| (AUSTIN) — Acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock today announced that nearly 73,000 Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) will receive initial funding tomorrow, July 1, serving families taking part in the state’s new school choice program. “As we launch the nation’s largest year-one school choice program, our office is committed to helping families find the education that best fits their child while delivering a first-class experience and protecting taxpayer dollars,” Hancock said. Homeschool and other eligible nonpublic students will receive their full $2,000 annual award July 1. Private school students will receive the first 25% of their total award July 1, followed by an additional 25% on Oct. 1, and the remaining 50% on Feb. 1, 2027, provided they remain enrolled in a participating private school. The first group to receive funding includes private school families who opted in and whose selected school confirmed the student’s enrollment, along with homeschool/other families who opted in by the deadline. Families awarded funding before June 22 have until July 15 to select a participating school. Their selected school has until July 31 to confirm the student’s enrollment through the TEFA portal. Waitlisted families awarded in the future will have four weeks from the date they receive their awards to complete their confirmations. Families who complete their confirmations will continue to be funded periodically in batches before the school year begins in August. The TEFA Marketplace also will open July 1, giving participating families a secure online platform to use TEFA funds directly to purchase approved products and services from participating schools, service providers and vendors. Eligible purchases include private school tuition, textbooks, instructional materials, tutoring and other approved education expenses. The TEFA Marketplace features safeguards to protect taxpayers and ensure that funds are used only for approved education expenses, as follows: - Families can use TEFA funds only to purchase approved products and services through the secure TEFA Marketplace. Families will not be reimbursed for purchases made outside the TEFA Marketplace.
- Schools, parents and vendors will not be charged fees to list, buy or sell products and services through the TEFA Marketplace.
- The program will be audited three ways: by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts’ internal team, an independent firm and the State Auditor’s Office. Those reviews will help ensure every dollar is closely tracked.
On its launch day, the TEFA Marketplace will offer a selection of more than 54,000 approved educational products and services, including widely used textbooks, technology products and assistive products for students with disabilities, from nearly 2,400 vendors. More products and services will be added regularly, and families who require assistance finding an educational product or service for their child can email Odyssey, the program’s certified educational assistance organization, to request additional offerings. Families can find the latest TEFA information, including participating schools, education services and the TEFA Marketplace, at EducationFreedom.Texas.gov. | 
