33,878 Texas Families Have Walked Away From TEFA - and a Humble Mother's Weeks-Long Placement Shows Why Lawmakers Are Asking Questions
More than 33,000 eligible applicants have opted out of Texas Education Freedom Accounts in the program's first year. KPRC's ENOUGH traced one Houston-area case: a boy with autism withdrawn from his Humble private school weeks into the year after a dispute over outside therapy on campus.
Texas's school-choice program has a number its supporters did not plan on: 33,878 eligible applicants have opted out of Texas Education Freedom Accounts, according to the Comptroller's TEFA dashboard as of October 29 - out of 274,144 applications, 248,712 eligible applicants, 111,295 funded participants and 95,389 still on the waiting list in the program's first year.
KPRC 2's ENOUGH, in its latest episode, showed how fast a placement can fall apart. Houston-area mother Brianna Ledet's son with autism was withdrawn from his private school in Humble weeks into the school year after a dispute over outside therapy on campus - the kind of support a public school district is required to work into a child's plan, and a private school is not.
That distinction sits at the center of the opt-out question. Private schools participating in TEFA are not required to provide special-education services or develop an individualized education program the way districts are, even though students with disabilities are a priority group in the program - 17 percent of funded participants have a qualifying disability, the dashboard reports, and a student with a disability can be eligible for up to $30,000.
The families leaving are now a formal subject of inquiry. KPRC reports that lawmakers and Texas's incoming comptroller want to know why families are opting out and how long refunds take; the comptroller's office has said it plans to survey families who left the program, and their answers will inform what changes in year two.
