Texas TEFA Waitlist Tier Tracker 2026-27

By The School Choice Index Editorial Team Last verified: August 4, 2026 · Award status last checked: August 4, 2026

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Status: Awards are going to remaining eligible Tier 2 families and some eligible Tier 3 families.

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The bottom line

This Texas TEFA waitlist tier tracker 2026-27 shows where awards stand, what your position band can — and cannot — tell you, and what to do next. TEFA stands for Texas Education Freedom Accounts — the state program that puts money in an account you can spend on private school tuition, homeschool costs, tutoring, instructional materials, therapies, transportation to and from approved providers, and other approved education expenses.

As of August 4, 2026, the official TEFA site says new awards are going out to remaining eligible Tier 2 families and some eligible Tier 3 families. That's real movement. But the state's own annual report tells a harder story underneath it: as of the July 29 snapshot, more than 122,000 awards had been issued, 85,344 accounts were actually funded, and more than 121,000 students were still waiting.

Here's the part the state does not line up in one place, and it's the number that should shape your decision this week. Of those 85,344 funded accounts, fewer than 30 belong to Tier 3 students. The same report shows 17,300 funded students in the 201%–500% FPL income range. Nearly all of the rest were funded through the combined Tier 1 disability-priority and Tier 1 sibling groups — but the state does not publish the split between those two groups. We'll show you exactly what the numbers prove and where the public data stops.

Texas has not published a cutoff number. It has not published odds. So no honest page can tell you the date your child gets funded — including this one.

What we can do is give you the three things that actually change your next move:

• Which priority rule applies to your child — income, accepted disability evidence, and sibling grouping can all change the answer
• What your position band means — the state hands out a range like "30,000 through 50,000" but does not publish a tier-by-tier conversion key. We built the safest count-only model the May 18 data supports, and we show where that model stops.
• What deadline applies to you. If an award lands, the exact deadline in your notice decides whether you keep it. September 15 is the current full-funding proration threshold.

Your child's official answer only ever comes from one place: the Odyssey portal, plus the email and text notifications tied to your application. This page is here to help you read what you're seeing.

Best for: Families whose 2026-27 application still says Eligible in Odyssey, or just changed to Approved – Awaiting Opt-In. Not for you if: You never applied, or you're just starting to compare Texas options. Our main Texas school choice guide is the better place to start.

Primary sources for the current status and July 29 snapshot: official TEFA waitlist information and the 2026–27 TEFA Annual Demographic Report.

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What does the Texas TEFA waitlist tier tracker 2026-27 show right now?

Answer capsule: As of August 4, 2026, the Texas Education Freedom Accounts program says additional awards are going to remaining eligible Tier 2 families and some eligible Tier 3 families. The state has not published the last awarded lottery number or a Tier 3 cutoff. In the state's July 29, 2026 snapshot, more than 122,000 awards had been issued, 85,344 student accounts were funded, and more than 121,000 students remained on the waitlist.

Four numbers parents keep mixing up

This trips up a lot of people, including a few news stories. Texas publishes four different counts and they all mean different things:

1. Applications received — every application submitted. About 274,000.
2. Eligible applicants — applications that passed the checks. More than 248,000.
3. Awards issued — the state said yes. More than 122,000.
4. Funded accounts — money is actually sitting in the account. 85,344.

The gap between #3 and #4 is the one that matters most right now. The state had issued more than 36,600 more awards than it had funded accounts as of July 29. That's not a mistake in the data, and it does not mean every one of those awards was simply waiting for a deposit. Some parents had not completed confirmation, while others had declined or changed their participation. A student is counted as funded only after the parent opts in and — for private school — the school confirms enrollment.

So when you see "more than 122,000 awards" and "85,344 funded" in the same report, both are correct. One is the award count. The other is the participant count after the required confirmation steps.

What Texas still hasn't published in the official sources we reviewed: the last awarded lottery number, how deep into Tier 3 it has gone, award odds by band, or when Tier 4 might move.

Check your child's official status in Odyssey — it is the official source of record for your current application status and award amount. This tracker can't see your application.

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The cross-check the state report does not spell out: what "moved into Tier 3" really means

Answer capsule: Texas Education Freedom Accounts funded 85,344 student accounts as of July 29, 2026. Fewer than 30 of those funded accounts belonged to Tier 3 students, even though the same report shows 17,300 funded students with household income from 201% through 500% of the federal poverty level. Nearly all of the rest were funded through the combined Tier 1 disability-priority and Tier 1 sibling groups. The state does not publish enough detail to split those two groups by income.

This is the finding that changed how we read the whole program, and it took cross-checking two different tables in the same state report to see it.

Here's the state's tier breakdown from the July 29 snapshot:

FPL means federal poverty level — a household income line the federal government updates every year.

Now here's the same funded population sliced by income instead of by tier, from the same report:

• About 68,000 students lived at or below 200% FPL
• 17,300 students lived from 201% through 500% FPL
• Fewer than 30 lived above 500% FPL, and the report says those students were funded with siblings in another income tier

Put the two tables next to each other and something jumps out.

Of the 17,300 funded students in the report's 201%–500% income band, fewer than 30 were actually funded as Tier 3 students. Nearly all of the rest came through the combined Tier 1 and Tier 1 sibling groups. We cannot honestly say how many were qualifying Tier 1 children and how many were siblings, because the report warns that siblings can come from blended or separate households with different incomes and priority tiers.

We ran the check in the only form the published data supports:

• Funded at or below 200% FPL (about 68,000) minus Tier 2 funded (51,800) leaves about 16,200 students from the combined Tier 1 and Tier 1 sibling groups.
• Funded from 201% through 500% FPL (17,300) minus fewer than 30 Tier 3 students leaves roughly 17,300 students from the combined Tier 1 and Tier 1 sibling groups.
• Fewer than 30 funded students above 500% FPL were siblings awarded with a child in another income tier.
• The combined Tier 1 and Tier 1 sibling rows total 33,500 funded accounts. The income-band residuals add back to roughly the same number once the report's rounding and suppressed counts are respected. ✅
• The displayed tier rows total between 85,300 and 85,329, compared with the report's exact total of 85,344. That 15-to-44-account difference is consistent with the report's rounded and suppressed tier figures. ✅

(The residual figures above are our calculations from the state's published tables, not numbers Texas published. The formulas are right there so you can check us.)

What this means if you're sitting in Tier 3. In the July 29 funded snapshot, ordinary Tier 3 participation was still below 30 accounts. Most funded students whose household income fell in the same dollar range reached funding through Tier 1 disability priority or Tier 1 sibling grouping instead.

That's not a knock on the program — it's the priority order the Legislature wrote. But it reframes the news that awards have "moved into Tier 3." Awards have started going out. Funded Tier 3 accounts were still below 30 at the July 29 snapshot.

Those two things aren't a contradiction. They're a timing and measurement gap. The report counts a student as a participant only after the parent opts in and, for private school, the school confirms enrollment. Newer Tier 3 awards can therefore appear in the award total before they appear in the funded-participant table — but the public report does not tell us how many of the unfunded awards were Tier 3.

So the honest read: Tier 3 has been reached. Tier 3 had barely appeared in the funded-account snapshot. And the next authoritative count has to come from a later official update.

Source: TEFA Annual Demographic Report, July 29 snapshot.

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What your TEFA waitlist position number actually means

Answer capsule: The Texas Education Freedom Accounts program gives waitlisted families an approximate position band, such as "5,001 through 10,000." That band reports an approximate relative place on the waitlist, not an official tier label, live rank, award date, or probability. Texas separately notified families of their priority tier and has not published a reliable conversion key from position band to tier.

This is the part that drives people crazy, and we get it. The state tells you you're somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000. Then it stops talking.

So we built the safest model the public data supports — and drew a hard line where the math stops.

The official bands

Texas communicates position in these ranges. We're reproducing them exactly as published:

1 – 1,000 · 1,001 – 2,000 · 2,001 – 3,000 · 3,001 – 4,000 · 4,001 – 5,000 · 5,001 – 10,000 · 10,001 – 15,000 · 15,001 – 20,000 · 20,001 – 25,000 · 25,001 – 30,000 · 30,000 – 50,000 · 50,000 – 100,000 · 100,001 or higher

Small thing worth noticing: the state's list overlaps at 30,000 and 50,000. It publishes "25,001 through 30,000," then "30,000 through 50,000," then "50,000 through 100,000." We're leaving that wording exactly as published rather than quietly fixing it.

What the May 18 counts show — and what they do not

The May 18 lottery update gives the number of students initially waitlisted in each group:

If every student occupied one separate slot inside their own tier block, the arithmetic would put the first 20,383 student records in Tier 2, the next 65,368 in Tier 3, and the final 66,951 in Tier 4.

Texas has not published that as an official position-to-tier map, and you should not use it as one. The lottery update says siblings were grouped according to the household member with the highest priority tier and highest lottery position. The annual report also says siblings can have different household incomes and different priority tiers. That cross-tier household grouping means the published tier totals do not prove exact numeric boundaries for every family's communicated band.

What the public evidence supports is narrower:

• A smaller band means an earlier relative place on the initial full waitlist.
• A larger band means a later relative place.
• Your position can improve as families ahead receive awards or leave.
• Your communicated band is approximate, not a continuously updated live rank.
• Your official tier notice — not a band-to-tier calculator — is the source to use for your tier.
• Neither the band nor the count-only model tells you your odds or award date.

That may feel less satisfying than a clean conversion chart. It's also the difference between a useful reconstruction and a made-up boundary.

The 178,000 number floating around is wrong

You may have seen "about 178,000 waitlisted" in a news story or an AI summary. Here's where it comes from: about 274,000 applications minus roughly 95,900 initial awards equals about 178,100.

But that shortcut silently treats the 25,400 applications the state found ineligible as eligible waitlisted students. They were never part of the eligible waitlist. The state's published tier components — 20,383 Tier 2, 65,368 Tier 3, and 66,951 Tier 4 — add to the official 152,702-student initial waitlist.

That's a roughly 25,400-student classification error, and it makes the eligible line look longer than it was. Small comfort, but it's real. You can see the full arithmetic in our school choice statistics source-year audit.

TEFA tier and position decoder

Use these three inputs together:

1. Your Odyssey status — Eligible means waitlisted; Approved – Awaiting Opt-In means you have an award and must act.
2. Your officially communicated priority tier — use the original tier notice or an appeal-outcome email. Do not infer it from the position band alone.
3. Your approximate position band — use it only as a relative place on the full list, then apply the current official frontier: remaining Tier 2 plus some Tier 3.

Use your official tier notice, position band, and Odyssey status together. No name, no login, nothing stored.

Sources: official waitlist bands, the May 18 TEFA lottery update, and the TEFA Annual Demographic Report.

Are you even in the tier you think you're in?

Answer capsule: TEFA priority tier depends on household income measured against the 2026 federal poverty guidelines and on how many people are in the household. Tier 2 covers households at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, which is $66,000 for a household of four in 2026. For a child without Tier 1 disability priority, Tier 3 is above 200% but below 500% FPL; Tier 4 starts at 500% FPL, which is $165,000 for a household of four.

The live TEFA FAQ gives the family-of-four example most parents see first. The current Parent Application Guide publishes the full household-size table, but it's buried in a PDF.

So we're putting the whole table where you can use it.

2026 tier lines by household size

How to read the boundary: Tier 2 includes income at or below the 200% figure. Tier 3 is above the 200% figure but below the 500% figure. Tier 4 begins at the 500% figure. The exception is Tier 1: a child with accepted qualifying-disability evidence can receive Tier 1 priority when household income is at or below 500% FPL.

Why you can trust this table: every row above is reproduced from the official 2026 TEFA Parent Application Guide. The household-of-four figures — $66,000 at 200% FPL and $165,000 at 500% FPL — also match the current program FAQ. The enrolled law controls which side of each line a family falls on.

Do not use last year's poverty lines

This one can change the tier you think you're in. Federal poverty guidelines change annually, and TEFA used the 2026 table for this application cycle.

The current household-of-four figures are $66,000 and $165,000.

So a family of four earning $65,000 who uses an older poverty table could wrongly think they're Tier 3. Under the official 2026 TEFA table, they're Tier 2. That's a real difference between "official movement is still in my tier" and "official movement has only just entered my tier."

Use the table from the application year, not an old explainer.

One more thing about disability priority

Accepted evidence of a qualifying disability can put a child in Tier 1 — but only if the household is at or below 500% FPL. Above that line, a child with an IEP remains in Tier 4 for priority purposes. (An IEP, or Individualized Education Program, is the written special-education plan a public school district creates for a student.)

And there are two separate things happening with disability:

• Priority — getting into Tier 1 in the first place
• Extra funding — the larger private-school award, up to $30,000

For Tier 1 priority, the program accepted a Texas IEP, a Full Individual and Initial Evaluation, a verified out-of-state IEP, or the TEFA Disability Certification Form. A 504 plan by itself does not count for TEFA disability priority or additional funding.

Some families qualified for Tier 1 priority through accepted disability documentation without qualifying for the larger award. Additional special-education funding requires a qualifying Texas IEP on file with the Texas Education Agency for the applicable period. Priority and dollars are two different doors.

Sources: 2026 TEFA Parent Application Guide, 2026 HHS poverty guidelines, official TEFA family guidance, Odyssey disability guidance, and Senate Bill 2, enrolled text.

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How far has the waitlist actually moved?

Answer capsule: After the initial lottery, the Texas Comptroller's office announced several rounds of additional TEFA awards. Through June 23, 2026, the official announcements documented more than 12,916 additional waitlist awards, all of them Tier 2. Awards to some Tier 3 families were confirmed on the program's site as of August 4, 2026.

Each award-batch figure in this ledger comes from a dated state announcement. Running totals and the final column are our labeled starting-line arithmetic, and "more than" stays "more than." The final column is not an official live Tier 2 count.

The check that proves this math works

Using 4,100 as the minimum for a batch the state described as "more than 4,100," a straight subtraction from the May 18 Tier 2 baseline leaves fewer than 12,966 student records before later appeal or household adjustments.

The Comptroller's June 10 press release independently says "nearly 13,000 Tier 2 applicants remain on the waitlist."

That count-only result and the state's rounded statement land in the same place. It validates the arithmetic for that date; it does not turn the final column into an official live queue, because later appeals and household changes can alter the composition.

Not every award is line movement

On May 29 the state announced 3,317 waitlist awards — plus 294 students awarded after their special education records were confirmed with TEA, plus 183 of their siblings.

Those last two groups were separate special-education record confirmations and sibling awards, not ordinary Tier 2 sequence movement. If you count them as ordinary queue movement, you'll make the Tier 2 line look faster than the announcement supports.

A correction worth making

One recent TEFA explainer says the June 23 batch of 5,499 awards pushed into Tier 3.

It didn't. The official announcement is explicit: all 5,499 were Tier 2. Tier 3 movement wasn't confirmed on the state's site until later. If you read that article and assumed Tier 3 had been moving since late June, that's why your expectations don't match your portal.

Where the money for new awards comes from

State law caps total program spending at $1 billion for the first state fiscal biennium, through August 31, 2027. The official waitlist updates describe the added awards below as money becoming available inside that program pool.

The official waitlist updates explain these additional rounds as existing program funding becoming available in three ways:

1. A family opts out entirely.
2. A family that applied for private school switches to homeschool/other, dropping their award from $10,474 to $2,000 — which frees up about $8,474.
3. Appeals get resolved, releasing money the Comptroller had held in reserve.

That second one is why "one award freed up" doesn't mean "one student gets funded." Four families switching from the standard private-school amount to homeschool/other free about $33,896. That's enough for three more standard private-school awards or sixteen more $2,000 homeschool/other awards, with money left over. The line doesn't move one-for-one.

Download our TEFA movement ledger — every batch, every date, every source link, as a spreadsheet. Free, no email required. Built it for reporters and for parents who want to check our work.

Sources: May 18 lottery baseline, May 29 additional awards, June 10 Comptroller update, June 23 award update, and Senate Bill 2, enrolled text.

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How likely am I to come off the TEFA waitlist?

Answer capsule: No reliable individual probability can be calculated from the TEFA data Texas has published. The program states that in its first year it cannot predict with certainty how far down the waitlist awards will reach, and it has not released a lottery cutoff or enough movement detail to support an odds estimate.

Let's just say it plainly, because you deserve a straight answer instead of a hedge.

We can't tell you your odds. No public tracker can calculate them from the data Texas has released. Anyone claiming an official percentage from that data is adding precision the state has not published.

Here's what you can stand on, ranked by how solid it is:

And here's what a position band can't tell you:

• That band 1–1,000 is a lock. It isn't.
• That someone else's award in your band means your whole band cleared.
• That your band is a live rank. It's an approximate snapshot.
• That you can subtract awards from the queue and get your spot. Sibling grouping, appeals, and the $10,474-vs-$2,000 split all break that math.

What real parents are seeing

We pulled these from public posts in r/TexasEFA. They're here for the human reality of it — not as evidence of any cutoff, tier rule, or odds.

"Tier 3 here. I'm hopeful but being realistic."

"I've not read about a Tier 5 at all… I'm quite confused."

"I had completely given up hope for this year. I was shocked yesterday to receive funding…"

That last one is worth sitting with. Late movement happens, and it surprises people. It also doesn't tell us the official cutoff, independently verify every household record, or predict anything about your child. One family's good news is not a probability for yours.

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The one thing this tracker can't do for you

We're not going to pretend otherwise: TEFA does not publish a cutoff number, an odds table, or a projected date for your child. If a percentage is what you need before you sign a tuition contract or withdraw from your district, this page can't give you one, and no public tracker can derive one from the data Texas has released. If you need certainty in the next two weeks, our Texas school options guide is honestly the better read right now.

But because Texas doesn't publish odds, we put our time into what it does publish — and what the official pages do not line up. Every dated award batch. Every tier count, cross-checked against the state's own totals. The count-only starting-line model. The real income lines by household size. And the confirmation dates that can reduce a late award to 75% or 50%.

That's less exciting than a number. It's a lot safer to plan a school year around.

Source: official TEFA waitlist information. Parent quotes are used for perspective only.

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What "Eligible" and "Approved – Awaiting Opt-In" mean in Odyssey

Answer capsule: In the Odyssey portal used for Texas Education Freedom Accounts, "Eligible" means the application qualified but has not been approved or funded — this is the normal display for a waitlisted student, and no award amount appears. "Approved – Awaiting Opt-In" means an award has been issued and the parent must complete acceptance steps by the deadline in the award notice.

Odyssey is the certified educational assistance organization the Comptroller selected to operate the TEFA portal and help administer accounts, payments, and support. Its status labels aren't obvious, and a couple of them scare people for no reason.

Enrollment status is a separate thing. Once you pick a school, you'll also see enrollment states like Pending, Verified, Confirmed, Denied, or Closed. Your application can say Approved while your enrollment still says Pending. Both need to land.

One gap worth knowing about. Odyssey's own help documentation states that priority tier updates are not currently visible in the student portal. So if an appeal changed your tier, the portal may not show the new tier. A resulting award and dollar amount will show up — but the tier itself might not. If your tier feels wrong, don't assume the portal is the final word on that one field.

Sources: Odyssey parent-portal status definitions · Odyssey appeal outcome guidance · Official TEFA Parent Application Guide

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You got an award off the waitlist. Now what?

Answer capsule: A TEFA waitlist award requires the parent to opt in, confirm the educational setting, and — for a participating private school — have the school verify enrollment by the deadline in the award notice. Odyssey states that waitlist award deadlines are typically about four weeks from the award date, and the deadline in the individual notice controls.

First: breathe. Then open the email, because the clock in it is yours alone.

Step 1 — Find the deadline in your notice

Ignore the July 15 and July 31 dates you'll see in older articles. Those applied to families awarded in the first rounds. If you came off the waitlist later, your deadline is tied to your award date — usually about four weeks out.

Two real examples the program has published: awarded June 23 → deadline July 15. Awarded July 8 → deadline August 7.

Your notice controls. Write the date down.

Step 2 — Opt in

An award sitting in "Awaiting Opt-In" is not accepted. Nobody will do this for you.

Step 3 — Pick your setting

There are two TEFA-funded settings, plus one enrollment status that is not compatible:

• Participating private school — $10,474 for 2026-27, or up to $30,000 when the student has a qualifying Texas IEP on file with TEA and the IEP supports a larger amount
• Homeschool/other — $2,000
• Public or charter school — not compatible with funded participation. A funded student found enrolled in a public or charter school is removed from the program.

Step 4 — Get admitted to the school

Here's something that surprises people, so we'll say it flatly: a TEFA award is not an acceptance letter.

Picking a school in Odyssey does not admit your child to it. The school decides. It may be full. It may have its own deadlines and its own application. Call the admissions office directly and confirm there's a seat before you do anything you can't undo — especially withdrawing from your current school.

Step 5 — Have the school confirm enrollment

The school has to complete verification in the portal. If it doesn't happen by your deadline, the student is removed from the program. Released funding can then be used for additional waitlist awards. Follow up. Politely, and more than once.

Step 6 — Confirm the tuition and do the gap math

After the school verifies enrollment, it enters the annual tuition and fee amount in Odyssey. You still have to review and confirm that amount before TEFA funds can be used for tuition.

Don't skip this one:

Annual tuition + required fees − your confirmed TEFA amount = what your family owes

The standard $10,474 may not cover full tuition and required fees at your school. Ask for the complete fee schedule, not just the tuition number. Then ask about the deposit and whether it's refundable.

Step 7 — Handle any public school withdrawal carefully

Follow your district's or charter school's actual process. Don't withdraw until you have a confirmed seat somewhere else. An overlap in enrollment records can cost you the funding.

Step 8 — Save everything

Award notice. Deadline. Opt-in confirmation. School selection. Enrollment verification. Confirmed tuition and fees. Funding amount. Any support case number. Screenshot it all.

Save or print this award deadline checklist now. Put the exact deadline from your notice at the top, then check off each step as it clears. Do not enter your child's name or application number into an unofficial tool.

Sources: Odyssey TEFA timeline and funding schedule · Odyssey school-selection guidance · Odyssey tuition-confirmation guidance · Official TEFA family guidance

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Will a late award be reduced?

Answer capsule: Yes, it can be. Texas Education Freedom Accounts guidance states that students brought off the waitlist after July 15 may have funding prorated depending on when enrollment is confirmed, and that students must confirm by September 15 to receive the full award amount.

This is the most expensive date on the page. September 15, 2026.

The private school installment schedule

Small note for the detail-minded: state law sets the outside deadlines for those three payments as July 1, October 1, and April 1. The program is paying the last installment early, on February 1. That's the program moving faster than the law requires, not a conflict.

What proration looks like

Your individual award notice still controls your deadline. If your confirmation falls near a cutoff or the amount shown in Odyssey differs from what you expected, get the confirmed amount in writing from Odyssey before you sign a tuition contract you cannot afford without it.

Homeschool/other

The $2,000 comes as a single payment. Families who come off the waitlist later are funded as soon as practicable once their steps are complete.

Why late timing can change the whole decision

Run the real numbers before you commit:

• Tuition and required fees for the year
• Your confirmed TEFA amount from Odyssey — not the headline number
• Proration, if it applies
• Any nonrefundable deposit
• Transportation

A 50% award on a $12,000 tuition leaves you owing about $6,763. That's a different decision than owing $1,526. Same school, same child, different month.

Add the deadline from your award notice to your calendar now. Use the exact date in the notice, not a date copied from an older article.

Sources: Odyssey TEFA timeline and funding schedule · Senate Bill 2, enrolled text

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What to do while you're still waiting

Answer capsule: Waitlisted TEFA families should monitor the Odyssey portal, email, and text notifications while keeping a workable backup school plan in place. Confirmed movement into a tier means some families in that group are receiving awards; it does not confirm that any individual student will be funded.

The five-minute readiness check

Do this today. It costs nothing and reduces the chance that you miss an award notice or deadline.

• Log into Odyssey and confirm the password works
• Check that your email and cell number are current
• Search your spam and promotions folders for anything from Odyssey or TEFA
• Write down each child's tier and band
• Confirm every child in your household shows up correctly
• Know where the award deadline will appear

If you're hoping for a private school

• Call the school. Ask if they have a seat.
• Ask whether they'll hold admission while TEFA is pending.
• Confirm they're actually in the program using the state's official finder — not their marketing page.
• Get the full tuition and fee schedule in writing.
• Ask about the deposit and refund policy.
• Do the gap math above.

If you chose homeschool/other

It's $2,000 — meaningful, but it's not a full-year budget. Check that what you plan to buy is on the approved expense list before you count on it. Not every educational purchase qualifies, and the listed technology items are subject to one combined cap of 10% of the annual award.

Approved categories include things like instructional materials, tutoring, assessments, qualifying therapies, transportation to and from approved providers, and other expenses allowed by the program. The purchase still has to fit the official rules and marketplace process.

If your child has a disability, read this part twice

Nearly one in four funded TEFA students has a qualifying disability, so this affects a lot of families.

Moving to a private school changes how special education works for your child. Under federal law, students placed in private school by their parents generally do not keep the same individual entitlement to services they'd have in a public school. They may be considered for equitable services through the district, but those services can be more limited and are not an individual guarantee of the same IEP services.

That's not a reason to rule out private school. It's a reason to ask hard questions first:

• What services does this school actually provide, and who delivers them?
• What are those staff members' credentials?
• Are therapies included, or billed separately?
• What equitable services, if any, has the district said may be available?
• What's the plan if the placement doesn't work in November?

Build a Plan A and a Plan B

Then set one date: the last day you can still choose Plan B without losing it. Put it on the calendar. That single date is what keeps a waitlist from running your whole August.

Compare your Texas backup options — private, charter, public transfer, and homeschool, side by side. Useful whether or not the call comes.

Sources: Official TEFA family guidance · Odyssey purchase restrictions · U.S. Department of Education guidance for parentally placed private-school children with disabilities · TEFA Annual Demographic Report

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If you're in Tier 4 — the straight answer

Answer capsule: In the July 29, 2026 snapshot, no Tier 4 students appeared as funded TEFA participants, and fewer than 30 funded students came from households above 500% of the federal poverty level — the report says those students entered alongside eligible siblings. The current official notice checked August 4 names remaining Tier 2 and some Tier 3 families, not ordinary Tier 4 movement.

If your household is at or above $165,000 for a family of four and your child does not qualify for Tier 1 disability priority, we're not going to make you read to the bottom for this.

Tier 4 had not reached the funded-participant table in the July 29 snapshot. There were 66,951 Tier 4 students on the initial waitlist. Fewer than 30 students above 500% FPL show up in the state's funded income count, and the report says those students entered alongside eligible siblings — not because the ordinary line had reached Tier 4.

That is a dated status, not a promise that Tier 4 can never move. As of August 4, no official source we reviewed had announced ordinary Tier 4 awards.

The 20% rule is not what most people think

Here's a correction that matters for next year.

You'll read that Tier 4 is "capped at 20% of program funds, and that cap meant zero awards." That has it backwards.

State law says the total spent on Tier 4 students may not exceed 20% of the appropriation. It's a ceiling, not a 20% set-aside. The law does not reserve 20% for Tier 4.

In the first-year order, funding works down through Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, and then Tier 4. Until the line reaches Tier 4, the order is the immediate barrier. If funding reaches Tier 4 in a future round, the 20% ceiling could then limit how much can be spent on that group.

Why some families are seeing "Tier 5"

If you got a text or portal message about Tier 5 and then couldn't find Tier 5 everywhere on the state's website, you're not losing it.

Some official materials split Tier 4 into 4(a) and 4(b), and the annual demographic report says Tier 4(b) is sometimes shown as Tier 5. Same lower-priority group either way: households at or above 500% FPL whose child did not qualify for the prior-public-school preference.

Within the last income group, children who were enrolled in a Texas public or open-enrollment charter school for at least 90% of the prior school year get priority over the remaining applicants. That's the Tier 4(a) distinction.

What actually changes your position for 2027-28

Three things matter, and the first is big:

1. Sibling priority. After year one, the program first groups applicants as: siblings of participating children, new eligible applicants, and prior participants who left because they enrolled in public or charter school. The year-one income and disability tiers are then applied inside each group. That gives an eligible sibling of a current participant a real priority advantage, but it does not erase every rule beneath it.
2. A change in household income — or a new federal poverty table. Your tier can move even if your dollar income stays the same because the FPL lines are updated each year.
3. Accepted qualifying-disability evidence. A child at or below 500% FPL can qualify for Tier 1 with the program's accepted disability documentation. The larger award still requires a qualifying Texas IEP on file with TEA.

See the Texas options families are comparing while they wait — charter schools, public transfers, private school, and homeschool all work differently. Keep a real option alive instead of planning around an unpublished cutoff.

Sources: TEFA Annual Demographic Report · Official TEFA waitlist information · Official TEFA family prioritization guidance · Senate Bill 2, enrolled text

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Does the TEFA waitlist carry over to 2027-28?

Answer capsule: No. Odyssey guidance states that students who remain waitlisted and are not selected for 2026-27 must reapply for the next program year, and that the current waitlist position does not carry forward. Application dates for 2027-28 have not been announced.

Two separate things here, and mixing them up is how families get burned.

Your position does not carry over. If you're still waitlisted when this year closes, you reapply. New application, new lottery sequence.

But your presence on the list this January does count — legally.

This is easy to miss, and it's written into the law that created the program. Texas Education Code § 29.3521 requires the Comptroller's legislative appropriations request to state the amount needed to provide the statutory account amount for each child on the waitlist as of the January 1 before the biennium.

The next date is January 1, 2027 — before the 90th Texas Legislature considers the next state budget. A child still on the official waitlist that day is part of the population the Comptroller must include when stating the amount needed.

That's not a promise of funding. The same law says the Legislature still decides the actual appropriation. But it does mean staying on the official list isn't nothing. The waitlist is part of the number lawmakers are shown.

Current participants are different. Families already funded and in good standing follow a continuation process. The program may require an annual notice of intent, but it may not require a participant in good standing to submit a brand-new application every year.

What to get ready now

• Current contact info everywhere
• Updated income documentation — the poverty guidelines change every January, so your tier could shift without your income changing at all
• Accepted disability documentation, if it applies
• Household and sibling records
• Notes on whatever went sideways in your first application

We're not going to guess at 2027-28 dates. They haven't been announced. The state has a 2027-28 interest list for future updates, but that form is not an application and does not create a waitlist position.

Set your own reminder to check the official TEFA family page every week once the next application window is announced. Do not rely on an old 2026 calendar.

Sources: Odyssey parent funding information · Official TEFA family page · Senate Bill 2, Texas Education Code §§ 29.3521 and 29.356

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If your tier or status looks wrong

Answer capsule: Families who believe their TEFA tier or application status is incorrect should compare the Odyssey portal against their original notification email and household records. The published 2026 appeal deadlines have passed, and Odyssey states that appeals submitted after the applicable deadline cannot be accepted.

Check these before you call

• The application status page for each child separately
• Portal messages and notifications
• Your original tier and range email
• Text messages
• Documents you uploaded and whether they show as received

The 2026 appeal deadlines have closed

We'd rather you hear that from us than spend a week preparing an appeal the program says it cannot accept. And one more thing worth knowing: after the program's internal appeal process, Texas Education Code § 29.373 says a Comptroller decision under this program is final and not subject to another appeal under the program.

Support can still help with

• Portal access problems
• A child or household member missing from your account
• A status that displays inconsistently
• Documents that aren't showing up
• Explaining a hold or a closed status
• Explaining a notice you already received

Support can explain or troubleshoot an account problem. That is not the same as reopening a closed appeal window.

What we can't do

We can't see your application, change your tier, file anything, confirm an award, or move your child up the list. The School Choice Index is an independent comparison and research resource for U.S. school choice programs. We're not the Comptroller, we're not Odyssey, and we're not a school.

Contact Odyssey support about your application. Include the child's application record only through an official Odyssey support channel, not through this site.

Sources: Odyssey TEFA appeals process · Senate Bill 2, Texas Education Code § 29.373

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Who runs TEFA right now?

Answer capsule: The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts administers the Texas Education Freedom Accounts program, with Odyssey serving as the certified educational assistance organization that operates the application platform and helps administer accounts, payments, and support. Don Huffines was sworn in as Texas Comptroller on August 1, 2026, succeeding Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock.

Worth knowing, because the Comptroller's office controls program administration and the release of additional awards — and that office changed hands four days ago.

Don Huffines was sworn in August 1, 2026, replacing Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock, who oversaw the program's launch. The first annual demographic report is dated August 1, and the Comptroller's office publicly announced its release on August 3, 2026.

If you're reading another TEFA page and it still describes Kelly Hancock as the current Comptroller, that page has not been updated for the August 1 change.

Sources: Texas Comptroller announcement of Don Huffines's swearing-in · Texas Comptroller announcement of the annual TEFA report · Official TEFA Parent Application Guide

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What we actually verified

Who made this: The School Choice Index Editorial Team.

How we made it: We read the official TEFA lottery update, waitlist information page, additional-award announcements, annual demographic report, Odyssey status and funding documentation, the enrolled text of Senate Bill 2, and the official 2026 TEFA poverty table. Where we calculated something the state hasn't published, we labeled it and showed the formula so you can check it. Where an older official guide conflicted with a later official update, we used the later source and kept the date visible.

Why it exists: The official information is authoritative. It's just scattered across pages and PDFs that were never designed to be read together, and none of them answers "what does this mean for my kid." So we did the joining.

Corrections: If you spot an error in a date, tier, status definition, or source, send it to us with the official source and we'll check it. Every material change gets logged below with the date and the reason.

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Common questions about the TEFA waitlist

Is TEFA awarding Tier 3 families now? Yes. As of August 4, 2026, the official notice includes some eligible Tier 3 families along with remaining Tier 2 families. But in the state's July 29 snapshot, fewer than 30 Tier 3 students had funded accounts. Awards and funded participation are different stages.

What tier is the TEFA waitlist on? Some Tier 3 families, alongside remaining Tier 2 families. No exact Tier 3 cutoff number has been published.

Does that mean every Tier 2 family got funded first? No. The current notice still mentions remaining Tier 2 families. Household sibling grouping, documentation outcomes, and different award amounts mean public totals do not form one perfectly clean one-student-at-a-time line.

What does "Eligible" mean in Odyssey? Your child qualifies but isn't approved or funded. Odyssey identifies this as the waitlisted status, and no award amount will show.

Where do I find my tier and position band? Check your original notification email, Odyssey messages, appeal-update email if applicable, and program texts. Odyssey says priority-tier changes made through an appeal may appear in the appeal email rather than the student portal.

How likely am I to get off the waitlist? There's no honest way to calculate an individual percentage from the public data. The state says it cannot predict with certainty how far awards will reach in year one.

Is Tier 5 real? Yes and no. The annual report says Tier 4(b) is sometimes shown as "Tier 5." It is the remaining group at or above 500% FPL after the prior-public-school preference inside the last income category.

Do siblings get awarded together? The program says eligible children in the same household are awarded at the same time, and an eligible sibling who applies in the same application period is accepted when another child in the household is selected. Still check each child's record because blended or separate households can produce different-looking income and tier data.

Does my position band update? Your underlying position can improve as families ahead receive awards or leave the program. The communicated band is approximate, and the state does not promise that the band shown to you is a continuously updated live rank.

How long do I have after a waitlist award? Use the exact date in your notice. Odyssey says waitlist deadlines are typically about four weeks from the award date.

Can a late award be prorated? Yes. Under the current schedule, confirmation by September 15 preserves the full annual amount; confirmation after that can reduce the maximum to 75%, and confirmation after January 15 can reduce it to 50%.

Does a TEFA award get my child into a private school? No. The school controls admission and seat availability. Selecting it in Odyssey does not complete the school's enrollment process.

Can my child stay in public school and use TEFA? No. A funded student found enrolled in a Texas public or open-enrollment charter school is removed from the program.

Does my waitlist spot carry to 2027-28? No. You must reapply. Your old position does not carry forward; any new waitlist position will come from the next application cycle. A child who remains on the official waitlist on January 1, 2027 is included in the population used for the Comptroller's next legislative appropriations request, but that is not a funding guarantee.

Can I still appeal my 2026 tier? No. The four published 2026 appeal windows closed in May and June, and Odyssey says late appeals cannot be accepted.

Can I apply for TEFA now? No. The 2026-27 application window closed at 11:59 p.m. Central on March 31, 2026. Texas has not announced the 2027-28 application dates.

Why do some TEFA materials say the application deadline was March 17? The original Parent Application Guide used March 17. On March 17, 2026, a federal district court enjoined enforcement of that deadline and extended the application window to 11:59 p.m. on March 31. The later official lottery update and Odyssey timeline use March 31.

Is this the official TEFA tracker? No. The School Choice Index is an independent comparison and research resource for U.S. school choice programs. Odyssey and the Texas Comptroller are the official sources for your child's application.

Sources: official TEFA waitlist information · official TEFA family guidance · Odyssey parent-portal statuses · Odyssey funding information · Odyssey timeline and proration · Senate Bill 2, enrolled text · March 17 federal court order extending the application deadline

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Still not sure which path is right for your family? Take our free 60-second school choice matching quiz.

You'll get a personalized action plan for your child — the Texas options that fit your situation, what each one costs, and what to do next. It works whether or not TEFA comes through.

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The School Choice Index is an independent comparison and research resource for U.S. school choice programs. This tracker is not operated by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, the TEFA program, Odyssey, or any participating school, and it cannot access or change an individual application. Award amounts, deadlines, and program rules can change — verify anything you're acting on directly with the program.

Primary sources

• Texas Education Freedom Accounts — current waitlist information
• TEFA Annual Demographic Report — July 29, 2026 snapshot
• TEFA Lottery Update — May 18, 2026 baseline
• Official TEFA family guidance, eligibility, prioritization, amounts, and approved expenses
• Official 2026 TEFA Parent Application Guide
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — detailed 2026 poverty guidelines
• Odyssey TEFA support library
• Senate Bill 2, enrolled version
• Bayaan Academy v. Hancock — March 17, 2026 order extending the application deadline
• U.S. Department of Education IDEA guidance for parentally placed private-school children

Last verified: August 4, 2026