Texas's Education Freedom Accounts were built for the whole state, but the first year played out very differently from one region to the next. The biggest metros each produced funded students by the thousands. El Paso produced fewer, and the reasons tell a family here a lot about how to approach the second year. This is a look at what the first-year data says about El Paso and Hudspeth counties, and what it means if you plan to apply for 2027-28.
From applications to funded accounts
KTSM reported in the spring that just under 4,400 applications had come from the El Paso region during the state's application window, which ran from February 4 to March 17, 2026. Across Texas, roughly 274,000 students applied for a program funded with $1 billion under Senate Bill 2.
The Comptroller's Annual Demographic Report, a snapshot as of July 29, 2026, shows how many of those turned into money. Education Service Center Region 19, which covers the twelve districts of El Paso and Hudspeth counties, had 1,810 funded students. Statewide the count was 85,344 funded accounts, with more than 121,000 eligible students still waiting.
Put the two local numbers side by side and El Paso landed somewhere around two funded students for every five applications. That ratio isn't exact, because an application and a funded student aren't quite the same unit and the report keeps updating as families confirm or decline. But it gives a realistic sense of the odds.
Where the funded students live
The report lists every district with at least 30 funded students. Five from our area made the list:
- El Paso ISD: 862 funded students, the 19th-highest total among Texas districts
- Socorro ISD: 462
- Ysleta ISD: 250
- Canutillo ISD: 109
- Clint ISD: 88
Those five account for 1,771 of the region's 1,810. The rest are spread across San Elizario, Fabens, Tornillo, Anthony and the Hudspeth County districts, each under the privacy cutoff of 30. Our TEFA funding page has the full district table.
El Paso ISD's share makes sense. It is the most central district, and the city's longest-established private schools, including Loretto Academy, Cathedral High School, St. Patrick Cathedral School and Radford School, sit inside its boundaries. Fort Bliss is inside it too.
Why the totals were modest
Two forces held El Paso's numbers down, and neither has much to do with interest.
The first is supply. KTSM reported that only 137 applicants had previously been enrolled at Ysleta ISD, under 1% of its students, and Superintendent Xavier De La Torre noted that the region's private schools don't have much spare capacity. Our directory bears that out: we count 38 K-12 private schools in El Paso County, and many of them enroll fewer than a hundred students. A family with an award still needs an open seat.
The second is the way the money was rationed. State law sets priority tiers, and in year one the funding reached two groups almost exclusively: students with disabilities in households up to 500% of the federal poverty level, and families at or below 200% of poverty. Statewide, 80% of funded students came from households under 200% of poverty, and fewer than 30 students from the middle-income tier were funded on their own. In practice, a middle-income El Paso family without a child who has a disability had very little chance in the first round.
What the account is worth here
The base award for 2026-27 is $10,474 at a participating private school, paid 25% on July 1, 25% on October 1 and 50% on February 1. That amount is unusually powerful in El Paso. The Catholic Foundation for the Diocese of El Paso has described local Catholic school tuition in a range of roughly $3,500 to $9,000 a year, which means the award can cover a full year at many parish schools with money left over. Leftover funds stay in the account while the child remains in the program.
For a child with an IEP on file with the Texas Education Agency, the account is larger. In a mainstream setting the 2026-27 total is $16,714 for an El Paso ISD resident, $16,942 in Socorro ISD and $16,974 in Ysleta ISD. The small districts down the valley come in higher because the state formula favors them: $20,314 in Tornillo ISD and $21,608 in Sierra Blanca ISD. You can check any district and setting with our TEFA calculator.
Homeschool students receive $2,000, deposited all at once in July.
How 2027-28 will work
The Comptroller hasn't published second-year dates, and its budget for that year is up to lawmakers when the 90th Legislature gavels in on January 12, 2027. A few rules are already set:
- Students funded this year keep their accounts if they stay in good standing. They don't reapply.
- Siblings of current participants are placed first in year two.
- Anyone who applied this year and wasn't funded should plan to apply again.
- The priority tiers stay in place, so household income and disability status still decide who goes first.
That last point matters for planning. If your child may have a disability but doesn't have an IEP, ask your home district for an evaluation now. An IEP on file both raises the award and places the student in the first priority tier, and evaluations take time.
A checklist for El Paso families
- Join the state interest list at educationfreedom.texas.gov so you hear when the window opens.
- Keep your most recent federal tax return ready for income verification.
- Make sure the address you'll apply from is in Texas. That matters for Fort Bliss families who live across the line in New Mexico.
- Pick two or three schools and apply to them during their own admissions season. An award doesn't hold a seat, and El Paso's schools are small.
- If you have a 3- or 4-year-old, check the pre-K criteria. Limited English proficiency and an active-duty parent both qualify a child, and both are common here. Our pre-K guide covers the details.
If you want help putting the pieces together, the funding check takes two minutes, and a School Funding Advisor will follow up with the sources that fit your family.