TEXAS — Gov. Greg Abbott has officially signed a sweeping school voucher bill into law, creating Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) in Texas for the first time.

What You Need To Know

  • The new law will allow eligible families to use up to $10,000 per year for private school tuition and other educational expenses, starting in the 2026-2027 school year

  • Supporters, including the governor, say it gives parents more control and choice over their children’s education, but critics warn the move could divert funding away from public schools

  • School finance expert Chandra Villanueva with the nonprofit Every Texan explained how vouchers will impact the state's funding system for public schools, known as "recapture" or "Robin Hood"

The new law will allow eligible families to use up to $10,000 per year for private school tuition and other educational expenses, starting in the 2026-2027 school year. Supporters, including the governor, say it gives parents more control and choice over their children’s education.

But critics warn the move could divert funding away from public schools — particularly through a system known as “recapture,” which already redistributes property tax dollars from wealthier school districts to those with fewer resources.

To understand how this works, school finance expert Chandra Villanueva with the nonprofit Every Texan likens the state’s funding system to a row of buckets. Each bucket represents a school district filled with local property tax revenue.

Some districts, especially those in high-growth, high-property-value areas, fill their buckets quickly. Others struggle to keep theirs from running dry. When a district collects more property tax revenue than the state allows, the overflow — called “recapture” or nicknamed “Robin Hood” — is sent back to the state.

“Recapture is really a function of the property wealth you have across your district and the number of students,” Villanueva said. “When your property values go up and your student population doesn’t, you have more wealth per student—which is basically more opportunity to fill that bucket.”

Traditionally, those dollars are reallocated to under-funded schools across the state, but Villanueva says with ESAs now in the mix, that money might be rerouted.

“What happens when you collect more money in recapture is the state has to put in fewer general revenue dollars to meet its obligations,” she said. “So that growth in recapture will free up state dollars—which then could be spent on vouchers or any other state need.”

State Rep. James Talarico, a Democrat from Austin, says that’s a broken promise to Texas public schools.

“This is bad news for recapture districts, and this is bad news for non-recapture districts,” Talarico said. “The state needs to do its fair share of school funding. Our schools are still going to be in a hole at the end of this legislative session, and on top of that, we’re now going to spend billions to subsidize private tuition for wealthy families—rather than fully funding our neighborhood public schools.”

Supporters of school vouchers maintain it is about empowering parents, but public school advocates argue it may come at a cost to classrooms that depend on every dollar.

The ESA program will begin in the 2026-2027 school year, offering funds on a first-come, first-served basis.