How many Houston-area students are getting voucher money
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Families living within Houston ISD boundaries make up the largest share of participants in Texas' new private school voucher program, per a recent state report.
Why it matters: Public school advocates warn the vouchers will harm public schools, while supporters argue parents shouldn't have to send their kids to underperforming public schools.
The big picture: About 85,000 students statewide are participating as of the end of July, out of 274,000 applications received.
- 121,000 more students are on the waitlist.
Zoom in: Houston-area school district boundaries account for five of the top 10 districts where voucher recipients live.
- 3,327 students who live within Houston ISD boundaries are getting vouchers, per the report from Texas Comptroller Don Huffines. The district had about 169,000 students last school year, as enrollment continued to decline.
- 2,024 who live in the Fort Bend ISD area have them; so do 1,596 in Cypress-Fairbanks ISD; 1,297 in Conroe ISD; and 1,156 in Katy ISD, among others.
How it works: The $1 billion program gives families state money for private school tuition or to pay for homeschooling.
- A family can get as much as $10,474 per child to help pay for private school for the 2026–27 school year.
- Students with disabilities can receive up to $30,000.
- Homeschooled students may qualify for up to $2,000 a year.
What they're saying: "Giving all parents the power to choose the right education for their child encourages schools to compete and deliver better results for all students," Huffines said upon the release of the figures earlier this month.
The other side: This is "just another page of the rich paying less and less ... and getting more in subsidies," state Sen. Sarah Eckhardt (D-Austin), who is running against Huffines this November to be comptroller, tells Axios.
State of play: The program could cost nearly $4 billion by 2030, per a state fiscal analysis, which Eckhardt says could cover operational deficits of every school district instead.
By the numbers: 41% of the students who qualified for vouchers are white, 28% are Hispanic, 14% are Black, 12% are multiracial, 5% are Asian or Pacific Islander and just under 1% are Indigenous.
- The comptroller's report does not say how many students receiving the vouchers were already in private school. Axios has filed an open records request with the comptroller's office for that information.
Between the lines: Most recipients come from lower-income households — 80% of participating students are in families earning less than 200% of the federal poverty level, or $66,000 for a family of four.
The intrigue: Public money can now pay for private school blazers.
- School uniforms — including "shirts, pants, skirts, shorts, skorts, sweaters, jumpers, blazers, ties, and belts" — are an eligible expense in the voucher program, per the comptroller's office.