Texans ask for eligibility fixes, stronger accountability in school voucher program

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The Texas comptroller’s office on Tuesday moved one step closer to finalizing official rules for the state’s private school voucher program, taking public testimony from Texans who called on the agency to correct a discrepancy in funding for pre-K students, ensure fairness for participating children with disabilities and provide the public with comprehensive data on student outcomes.

Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 2 into law earlier this year, greenlighting the launch of a program that will allow families to use at least $1 billion in public taxpayer dollars to fund their children’s private and home-school education. SB 2 calls on the comptroller, who oversees finances for state government, to design the program.

The office held a public hearing for its proposed rules Tuesday, after roughly 200 education advocates, parents and private schools submitted written testimony on the program over a 30-day period that concluded last week. The rules largely mirror the law, including allowing most families to receive about $10,000 per student and virtually any school-age child to participate. But other aspects differ from the bill’s language or remain unclear, such as when families can begin applying and how the application process will work.

The most glaring discrepancy was the comptroller's rule that children attending private preschool programs could only receive $2,000 — the amount designated for home-schoolers — rather than the full $10,000. Both bill authors, along with dozens of pre-K providers, in oral testimony and written comments obtained by The Texas Tribune and ProPublica through an open records request, asked the agency to correct the discrepancy.

“Ensuring all students attending a private prekindergarten program that meet the high-quality standards outlined in SB 2 receive their full amount, and not the amount specified for homeschool students, aligns with the intent of the Legislature of this provision,” said Rep. Brad Buckley, the Salado Republican who co-authored the bill, in written testimony. “We believe this clarification will help further provide families with the best options for their children’s early education.”

Special education advocates expressed concern about the documentation the comptroller’s office would allow families to submit as proof their child has a disability that requires additional support. Students with disabilities can receive up to $30,000 per child, depending on the amount it would cost to educate them in a public school.

The proposed rules would allow those families to submit as proof a Social Security determination letter or a physician’s note. Advocates pointed out that permitting the use of those documents would not be consistent with federal or state guidelines, would not hold the same weight as requiring an evaluation of a child’s needs in an educational setting and could give priority in the program to kids without a demonstrated need for special education services.

Texans also testified in favor of a more comprehensive data reporting framework. They specifically requested that the comptroller provide the public access to detailed information on students’ academic performance, their race, disability status and household income, and the schools they attended before entering the program.

“Texans should know how our taxpayer dollars are being spent, especially as the $1 billion budget for year one of this program is likely to increase in the future,” said Maggie Stern, director of community engagement for the public education advocacy group Our Schools Our Democracy.

Representatives from the comptroller’s office did not respond to the public testimony during Tuesday’s hearing, but they told the roughly three dozen speakers they would consider the written and oral testimonies together. The office has until May to finalize the rules and procedures. The program launches at the start of the 2026-27 school year.

In addition to setting up the application process for families who want to enroll their children, the comptroller will soon announce up to five organizations that will help Texas administer the program. The application process for private schools, which can choose whether they want to participate, is expected to launch this fall. The law requires the schools to have attained accreditation and operated for at least two years.

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