vote on Tuesday evening. Several people who live in the Edgewood ISD community spoke out against the decision ahead of the school board’s vote. view article

Several Islamic schools sued Texas for excluding them from the voucher program. Iman Academy is instead calling for fairness while hoping to be judged by its work — not stereotypes.  HOUSTON — Iman Academy, an Islamic private school on the southwest side of town, opened 30 years ago with three core values: Love America. Respect self, family and American institutions. Be a positive, contributing American citizen.School leaders want students, almost all of whom are Muslim, to graduate with the understanding that they are essential to America — that being a good citizen has more to do with what they contribute and how they treat others than their religion.  “We are all Americans at the end of the day,” said Manha Navaid, an 18-year-old senior who is secretary of the student council. “Apart from religion, politics or whatever, we all want the best for this country.” view article

The Texas Comptroller's Office has approved two Islamic private schools from North Texas to take part in the state's taxpayer‑funded school choice program. The move comes one day after Houston federal judge Alfred Bennett ordered the state to consider the schools' applications – a step the schools say Texas had previously refused to take.  Records from the comptroller's office, which oversees the Texas Education Freedom Accounts program, show Excellence Academy, a private Islamic school in McKinney, has now been approved to participate. By Wednesday afternoon, the school appeared on the state's website of participating schools.  Ehsan Sayed, a board member and graduate of Brighter Horizons Academy in Garland, told CBS News Texas on Wednesday afternoon that they had just learned the state had also approved their school view article

More than 200,000 students have applied for state money for private school. Most attended private school or home-school last school year, early data shows.  Texas’ school voucher applications close Tuesday, as early data shows most applicants attended a private school or home-school as of last year.   The applications for families wanting to use public funds to pay for private school or home-school during the 2026-27 academic year will remain open until 11:59 p.m. Tuesday. view article

As Austin ISD works to avoid state intervention, the board of trustees is set to decide whether or not to apply for a third-party partnership to take over operations at three middle schools. view article

For years, public schools pointed to private school vouchers and the charter school boom, saying they siphon students and state funding – drivers of sweeping school closures in San Antonio. A new Texas law allows districts to open virtual learning academies. San Antonio’s largest school district is moving forward. view article

HISD will convert Gregg and Clemente Martinez elemantaries into "Future 2 Schools," serving students from kindergarten through eighth grade and focused on skills needed with the rise of artificial intelligence. view article

The Texas school voucher program is accepting applications for the 2026-27 school year, but the deadline is fast approaching   Known as the Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA), the program allowed families to begin applying for vouchers starting Feb. 4, 2026, with the application deadline set for March 17.   The TEFA — formerly known as Senate Bill 2 — was signed into law by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Saturday, May 3, 2025.   For context, S.B. 2 established a $1 billion education savings account program for students and their families to use for tuition and other education expenses equal to 85% of what public schools receive per student through state and local funds. view article

Waco ISD board members voted Thursday night to begin contract negotiations with a third-party charter company in an effort to improve academic performance at two elementary schools and avoid a state takeover. The district will start negotiations in March with the Third Future Charter School Network to address failing accountability scores at South Waco and Dean Highland elementary schools. view article

More than 100,000 families have applied for the Texas private school voucher program as of this week, meaning the state will officially use a lottery process to determine which are first in line.  Republicans say hitting the milestone just two weeks after the application portal opened is a sign that their signature education policy, which sends state dollars to families for private tuition, books, therapy and more, is popular with the public   t also means the applicant pool likely exceeds the program’s available funding, set at $1 billion for the first year. The Texas comptroller’s office will need to run a complex lottery system to determine which applicants' families will ultimately receive the limited state dollars, and which families go on a waitlist.  view article

Killeen ISD has named an operating partner for Manor Middle School as the district works to improve state accountability ratings at the campus. Killeen ISD announced on Tuesday, Feb. 17 that the Board of Trustees had voted to approve Third Future Schools as the 2026-2029 Texas Partnership operating partner for Manor Middle School. view article

AUSTIN, Texas - Governor Greg Abbott celebrated a historic response to the Texas Education Freedom Account (TEFA) program on Monday, as more than 100,000 Texas families submitted applications in less than two weeks.   The program, the largest school choice initiative launch in U.S. history, allows eligible students to direct funding to preapproved educational providers of their choice.  Texas families can now apply for private school vouchers. Here’s what to know.  The TEFA program, overseen by Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock and the Texas Comptroller’s office, lets parents use funds to choose the schools that best meet their children’s needs, covering expenses like tuition, transportation, and other educational costs. view article

Texas voucher applications (Texas Education Freedom Accounts) opened February 4, 2026, for the 2026-27 school year, but many private schools remain excluded, primarily Islamic schools, those with ties to China, and certain specialized schools. Hundreds of Cognia-accredited schools, including some Christian and special needs institutions, are initially shut out due to vetting, though officials are reviewing them.  Key Schools and Groups Left Out:  Islamic Schools: Several Islamic schools, such as Palm Tree School, have not been invited to participate due to alleged ties to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which Governor Greg Abbott deemed a terrorist organization. Cognia-Accredited Schools: Hundreds of schools accredited by Cognia (a nonprofit accrediting body) have been excluded, with reports indicating nearly 40 schools in Austin alone, for example, were not included initially.Schools with Foreign Ties: Institutions with potential connections to the Chinese government are being restricted.  Opt-Out Schools: Many private schools, such as The Selwyn School, are choosing not to participate in the first year due to uncertainty about how the program works.  view article

Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a legal opinion on Saturday affirming that the Texas Comptroller’s Office has the "exclusive" authority to determine which private schools and education vendors are eligible to participate in the state’s new school choice program. view article

Gov. Greg Abbott sent a letter to Cy-Fair ISD leaders Wednesday demanding that they cancel a sporting event with the Islamic Games of North America scheduled for later this year, citing alleged ties to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which Abbott recently declared a "foreign terrorist organization."   "You cannot invite such dangers through the front doors of our schools," he wrote. "Radical Islamic extremism is not welcome in Texas — and certainly not in our schools."  The move comes after the Dallas-area Grapevine-Colleyville ISD canceled a similar event on Tuesday, saying that they had learned that CAIR New Jersey was a sponsor of a related event at one point, according to news reports.  view article

Gov. Greg Abbott sent a letter to Cy-Fair ISD leaders Wednesday demanding that they cancel a sporting event with the Islamic Games of North America scheduled for later this year, citing alleged ties to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which Abbott recently declared a "foreign terrorist organization."   "You cannot invite such dangers through the front doors of our schools," he wrote. "Radical Islamic extremism is not welcome in Texas — and certainly not in our schools."  The move comes after the Dallas-area Grapevine-Colleyville ISD canceled a similar event on Tuesday, saying that they had learned that CAIR New Jersey was a sponsor of a related event at one point, according to news reports.  view article

Hundreds of private schools have been shut out of Texas’ new school voucher program while the state comptroller’s office awaits a decision in its bid to block some Islamic and allegedly Chinese-linked institutions.  Nearly all schools accredited by Cognia, the largest private school accreditor in Texas, have been unable to submit applications in the month since the state began accepting them. As of Tuesday, only 30 of the 600 schools accredited solely by the nonprofit were added to the list of approved vendors, most of them offering only pre-K and kindergarten. The majority of those were added overnight on Monday, after Hearst Newspapers began inquiring about the issue. view article

pon signing school vouchers into law last May, Governor Greg Abbott pronounced that he had delivered “education freedom to every Texas family.” But the billion-dollar program, which opens to parents on February 4, has enrolled dozens of private schools that openly discriminate against Texas families on the basis of religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity, according to a Texas Observer analysis of information gathered from the schools’ websites and handboos, and survey responses and phone calls with school leaders. The Observer gathered information about all 291 schools selected by the state that offer education beyond the kindergarten level. More than 90 percent are affiliated with or owned by a religious or faith-based group, the analysis found. More than 100 of those schools require or prioritize for admission students of the same faith, and more than 60 have a written policy that discriminates against LGBTQ+ students, the schools’ own data shows. view article