Comptroller requests more than $2 billion for voucher program

Texas Comptroller Don Huffines (R), who is currently seeking election to a full term as state comptroller, is requesting more than $2 billion in state funding for the Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) voucher program for the 2028-29 biennium, according to The Texas Tribune. The request includes $1 billion in additional base funding and another $226 million to cover increased awards for students already participating in the program.

The size of the request is not entirely unexpected. The Legislature appropriated $1 billion for the voucher program in 2025, but that funding was only for the 2026-27 school year, not both years of the current biennium. As the education community predicted, the comptroller is now seeking to effectively double the funds appropriated for the program for the upcoming budget cycle. As reported by The Texas Tribune, state budget experts have predicted the costs of the voucher program could rise to almost $5 billion by 2030.

The timing of the request, however, is worth noting in context. Gov. Greg Abbott (R), Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), and Speaker Dustin Burrows (R–Lubbock) have directed most state agencies to reduce their base budget requests by 3% for the next biennium. K-12 public education and the voucher program have been specifically exempted from those reductions. However, while Huffines is calling to more than double spending on vouchers, there has been no indication current state leaders plan to seek any significant increase in funding for the public education system, which serves over 5.4 million Texas students, despite districts across the state struggling to address significant budget shortfalls. The state voucher program serves approximately 70,000 students.

The call to double voucher funding is also noteworthy because Texas faces a very different budget picture than it has in recent legislative sessions. In recent years, the Legislature has had substantial surpluses available when writing the state budget, providing billions of dollars of additional funding to allocate to state needs. This is not expected to be the case for the 90th legislative session. The state is projected to have little to no surplus available when lawmakers return early next year and start writing our next budget. That will make decisions about how to spend limited state dollars even more significant, particularly amid issues such as the water crisis and affordability statewide.

Additionally, there is new evidence the voucher program is not helping the students its proponents claim it was intended to help. Data released so far in the first year of the program shows that at least 70% of students receiving vouchers in grades 1–12 were already enrolled in private school or were being homeschooled. Anecdotal evidence also suggests the percentage of lower-income families who have actually been able to enroll in a private school and use a voucher is also much lower than the percentage who were initially offered a voucher prior to seeking enrollment. These statistics raise questions about how many program dollars are actually going to families that want to leave public schools but cannot afford private school tuition. This was said to be the intended objective of the program, not using limited taxpayer funds to subsidize families already outside of the public school system.

The Texas Center for Voucher Transparency has also raised concerns over what the state has shared with the public about the program. The center reported that 80% of the more than 106,000 students remaining on the TEFA waitlist as of Aug. 10 had not previously been enrolled in public schools. The center has also pointed to gaps in the information publicly released by the Office of the Comptroller, including the lack of complete information about students’ prior school enrollment and other details needed to fully evaluate who is benefitting from the program.

The 90th Legislature will ultimately decide how much funding TEFA receives for the 2028-29 biennium. With the first school year of the program still underway and the state’s fiscal outlook less favorable than in recent years, lawmakers will have to weigh the comptroller’s request alongside the many other demands on the state budget. ATPE will stay engaged on this issue and provide updates as they are available.