A massive education shift is officially underway in Texas with school choice. Families in the Lone Star state can now use state-funded accounts to pay for private school tuition or other educational expenses.
More than 200,000 Texas families have applied to the Texas Education Freedom Account program, also known as TEFA. Many say that demand proves parents want the freedom to move their students from underperforming public schools into greater educational success.
“This has been the largest year-one launch of a new school choice program in the nation’s history,” said TEFA spokesman Travis Pillow.
Pillow told CBN News that families from all backgrounds have applied for the program.
“We’ve had over one-third are in that low-income demographic households earning less than $66,000 a year for a family of four,” explained Pillow. “Over a third are in that middle-income demographic, less than $165,000 a year for a family of four. And then the remainder are in those higher income demographics, but we have really seen families from all across the economic spectrum who are signing up to take advantage of this opportunity.”
With its one-billion-dollar budget, the program offers families up to $10,000 per child a year for private or religious schools, $2,000 for homeschooling, and $30,000 for special needs students.
In May, Felipa Alexander’s 18-year-old daughter will graduate from high school. She said enrolling her in a private elementary school helped to identify a learning disability early on.
“We sacrificed other things to be able to afford those things,” said Alexander. “And I even had family members who were like, ‘You’re crazy for spending that money to be able to do that.’ But because of that, then our child is able to be able to read so much and to be able to be successful academically. And without that, we just don’t know where they would be, honestly.”
While the funding was not available during that time, her younger child will now be able to benefit from the program.
“Based on our experience with our first child, it’s extremely important just to be able to understand and have – it’s that wealth of resources to be able to look at that and to be able to see what is right for my child,” Alexander commented.
Johnny Graham heads Vanguard College Preparatory School in Waco. He argues that the narrative that school choice only benefits the wealthy is flawed.
“Poor white, poor black, poor Latino represent a mega majority,” Graham said in an interview with CBN News. “And so, that is what we’re seeing with the school choice movement.”
Graham himself is a perfect example of that movement.
Growing up in rural North Carolina, he received a scholarship to attend McCallie, a private school in Chattanooga.
“Always had good grades, always was a star athlete, but had an amazing opportunity to attend an all-boys school in Chattanooga, Tennessee. And it was transformative for my life.”
Graham said his experience at the school laid the foundation for his support of school choice.
“I’m proof positive as an African American man, probably less than one-percent of us are heads nationally, superintendents of thriving independent schools. What happens when somebody has the opportunity?”
School choice programs are also gaining traction beyond Texas.
According to Americans for Prosperity, at least 18 states have programs making students eligible for state funding to use on private school tuition or homeschool expenses.
Florida leads the way with the federal education freedom tax credit.
One-point four million students, nearly half of the state’s K-12 population, are enrolled in private, charter, virtual, or homeschool education, according to Covenant Journey Academy.
Mat Staver, founder and chancellor of Covenant Journey, sees families seeking options that align with their values and protect their children, while preparing them for lifelong success.
“Many of the parents, they want an alternative from what they experience in the public schools, not only with the bullying, but with a lot of the indoctrination that’s happening and has happened in the public schools where the parental rights and our Judeo Christian values are being undermined, but they haven’t had the opportunity to make that decision,” explained Staver.
He said critics often fight against educational choices for parents.
“The public education has been supported by taxpayer dollars, and they then have used their captive audience to literally drive a wedge between parents and children,” said Staver. “And so, what we see happening, for example, in some of the protests in the last year or so on college campuses, that’s a direct result of what’s been taught in the public schools. It’s the undermining of God, America, our Judeo-Christian values, promoting LGBTQ agendas. Parents are tired of that.”
Meanwhile, Graham, who has dedicated his career to independent school education, credits his success to God and his time at McCallie.
“I have a tree of people I’ve trained who are now heads of their own schools,” he said. “This poor boy from Lemon Springs, North Carolina, but that’s also not just God, that’s the power of school choice, right? And so, you can’t tell me how transformational the school choice argument is, and I know there are people who don’t support it, but I’m a four-time head of school, founded the head of school, do what I do because of that one opportunity.”
