Editor’s Note: This article was updated to clarify and emphasize that 76% of students who applied for school vouchers in Texas were not previously enrolled in the state’s public school systems.
Nearly three-quarters of the 152,389 Texas students whose families applied to enroll in the state’s school voucher program already attended private campuses this year, according to data from Texas Center for Voucher Transparency (TCVT).
Indeed, just 24% of students who applied for the state’s controversial program as of Wednesday attended Texas public schools, including public pre-K, according to data the advocacy group obtained from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.
“Early voucher application data suggests that the overwhelming majority of families continue to choose and trust their local public schools to educate their children,” TCVT Director Dee Carney said in a statement.
Meanwhile, 76% of students who applied to enroll in Texas’ school voucher system were not previously enrolled in public schools.
State Rep. Gina Hinojosa, D-Austin, who last week accepted her party’s gubernatorial nomination, said TCVT’s numbers show that Texas’ school voucher legislation only helps the already well-off.
The program, which promises $10,000 to qualifying families per student, was championed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, Hinojosa’s opponent in the primary. The vouchers are paid for by Texas taxpayers.
“Abbott is taking money from 5.5 million public school kids to instead serve his rich donors,” Hinojosa said in a text message to the Current. “That’s the Greg Abbott Corruption Tax, and working Texans are done paying for it.”
Joshua Cowen, a school voucher skeptic and professor of education policy at Michigan State who testified against Texas’ voucher bill last year at the State Capitol, told the Current the data is on par with other states that have enacted similar legislation.
“It’s uncanny,” Cowen said. “I’ve been warning about this in 23 other states, and there’s nothing in the Texas legislation that I haven’t seen in a dozen other states — and it’s exactly the same result.”
Of those who applied for vouchers in Texas, a plurality, or 31%, are from middle-class and upper-middle-class families earning between 200% and 500% of the federal poverty level, TCVT’s numbers show. For those who struggle with statistics, that’s between $66,000 and $160,000 a year for a family of four.
Not quite “welfare for the rich,” as some critics charge. Still, the data shows Texas upper-middle class families are reaping much of the rewards, according to Cowen.
“I call typical private schools ‘subprime,’ because they’re not particularly good,” Cowen said. “A lot of them [operate] out of church basements, double-wide trailers or something like that. The people using these are not the wealthiest in the state. The point is that they were already in private school to begin with.”
Indeed, two of the top-ranked private schools in San Antonio, TMI Episcopal and the Keystone School, which charge around $30,000 in tuition per high-school student, aren’t accepting vouchers, according to the Texas Education Freedom Accounts website.
Neither school immediately responded to the Current’s request for comment. However, the trend in San Antonio is similar to that seen in Dallas, where at least four of the top 10 private schools aren’t participating in the voucher program, the Dallas Morning News reports.
Cowen said it’s possible Texas’ elite schools may begin accepting vouchers as the program progresses.
“I’m sure those schools with high tuitions have private endowments and financial aid packages for a handful of kids who get in and qualify,” he said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if, over time, what they do is decide that they can keep making their endowment without having to dip into it because of vouchers. They won’t change admission standards.”
However, even with a $10,000 voucher from the state of Texas, the admission costs for TMI and Keystone will remain out of reach for most San Antonio families, Cowen noted.
Texas school voucher applications for the 2026-27 school year remain open through March 17.
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