Texas Voucher Transparency: State Launches Spending Dashboard
The Texas Comptroller released data showing $270 million in Education Savings Account spending, with over half of recipients coming from low-income households.
By Arjun Weber ·
Texas officials introduced a new public tool on Thursday to track the distribution of state education funds. The dashboard, launched by the Texas Comptroller, provides a breakdown of how taxpayer money is allocated through the state's Education Savings Account program, commonly referred to as vouchers.
According to reporting from the Houston Chronicle, the program has disbursed more than $270 million in taxpayer dollars to date. The new data reveals that 111,295 students have received vouchers, with more than half of them classified under Tier 2. This tier is designated for low-income families, which the state defines as a household of four earning approximately $66,000 or less annually. Tier 1 includes low- or middle-income students with documented disabilities, while Tier 3 covers middle-income families earning up to $165,000 per year for a household of four.
The dashboard does not specify where within those income brackets a family falls. It also indicates that pre-K students were the most frequent recipients, with 23,732 awards issued for that age group. A notable portion of the beneficiaries were not previously enrolled in public schools. Nearly 83% of voucher students had not attended public school in the prior year. Among students in second through twelfth grade, only 17% had been in public school the year before receiving their funds.
School district data shows that Houston ISD, the state's largest district by enrollment, had the highest number of applicants. Within Houston ISD boundaries, 12,411 students applied for vouchers, and 4,020 received funding. Dallas ISD ranked second with 8,540 applicants and 3,149 funded students. Fort Bend ISD and Northside ISD in Bexar County followed with 2,592 and 3,074 funded students, respectively.
Seventeen percent of all voucher students have a qualifying disability, including some from families earning more than $165,000. The Comptroller stated that the state is withholding details on how families spend the funds to protect children's privacy. Opponents of the program argue that this spending information should be public to ensure accountability. The dashboard currently does not detail the specific programs, therapies, or schools where the money is used, nor does it provide information on the 33,878 eligible students who chose not to participate.
