TYLER, Texas (KETK) \u2014 A surge of interest in Texas\u2019 new school choice program means thousands of families may be left waiting. A record 274,183 students applied for Texas Education Freedom Accounts ahead of the March 31 deadline, far exceeding the program\u2019s available funding, according to state leaders.<\/p>\n
In East Texas alone, 8,855 applications were submitted by families with students currently enrolled in local school districts. With funding expected to cover only about 100,000 students statewide, officials say a lottery system will determine who receives the education accounts.
\nWhat \u2018school choice\u2019 means for Texas children\u2019s futures<\/p>\n
The program allows families to use state funds for alternatives to public education, including private school tuition and homeschooling expenses. Priority will be given to students with disabilities and those from lower-income families.
\nEast Texas School Districts
\nSCHOOL DISTRICT\tNUMBER OF APPLICANTS
\nArp ISD\t45
\nAthens ISD\t148
\nAtlanta ISD\t59
\nBig Sandy ISD\t42
\nBrownsboro ISD\t131
\nBullard ISD\t309
\nCanton ISD\t77
\nCarthage ISD\t32
\nCentral ISD\t51
\nCentral Heights CISD\t34
\nChapel Hill ISD (Smith County)\t246
\nFrankston ISD\t31
\nGilmer ISD\t104
\nGladewater ISD\t70
\nGrand Saline ISD\t45
\nGroveton ISD\t32
\nHallsville ISD\t411
\nHarleton ISD\t31
\nHarmony ISD\t320
\nHenderson ISD\t102
\nHudson ISD\t37
\nHuntington ISD\t55
\nJacksonville ISD\t155
\nJefferson ISD\t85
\nKilgore ISD\t138
\nLaPoynor ISD\t47
\nLindale ISD\t222
\nLinden-Kildare CISD\t41
\nLivingston ISD\t235
\nLongview ISD\t585
\nLufkin ISD \t175
\nMabank ISD\t117
\nMalakoff ISD\t31
\nMarshall ISD\t368
\nMt. Pleasant ISD\t42
\nMt. Vernon ISD\t34
\nNacogoches ISD\t350
\nNew Diana ISD\t32
\nPalestine ISD\t52
\nPine Tree ISD\t232
\nPittsburg ISD\t40
\nPleasant Grove ISD\t57
\nQuitman ISD\t33
\nRains ISD\t61
\nRusk ISD\t109
\nSabine ISD\t34
\nSpring Hill ISD\t92
\nSulphur Springs ISD\t191
\nTatum ISD\t39
\nTexarkana ISD\t67
\nTrinity ISD\t46
\nTroup ISD\t51
\nTyler ISD\t1,736
\nVan ISD\t113
\nWells ISD\t117
\nWhitehouse ISD\t349
\nWhite Oak ISD\t37
\nWills Point ISD\t79
\nWinnsboro ISD\t63
\nWinona ISD\t111
\nYantis ISD\t31
\nData from The Texas Education Freedom Account<\/p>\n
Families can expect results to begin rolling out later this month, with funding distributed starting in July.
\nSmith County 5th graders surprise fellow student at adoption ceremony<\/p>\n
The Texas Education Freedom Account was created following the passage of Senate Bill 2 by the Texas Legislature. This bill allocated $1 billion in funding to help parents enroll their children in private schools or homeschool them.<\/p>\n
These funds can be used for various education-related expenses, including academic assessments, private tutoring services, transportation to approved educational providers and meals offered by private schools.<\/p>\n
For more information, people can visit the Texas Education Freedom Account website. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TYLER, Texas (KETK) \u2014 A surge of interest in Texas\u2019 new school choice program means thousands of families may be left waiting. A record 274,183 students applied for Texas Education Freedom Accounts ahead of the March 31 deadline, far exceeding the program\u2019s available funding, according to state leaders. In East Texas alone, 8,855 applications were … Continue reading Thousands of Texas students face waitlist for school choice<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2851],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1493203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-state-news-archive"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-06 13:50:08","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1493203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1493203"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1493203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1493238,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1493203\/revisions\/1493238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1493203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1493203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1493203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}