The number of TEFA students living inside North Texas school districts kept climbing after the program’s first funding wave. The Texas Comptroller’s Oct. 1 count lists 3,312 participating students who live in Dallas ISD, up from 2,645 in the state’s July 29 report, a 25% jump in about two months.
That pattern repeats across Dallas, Tarrant, Collin and Denton counties. In district after district, the October figures run 40% to 60% higher than the July snapshot, while the statewide total rose from 85,344 funded students to 116,574.
What the TEFA students count measures
Texas Education Freedom Accounts, created by Senate Bill 2 in 2025 with $1 billion in state money, give families an account to spend on private school tuition, homeschool costs and other approved education expenses. For 2026-27 the Comptroller set the private school amount at $10,474 per student, which is 85% of the estimated statewide average of state and local funding per student. A student with a disability and an individualized education program on file can qualify for up to $30,000. Homeschooled students receive $2,000 a year.
A child becomes a participant only once the account is funded. For private school awards, that means the family accepted the award, picked a participating school and the school confirmed enrollment. That confirmation step helps explain why counts grew so much after July.
Three cautions matter before reading any district number:
- The district is where the family says it lives, as reported on the application. It is not the school the child attends or attended.
- The state has not said how many of these students were enrolled in that public school district last year. Some were already in private school or homeschool.
- The July and October reports are separate snapshots. The July report counted accounts funded between July 1 and July 24. The October fact sheet counts all participating students as of Oct. 1.
The biggest North Texas counts
On the Oct. 1 list, only Houston ISD, at 4,331, has more TEFA students than Dallas ISD. Fort Worth ISD ranks sixth statewide and Plano ISD ranks 10th. Here are the North Texas districts with the largest counts, with the July 29 figure and the Never Late News calculation of the change:
- Dallas ISD: 3,312 (July: 2,645, up 25%)
- Fort Worth ISD: 2,200 (July: 1,764, up 25%)
- Plano ISD: 1,710 (July: 1,140, up 50%)
- Garland ISD: 1,450 (July: 1,021, up 42%)
- Arlington ISD: 1,190 (July: 888, up 34%)
- Northwest ISD: 1,161 (July: 768, up 51%)
- Richardson ISD: 1,144 (July: 752, up 52%)
- Denton ISD: 998 (July: 688, up 45%)
- Keller ISD: 980 (July: 661, up 48%)
- Irving ISD: 900 (July: 608, up 48%)
- Lewisville ISD: 844 (July: 580, up 46%)
- Frisco ISD: 832 (July: 545, up 53%)
- Mansfield ISD: 805 (July: 568, up 42%)
Where growth ran fastest
The steepest climbs were in suburban districts with smaller starting numbers. Wylie ISD in Collin County went from 355 to 598, up 68%. Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD went from 371 to 593 and Prosper ISD from 268 to 429, both up 60%. Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD rose from 360 to 567, up 57%.
Other mid-size counts on the October list:
- Crowley ISD: 716 (up 40%)
- McKinney ISD: 703 (up 47%)
- Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD: 679 (up 45%)
- Mesquite ISD: 593 (up 24%)
- Birdville ISD: 533 (up 32%)
- Allen ISD: 418 (up 50%)
- Grand Prairie ISD: 406 (up 37%)
- Princeton ISD: 379 (up 35%)
- Duncanville ISD: 358 (up 44%)
- DeSoto ISD: 332 (up 26%)
Dallas, Fort Worth and Mesquite grew more slowly than the regional pattern, each about 25%, though Dallas and Fort Worth started from far larger bases. The state’s July report also grouped students by regional education service center. Region 10, the Richardson-based service center that covers Dallas and Collin counties, had 14,342 participants then. Region 11, based in Fort Worth, had 11,459.
Who is getting the accounts
The July report describes the first group of TEFA students. Almost 25% have a qualifying disability, and 80% live in households below 200% of the federal poverty level. State law set the order: students with disabilities in households at or below 500% of the poverty level came first, then households at or below 200%. Tier 1 had 20,700 funded students plus 12,800 siblings funded alongside them, and Tier 2 had 51,800.
Demand still outruns money. The state received about 274,000 applications, found more than 248,000 students eligible and had more than 121,000 on the waiting list as of July 29. The application window ran Feb. 4 to March 31, and a lottery decided placement within priority groups.
Why districts are watching
District leaders plan budgets around enrollment, and several North Texas districts are working through shortfalls or tax elections this fall. Plano ISD adopted its rate beside a $44.8 million operating shortfall, Fort Worth ISD is working through a $49.8 million gap, and Mesquite ISD put a Prop A voter-approval tax rate election on the Nov. 3 ballot.
The TEFA students numbers do not show how much enrollment any one district lost, because the state reports residence rather than prior enrollment. What they do show is where families who live in a district have taken a funded account. For Plano, Richardson, Northwest and Frisco, that group grew by half in two months. The Comptroller has said the next full demographic update will come before the 2027 legislative session, the session where lawmakers next write the state budget that pays for the program.
How Never Late News reported this
This roundup is based on three public records from the Texas Comptroller’s Education Freedom program: the Participants by District report dated Oct. 1, 2026, the Oct. 1 participants fact sheet listing 116,574 participating students, and the TEFA Annual Demographic Report with data as of July 29, 2026. Program amounts and the application window come from the Education Freedom program website. Never Late News matched the October and July district tables line by line and calculated each percentage change and the statewide rankings. Districts with fewer than 30 participants are not in the public tables. No interviews were conducted for this report. To report an error, email editor@neverlatenews.com.