Texas Funds 116,574 School-Choice Accounts as Classical Christian Schools Expand

Texas has funded 116,574 education accounts in the first year of its $1 billion school-choice program, opening a new source of tuition support as classical Christian schools seek to expand across the South and beyond.

The state received more than 274,000 applications for its Texas Education Freedom Accounts program. By Oct. 1, more than 95,000 eligible students remained on a waiting list, even after months of additional awards. The figures in the Texas comptroller’s latest participation report show both the scale of demand and the limits of the money available.

Families awarded an account for a child attending an approved private school generally receive $10,474 for the 2026-27 school year. Qualifying students with disabilities may receive as much as $30,000, while students learning at home can receive $2,000. The funds are restricted to approved educational expenses; they are not unrestricted payments to parents.

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Religious schools are not the only beneficiaries. Families can choose among eligible private schools and other approved education services. But the new funding has particular significance for faith-based schools that previously depended on families paying tuition out of pocket or receiving private scholarships.

A national expansion effort

Classical Christian education combines a traditional liberal arts curriculum, often emphasizing classic literature, history, logic and rhetoric, with Christian teaching and a biblical worldview. It is distinct from secular classical programs, including some public charter schools.

The Association of Classical Christian Schools, one of the movement’s major networks, reported 532 member schools as of 2024. Its ambitions now extend far beyond that existing network.

The association joined an effort with the Heritage Foundation and Turning Point Education to establish or convert 5,000 classical Christian schools over the next decade, with an eventual goal of 1.5 million students. The expansion plans and the role of public scholarships were detailed in reporting published Wednesday by The Associated Press.

Those numbers describe a goal, not schools already built or students already enrolled. Nor does every classical Christian school belong to the association or accept taxpayer-supported tuition. The emergence of a much larger pool of potential paying families nevertheless changes the financial calculations for schools considering additional classrooms and campuses.

Who is getting the funding?

Texas gave priority to lower-income households and children with disabilities rather than distributing its first-year funds evenly among all applicants. As of Oct. 1, 62% of funded participants came from households earning no more than twice the federal poverty level, and more than 18% had a qualifying disability.

But the program is not simply moving children from public classrooms into private ones. The state’s October participation breakdown found that 52% of funded students had attended a private school or been homeschooled in grades two through 12 during the 2024-25 school year. Another 21% had attended public school in those grades; the remaining 27% were younger applicants in prekindergarten, kindergarten or first grade.

Those figures are based on parent-reported enrollment from an earlier school year. They do not establish exactly how many students transferred out of public schools in 2026-27. They do show why the cost and purpose of school-choice programs cannot be measured only by the number of public-school students who leave.

Private schools still set the conditions

An award does not guarantee a child a place in a preferred school. Texas requires participating private schools to meet accreditation standards, have an operator with at least two years of experience and administer nationally norm-referenced assessments to participating students in grades three through 12. The state’s participation rules apply whether a school is religious or secular.

Private schools also retain their own admissions policies and may charge families the difference between the public award and their full tuition. The Texas Private Schools Association makes clear that accepting the program’s funding is voluntary for schools. A family can qualify for an account without necessarily being able to afford or secure admission to the school it wants.

Supporters see the accounts as a way to give more families educational options once limited largely to those able to pay private tuition. Critics question the use of public money at schools with independent admissions policies and warn about the effects on public districts when students leave and enrollment-based funding declines.

Texas is part of a much larger shift. School-choice advocacy organization EdChoice estimates that more than 1.5 million U.S. students participate in private-school choice programs, including vouchers, education savings accounts and tax-credit scholarships. That figure covers all participating private education models, not just classical Christian schools.

For Texas, the most immediate question is what its first $1 billion actually changes. It may bring previously unaffordable schools within reach of some families, help existing private-school parents cover tuition and encourage new schools to open. The state’s large waiting list, the admission rules and the previous enrollment of participants mean those outcomes are not interchangeable—and their balance will determine how this expansion affects families and public education.