>> MATTHEW DICKENS:  Good morning, thank you for joining us today for the Governor's Committee on people with disabilities.  I'm the accessibility and disability program coordinator, Matthew Dickens, we'll be talking about the Texas Education Freedom Accounts Program supports students with disabilities.
Today we have Lindsay here.  She's a manager at the Texas comp troller's office of public accounts, and she'll be leading us today.
I'll give you some general information before we get started today.  There will not be an option to use the chat, just because this is a webinar, which means if you have any questions, please use the Q and A tool that is available there on the screen.  And you can use that to ask any questions you may have.
We will have a moderator, and her name is Melinda, and she can help to answer any of those questions you may have, or she will guide us through that process.
After the webinar today, there will be a survey that pops up, so we can gather feedback.  And later, after the survey, you will get some information from Zoom, an actual email, if you wish to complete the survey later, we'll also include a link of our GCPD page to access the webinar recording and any other materials.
All right.  Now I will turn it over to Lindsay.  Go ahead and get started.
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: Thank you for hosting me today, Matt.  I'm excited to introduce the Texas Education Freedom Accounts Program, actually launching tomorrow, parent application window opens tomorrow.  So we're all very excited here at the comptroller's office.
My name is Lindsay Baerwald, I work here as a marketing manager in the comptroller's office, along with a small but very talented team, working hard for the launch of this largest day one education freedom program in the country.
The education savings account program was passed in Senate Bill 2 during this past 89th regular session in 2025.  This program has been officially renamed and branded as the Texas Education Freedom Accounts Program, or TEFA.  You'll hear me refer to it as that throughout this presentation.
Slide.
Families can use these funds for a variety of educational‑related expenses, including private school tuition, tutoring, curriculum, and more.  The application process for families, as I just mentioned, opens tomorrow, and the first funding will be available for the 2026‑27 school year.
Slide.
All Texas children are eligible as long as they reside in the state of Texas.  They are a citizen, or a national of the United States and lawfully admitted, and they are eligible to attend a public school or are eligible to enroll in a public school's pre‑K program.
Slide.
For pre‑K, it's important to note there are specific criteria to be eligible for pre‑K ‑‑ you have to be eligible for free pre‑K in the state to qualify for pre‑K.  Those criteria are here ‑‑ are set in statute and they're shown on this slide.  I'll give you time to read through it.
Slide.
Next, this slide talks about prioritization tiers that were also set in Senate Bill 2.  Here it's important to note that this is not a first come, first serve program.  So all applications received during the application window will be prioritized by these tiers.  Not by the date the applications are submitted.  That's really important, and you'll hear me probably say that a couple other times today, that it is not first come, first serve.
Let me dig into these tiers.  There's four main tiers.  Tier one is for students with qualifying disabilities and a household income at or below 500% of the Federal Poverty Level.  For reference, that's about $165,000 a year income for a family of four.
From here, all categories are based on income.  Tier two is for families with an than income at or below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level, tier three is between 200‑500% of the FPL, tier four is all other applications at or above 500% of the poverty level.  And also in this specific tier, which is the highest income tier, there are a couple of other factors.
One, is a preference for additional prioritization for students that are currently in public school that will be moving to private school in '26‑27.  As well as an overall limitation on the amount of funding that can be spent in this category, or funded in this category, that's capped at 20% of the total funding.
Overall, these tiers are given priority to children with disabilities and with lower income families.  If interest exceeds the available funding we have this year, which was about a billion dollars, these applications will be placed into these tiers and a lottery will be run and make awards starting with the tier one applicants.  And then we'll just keep running down the list and making awards until our available funding runs out.
The note at the bottom here is important.  If one child is selected in the lottery, all eligible siblings who applied during this first year application will be accepted with them.  So that means, for example A. child with a disability prioritized in tier one may have a sibling that is prioritized in tier two or three.  So when or if the tier one child receives an award, all of the siblings in tier two or three also receive award at the same time.
Slide. 
Now we'll talk about funding.  The funding a child receives depends on their chosen educational setting and whether they have an individualized education program or IEP on file with the Texas Education Agency or TEA.  Students attending a participating private school receive $10,474.  Students attending a participating private school with an IEP for special education services can receive up to $30,000, depending on the funding indicated on their IEP.
All other students, including home schoolers, receive $2,000.  And these are all annual amounts and awards, and they are on a per applicant basis.  So if you have three children in private school and all three apply and are funded, they would each receive the $10,474 per year.
At the time of the applications, parents will need to select which setting they would like to have for their student in the 2026‑27 school year, which will let us know how many accounts we can fund.
Slide.
So the TEFA funds can cover a range of education expenses.  You can see these broad categories on this slide.  It's not an exhaustive list of everything.  But it's important to know that no funds are provided as cash to participating parents, and the program also does not provide reimbursements.  So that means all the purchases you see here, whether for tuition or textbooks, will occur on the program platform.
Slide.
Last year, we contracted with a company called Odyssey to help us administer this program.  They are the company that will run the platform where all of these transactions happen, including the application process starting tomorrow.  They are also contracted  to help us raise awareness about the program, and conduct our lottery, and make awards in April.
Slide.
We'll start talking about that application next.  
Slide.
As I've mentioned, applications open at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow, and they close at 11:59 on March 17th.  Again, this is not a first‑come, first‑served program, and parents can apply at any time in the next six weeks window.  This application is designed to be mobile friendly, accessible, and Odyssey is attempting to verify some information electronically to avoid a lot of uploading of documents or other information wherever possible within the application.
Slide.
On our website, which is educationfreedom.texas.gov, we have lots of toolkits and lots of resources, one of them is the parent prep checklist, which provides a lot of this information for parents.  They ‑‑ parents will provide their Social Security number or their ITIN, which is an individual tax identification number, they will provide the Social Security number for their students, and they will ‑‑ parents will provide their Texas driver license.  Depending on what the parents are able to provide here, they may also be required to provide additional documents to establish their citizenship or lawful presence of their child.  And those additional documents are listed on this slide.
Slide.
>> Do you mind reading what you see on the slides?  Simply because there's some people who may not have visual access.  Do you mind reading what's there?
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: Absolutely.  Those additional documents include a birth certificate or report of birth abroad, a certificate of naturalization.  A certificate of citizenship.  Or an other official documentation.
>> MATTHEW DICKENS: Thank you so much.
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: Of course.
They may also be required to provide other forms of doc documents to provide Texas residency, and those include a utility bill, a lease agreement, a mortgage statement, or a voter registration certificate.
Slide.
So in order to receive prioritization in that tier one that we just spoke about for a child with a disability, or additional funding through an IEP, parents will provide additional ‑‑ this additional information.  For funding purposes, so to receive up to the $30,000, parents will provide information to verify an IEP on file with the TEA in the last three school years.  So those school years are 2023‑24, 2024‑2025, and 2025‑26.  For prioritization only purposes, parents can provide an expired or out of state IEP, a fell and individual initial evaluation, or a new TEFA disability certification form that is available in the toolkit on our website.  This new form allows a qualified professional to provide a diagnosis that a child has a qualifying disability that adversely affects their education.  Any of these items secure prioritization in tier one, assuming the income requirements are also met.  Only an IEP in the last three school years would be used to determine additional funding, and Odyssey will be getting their IEP information for funding straight from the Texas Education Agency. 
Slide.
For income purposes, parents will have to provide their 1040 from either 2024 or 2025.  This income information is nestles to prioritize applications in those tiers.
Slide.
I'll quickly go over the timeline of major events starting with tomorrow.
Slide.
Parents can start applying tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. through 11:59 p.m. on March 17th.  And again, it is not first come, first served.  When the applications close, we will prioritize all applications and run the lottery if needed.  So if the number ‑‑ amount of applications does not exceed the available funding we have, there won't be a need for a lottery.  We don't expect that to happen.  We expect there to be a lot of interest in this program, and that a lottery will be run.
And then we expect to start notifying parents if their children will receive an award in early April.
For students attending a participating private school, parents and schools will confirm enrollment later this summer, before we fund their accounts on July 1st.  We have more than 16,000 schools in the program as of this morning, and I checked again just now, and it was almost ‑‑ we're up to almost 17,000.  So schools are being added continuously, and they will be added on a rolling basis over the next several months.
Some of the schools are not added yet because they're working to complete their accreditation or meet the required two years of continuous operation, but they're all very eager to participate.  So if you don't see your school ‑‑ your preferred school when you log in to apply, don't worry, they may still show up in the next couple weeks or months before you have to decide or choose that eligible school.  Some parents are looking for a private school that best meets their children's needs, allowing parents and schools to confirm enrollments into the summer gives them time to make these decisions.
Slide.
>> MATTHEW DICKENS: I have a brief question.  So related to how parents are informed about these things, how are they notified? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: Their account will receive the ‑‑ they'll receive an email from the Odyssey platform in their account is funded.
>> MATTHEW DICKENS: Appreciate it.
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: Of course.
This talks about the minimum funding cadence that's laid out in Senate Bill.  We expect to have a dynamic wait list, which means some parents may come off the wait list during the program year.  Their funding may be prorated depending on when they come into the program, but that is an option.  These funding dates are the initial funding distribution, which is at least 25% on July 1st.  The initial additional funding at least 50%, on October 1st.  And any remaining funding on April 1st, 2027.  And I'm catching a typo in this slide, so I will get an updated is ‑‑ it's definitely not August 2025.  So I will get that corrected before that goes out.
Slide.
Okay.  Here are a few places that everyone can go for additional information.  Our Odyssey team has hired 55 people dedicated  to providing customer service support for Texas, and they have additional resources also if needed.  They have a helpful list of FAQs as well on their support site here, and a chat feature as well that does a very good job answering questions using AI.  They also have an email and a toll‑free number, help.tx@withodyssey.com.  And the number is 737‑379‑2362.
Slide.
Here is a QR Code link to our education freedom.texas.gov website, which has a lot more information, the toolkit with additional resources, as well as where you can go when you're ready to apply.  And the application link will be at the top of the page in a gold button.
And that's the end of my presentation.  Thank you all very much.
>> We'll go ahead and open it up for questions.  Melinda, are there any questions? 
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Okay.  I believe you said this, Lindsay, but do they have to reapply if each year if selected? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: I didn't hit on that.  Thank you for that question.
You do not have to reapply.  You will have to recertify, which means that you state that you still want to continue in the program, and that your educational settings are the same.  But a whole new application will not be needed.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Okay, great.
>> MATTHEW DICKENS: I also have a question, this is Matt.
Related to that question that was gist just asked, once they recertify, are the funds the same for the next year, are there separate accounts?  How does that all work?
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: Yes.  Funding, as long as their educational setting does not change from a private school to home school, or vice versa, we can't guarantee that if they select home school and they want to begin participating in a private school that we can increase their funding, because the legislature and everyone will decide the funding amounts.  But they can go ‑‑ bump down from private school to home school.  We also can't guarantee that if someone is working on their IEP process right now, and they don't have it by March 17th, that when they recertify next year and have that IEP for the additional funding, that we will be able to meet those needs as well, but they will be asked.  If we can meet those needs, we will. 
>> MATTHEW DICKENS: Understood.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Okay.  I have another question.  If your IEP includes a full‑time paraprofessional and this translates to receiving 30k a year, when the private school receives your 30k, do you have any recourse if they never provide the paraprofessional? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: I have our lovely legal counsel here with me too, Mark, if he wants to jump in on this question I would love that.
>> MARK DOMEL: Hello, everybody.  So if I understood the question correctly, it was if you ‑‑ your private school isn't providing the funds ‑‑ providing the services that you believe you're entitled to, if that's the case, you'd contact us and the program will investigate that.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Okay, great.
Our next question, in your presentation, Lindsay ‑‑
>> MATTHEW DICKENS: This is Matt.  Could I jump in for just one second in.
In addition to the last question, I'm wondering about were the school to have several people that were to utilize that same service, suppose the parents ‑‑ is there a cost share? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: I think Mark, correct me if I'm wrong, the school and the students that are sharing the service in their contract with the school can work out an agreement.  But that is done through ‑‑ all of that will be done through the school contract with the parents.
>> MARK DOMEL: I'm not aware of that.  I can't give you an answer to that question.  I'm not sure.
>> MATTHEW DICKENS: All right.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: So in your presentation, Lindsay, you mentioned all other students.  Does that include public school students? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: Good question.  No.  Public school ‑‑ you cannot be enrolled in the ‑‑ in a public school to receive funding.  You can either be in a participating private school and receive the 10,474 or additional funding for any disabilities, or you can be in a nonparticipating TEFA ‑‑ nonparticipating TEFA private school or home school.  So the any other students means anyone not in public school.  And they would only receive up to 2,000.  If you're not in a participating TEFA private school but you are in a private school, you would be maxed out at that 2,000 level.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Okay.
If a parent is disabled and does not have two years of tax returns, what do they need to send? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: So I apologize if that slide wasn't clear.  It's only one year.  You can ‑‑ if you haven't filed your 2025 taxes yet, you can use your 2024 1040.  And so you don't have to submit both, it's one or the other.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Okay, great.
And just to confirm, this next quo, if a child has a slightly older IEP but completes a TEFA disability form, they still will not qualify for the enhanced funding, how does this work when the relevant school district has not q responded to requests for an IEP? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: I can answer that first part, yes.  If the IEP is older than '23‑24 school year, it will only ‑‑ they don't need to fill out the TEFA disability certification form.  That document, the older IEP, will qualify for prioritization purposes.  But not additional funding purposes.  I know the schools have 45 business days to get back on new IEPs, and I know there's a backlog right now, I think there's a lot of people trying to get their IEPs for this TEFA program specifically.  So I can't really add anything ills onto there about the schools.
I would say ‑‑ I would continue to work on getting the IEP updated so that in future years when we go back to the legislature and say, look at how many people were on this wait list, please fund everyone on the wait list, which is what we ‑‑ the bill tells us to do next session, is to let us know how many people were wait listed so they can say we need to fund everyone on the wait list, and give everyone additional funding that needs it, so I would say continue to work with your school district to get that IEP current so that in future years, we're able to fund you at the level needed.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Okay.
So if a school chooses your student, and they don't use your funds to provide what is in your IEP, and you return to the public school, does the money follow you back to your public school? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: You have to return the funds in your account that haven't been used.  But I'm not sure, Mark, on when you transfer from a private school to a public school, how that ‑‑ how those funds transfer with the child.  They won't be in your account, so you'll have to give the funding in the account back.
>> MARK DOMEL: The funds will not transfer with you when you go to the public school.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Can parents enroll Texas students that does not participate in TEFA?  
I'm not understanding the question.  Let me ‑‑ 
Please confirm ‑‑ if we have an IEP from the '24‑25 school year, can that information be uploaded into Apex and be accepted? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: Yes.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Okay.
What is the poverty line for a family of three which the tiers are based off of? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: I don't have that whole chart.  It's going to be under 165, because the 500% of the poverty level for a family of four is 165.  I don't have the whole chart in front of me, but it is ‑‑ we can get that sent over with our PowerPoint presentation as well.  We have it all laid out for 200%, 500%, and up to nine children.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Okay.
Earlier you said 16,000 schools had been added.  Did you mean 1600?
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: 1600, I'm sorry.  I said 16,000.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: And yes, they will be able to get a copy of your presentation.
If they ‑‑ a child in the family chooses for just this upcoming school year to not participate, and the other children are chosen ‑‑ you answered that.  They can be automatically chosen for other upcoming years?  Or just that current year?
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: So you don't have to apply for all of your children.  Every year, or in this first year you can apply for just ‑‑ maybe one that wants to be home schooled or one goes to private school, one goes to home school.  That's kind of the beauty of this program, is you can choose per child which educational setting works for them.  Any siblings that aren't applying for the program this year, they will come in the first siblings are considered first priority for year two and beyond.  So they will be priority two when they apply in future years.  If one of their siblings is already in the program.
>> MATTHEW DICKENS: A comment here, so just to clarify that, so they have to be in the TEFA program?  Step siblings, do they also qualify? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: I haven't had a question about step siblings yet.
Mark, would it be if they claim them as a dependent they would be considered ‑‑
>> MARK DOMEL: I don't know that question.  We've never had that one before.  That's a good question.  We'll have to look at that and publish an answer on that.
>> MATTHEW DICKENS: All right.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: What if the household income increases after the award?  Does that jeopardize eligibility? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: We do not ‑‑ when you recertify, you do not recertify income.  So you are not taken out of the program if your income increases.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: And I believe you answered this, but in order for home schoolers to qualify, they will need to get an IEP.  Correct? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: Home schoolers, an IEP is not needed for home schoolers.  The IEP or the TEFA disability certification form can put them into the higher prioritization to be selected sooner than they may, if they didn't have one.  But the max amount for home schooler or other private school student that's in a nonparticipating private school is 2,000.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Okay.  Is the private school selected required to provide the services and accommodations listed in a student's IEP?
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: I am under the assumption that you have to work with your school ‑‑ the private school that you're attending and get that worked out in the contract.  
But Mark, please feel free to add any additional information.
>> MARK DOMEL: In order to get the funding, they would have to ‑‑ they have to provide the servicing that respond correspond to the funding.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: So right now if you do not have a current IEP, the additional certification form needs to be filled out by a professional?  Correct? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: Yes.  You can use ‑‑
>> MARK DOMEL: Not a current ‑‑ for prioritization, you don't need a current IEP.  Only for funding.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Only for the funding.
>> MARK DOMEL: For prioritization you can have an expired Texas IEP, you can have an out of state IEP that's verified either by the issuing state or the issuing school district, or you can have an FIIE, or if you don't have the any of those things, you can use the disability certification.
>> MATTHEW DICKENS: I've got a question.  I think probably for Mark, so if a student has an IEP plan and is already established, and those services don't require ‑‑ let's say it is requires a teacher to do specific things.  Can the private school require the teachers to follow those specific actions and behaviors listed in the IEP?  Like, I'll give you an example.
A student who has diabetes, for example, how does that work out if that student were to need a shot, perhaps, during the day?  That doesn't necessarily require extra money on the behalf of the school, but requires an action.
>> MARK DOMEL: The specifics of how that works in the educational setting is not really anything I'm an expert on.  All I can say is that if the IEP requires specific services out of the services that can be funded, in that instance I'm not sure how that would fall into it.  I just can't tell you on that.  I'm not an expert on that, I apologize.
>> MATTHEW DICKENS: That's all right.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Are foster youth eligible? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: Yes.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Okay.
What if a child with a disability does not have access to a private school in their area that can accommodate their needs?  Can they access funds for therapy and enrichment if not enrolled in a private school as a child with a disability? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: I think what you're saying is if think enrolled in a private school but it's not a TEFA participating private school, can they still receive funds?  And the answer is yes, but it is the $2,000, not the 10,474, or up to 30,000 for a child with a disability.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Can you review what types of things that funds can be spent on, products, services, et cetera, and must be using vendors on the platform?  That's a question.
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: Yes.  Our vendors will be signing up soon.  There are some PDSES vendors that are already on the website, and you can see them on our finder tool on the home page.  So you can see about 200 right now.  Our open application for other vendors and service providers will happen by early March, and again, they will all be list order that find I tool and in the Odyssey TEFA marketplace.  But it's anything from transportation, uniforms, technology, which I didn't mention, is capped at 10% of the total award.  Tutoring services, therapies, textbooks for home schoolers, curriculum for home school, you name it.  Meals, your private school, et cetera.  There's going to be a lot available.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Great.
So if you do not get in in the first year, due to not being selected in the lottery, then will there be additional lotteries in future school years?
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: You will have the opportunity to reapply in the second year, and you will have second priority behind siblings.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Okay.
>> MATTHEW DICKENS: I've got another question.  Can you clarify on that, simply because before you mentioned that there was a waiting list, so I'm wondering after the waiting list, so then you do have to apply again, even if you're on the waiting list? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: I think it is ‑‑ your information will already be in the system, so it won't take as long, even though a full application is only taking 10‑15 minutes per student.  But I believe you're going to have to reapply, yes.  Because you will have to reupload different ‑‑ additional information at that time.
>> MATTHEW DICKENS: Understood.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: So if my child is already in a private school, and he has autism with an IEP but our income is a higher than plan ‑‑ higher than plan A, will this give us a lower chance of getting accepted into the program? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: So if your income is above ‑‑ at or above 500% and your child does also have a disability, I are in that tier four priority group.  Only tier one is for 500% and below, and a disability.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Do 504 students who want to enroll in a private school or home school qualify if they have a 504 plan? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: A 504 is not going to be an acceptable document to upload for prioritization, but they could ‑‑ if their accommodations or disability adversely affects their education, they may be able to fill out ‑‑ have a qualified professional complete the TEFA disability certification form.  Which will be an acceptable document to upload for prioritization purposes.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Okay.
I heard some private schools require that parents agree to pay full annual tuition if their student is no longer enrolled in the private school.  If my student is accepted through the lottery, am I exempted from this requirement if the private school does not work out? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: I don't know that answer.  Are you saying ‑‑ can you repeat it?
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Sure.
I've hider that some private schools require that parents agree to pay full annual tuition, I'm guessing at the beginning, even if their student is no longer enrolled in the private school.  If my student is accepted through the lottery, am I exempted from this requirement if the private school does not work out?
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: So I think I can answer that.  If the contract between yourself and the private school ‑‑ tuition is paid up front, however your student leaves the private school or ‑‑ leaves the private school, they ‑‑ the private school will have to return funds that were not used.  So if you were not ‑‑ if it came out to a thousand dollars a month and you left with five months left, they would need to be returning those unused months of funding.
>> MATTHEW DICKENS: I've got a question.  So if they have to pay up front in the beginning of the school year, and then that may become an issue simply because they're not getting a percentage of the funding, if ‑‑
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: I understand.  The funding amounts are set in statute.  The comptroller's office may end up ‑‑ that's the minimum, so they may end up funding additional, additional installments.  That is the minimum required.  So if they have to pay it all up front, unfortunately the system cannot reimburse parents.  They will have to spend the funds on other eligible expenses during the program year.
>> MATTHEW DICKENS: Thanks.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Is there oversight of a private school who is accepting kids on IEPs for the money, but not providing the supports? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: I believe we'll be auditing schools in the program.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: I'm getting a lot of the same question, so I'm working through them.
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: Not a problem.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Okay.  I noticed that about half of the schools currently listed in the database of eligible schools are pre‑K daycare centers.  Will there be a limitation to what percentages go towards pre‑Ks and daycares? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: There is ‑‑ there will not be a limit on the percentages.  It's going to depend on the lottery and which children are chosen and what grade or age that they'll be going into.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: How are schools being notified or encouraged to become a partner of the program? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: We have a lot of great partners out there that have been ‑‑ the Texas Private School Association, the Texas Conference of Catholic Bishops, Odyssey, ourselves, that have been marketing this program.  We have about 4,000 schools on our list of folks that will be receiving links to apply to the program that are accredited and meet all of the requirements.  So I think everyone ‑‑ all the private schools are very aware of the program.  Some may not choose to participate in this first year if they may be nervous, but most of them are calling and wanting to be in the program so they can accept these funds from students.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Are there any guidelines to follow while participating in the program? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: The main one is to not unenroll if you're in a private school, and sun enrollment from the school and go to a public school.  That would cause you to lose funding.  If you moved out of the state, there will be a parent guidebook created soon, and on the website that will list those other qualifications, students in grades three through 12 also have to complete a nationally known referenced assessment test as well in the program, and ‑‑ but those are the big requirements.
I'm sorry, I couldn't hear, someone was talking behind me.  I hope you all can hear me well.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: We couldn't hear them.
>> MATTHEW DICKENS: I've got another question.  So if I go back to the siblings question, in the application, does it have a line on the form that says how many brothers and sisters does this child have?  For example, let's say a person gets accepted into the program, and they have eight brothers and sisters, right?  So that would affect, then, the bottom line because it would affect how many people we can select in the lottery, so how are we keeping track of the students selected that would then bring along siblings with them that would affect the numbers that were available to then give out in the lottery? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: As the lottery is being ‑‑ as people are being drawn, you pick the first student and take off the amount that they receive based on ‑‑ they will have an IEP, so you take off that amount.  You would check in the system if they have any siblings that are participating, and at that time grab those siblings and reduce those amounts as well by those siblings.  And then move to the next person in the lottery and so forth and so forth until all four tiers are cleared or the funds have run out.
>> MATTHEW DICKENS: Okay.
We're going to switch interpreters.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: If you are unsure about if you are ‑‑ about pulling your child with disabilities from public schools at this time, can you apply now and decide based on whether or not you get the educational account whether to move forward?
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: Absolutely.  That's also a great question.  You can be currently enrolled in public school to apply.  There are timelines in ‑‑ where you need to make a decision if you're going to home school them or go to a private school.  And then by June 1st, you have to have ‑‑ to receive funding on July 1st, by June 1st you have to have selected the school that you're enrolled in, and another important part to mention there is that you do have to enroll in the school outside of the system as well as select that participating school in the system.  And then that's participating school will confirm your enrollment and then you'll receive the funds on July 1st.
The only down side to possibly waiting to see if you receive funding in early April is that there may not be enough available spaces in the campus or the school that is your preferred campus, but you do not have to be a current private school student to apply for these funds.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Okay.
How are they determining the additional funds for children with disabilities to reach a max of 30,000? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: The codes on the IEP, yes working with the Texas Education Agency, it's based on the codes listed, and then they have a database, and for each code and then the public school that they're in, there's different amounts for each of the codes.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Okay.
Someone asked for to you clarify a previous response.  If the disabled child is already in private school setting, and has an IEP prior to 2023, and the relevant public school district has not responded to requests for an updated IEP, there is no possible way for the student to qualify for enhanced funding.  Even with a completed disability certification form completed by my medical professional.  Correct?
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: Correct.  But we encourage them to continue working with their school district to get that IEP for future years.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Does ‑‑
>> MATTHEW DICKENS: This is Matt.  So for the school district, if they were to have different people applying, who would be responsible to help them through that application for TEFA?  And their IEP as well.
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: I don't really understand the question, I'm sorry.
>> MATTHEW DICKENS: Absolutely.  So I'm asking if the school district ‑‑ are they able to have people who are responsible for helping parents navigate that system as they're going through the IEP as required for TEFA? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: I believe each school district has a dedicated staff person that assists with the IEP process.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: I thought I'd asked this question, but I might not have yet.  Does prioritization for children with disabilities change with private school versus home school? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: The prioritization does not change, it's just the funding amount.  The disability will get you into that top priority if you make at or below 500% of the Federal Poverty Level, and then so you'll have top priority, and then if you're selected for ‑‑ if you're a home schooler you'll get up to 2,000.  But if you're a private school Texas Education Freedom Accounts‑approved going to a TEFA‑approved private school, you can receive the 10,474 or additional.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Is there assist toons help parents choose a school? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: There's a school finder tool on our website where you can search the TEFA participating schools.  But we do not have ‑‑ in each of their boxes they leave as much information, maybe if they service different languages or different special ed communities, they'll list that information in there as much as possible, but we don't have any other services besides the finder school.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: If I don't see my child's school on the list, question apply with the intent to change schools?  For example, my son is 4½ and has autism and we just moved from a public school to private school, but I don't see our school on the list.  I just need to find out if it's ‑‑ we're eligible.
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: It may be that they just isn't applied yet.  Please keep checking back.  You can also ask if they intend to apply or if they're aware of the program.  And then you would know that.  But you are more than ‑‑ you certainly can change private schools.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Okay.  
And so this question is about the tiers.  Do they refer only to the amount of funding versus the selection process to be accepted? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: The tiers break it down into the priority groups only.  Not the amount of funding that you'll receive.  The prioritization tiers, 500% poverty level and below, and a disability, they're in priority tier one.  And then from priority tier one as the lottery is grabbing applications, if they have a current IEP, they would get from 2023‑24 or newer, they would get the additional funding.  But if they are a student that only has a TEFA disability certification form, they would just get the 10,474.  So the tiers are just for prioritization.  And then when they're selected, what documents they provide for the disability affects whether they get the additional funding or not.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Here's a good question.  If the technology is assistive technology, does it still get capped at 10%?
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: That's a good question that I have not heard yet.  I think Mark might be unmuting.
>> MARK DOMEL: That's a good question.  We have not gotten that one, so that's another one we'll look into and post something.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Okay, great.
Can you explain the difference between the disability certification form by an accepted professional, and an IEP completed by a public school staff? 
>> MARK DOMEL: So the big difference is the purpose for which the forms are used.  So the certification form is only used for prioritization.  Only.  That's the only thing ‑‑ it's not an IEP, it can't be used for funding, it can't be used for other purposes.  Purely to set the prioritization level.
The IEP, and all the form does, it just is basically like a check box where ‑‑ of qualified professionals says this child has a disability that requires special education services.  And that's it.  So that sets ‑‑ that's a child with a disability that falls within that tier one prioritization, assuming the income level is below that 500% level.
The IEP is the actual program that the child receives under special education.  So that's what's used for funding.  So that's ‑‑ the certification arm doesn't have any of those details.  It's just determination that the child has a disability.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: I see we're running down to just the last few minutes.  I've got several more questions, though, so we'll see what we can get through.
You said you believed you were auditing the private schools.  The question was in regards to IEP compliance.  Can you share more on how you'll be auditing them?  Has that checklist been developed?  Is it yearly?  What can you share on this?
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: That checklist is being determined.
Mark, do you have any additional information?  I don't believe every school will be audited every year, but they do have to submit documents.
>> MARK DOMEL: That's still in process.  And as ‑‑ if there is a situation where you believe you're not getting services that have been paid for, then please contact us and we'll investigate and take any corrective action.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Okay.
Will public school completed ‑‑
>> MATTHEW DICKENS: I have an additional question as well related to that.
Go ahead and finish the next question.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Okay.
Will public school completed credits be transferred to private schools and vice versa if returning back to public school? 
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: That's another question I have never gotten.  I can look into that, though.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: Okay, great.
Go ahead, Matt.
>> MATTHEW DICKENS: So it was related to the disability form, as we're looking at the measurement or the limits that we may have, how ‑‑ suppose someone is actually at that poverty level, and are we looking at the level of disability, severe versus not?  And how all of those things qualify them.
>> MARK DOMEL: The legal standard is what's set by Texas regulation.  So the certification form is a ‑‑ is basically turning the regulations into a digestible, hopefully, form that can be filled out.  So whether something ‑‑ whether a disability is to reach some level of severity, that's described in the regulations if that's the case.  And the regulations are transferred ‑‑ on the form, we have a set of instructions that go with it.  And the instructions set forth all those criteria that are found in the regulations.  So there are 14 different types of qualifying disabilities, and each one has their own criteria.  And so if a particular type of disability requires a particular level of severity, it will be set out there.  And if it doesn't, then it's not required.
>> MATTHEW DICKENS: Thank you.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: I think we have time for one more question.
>> The funds, will they be available for the '26‑27 school year?
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: Yes.  Funds will start being deposited July 1st.
>> MELINDA CROCKOM: I'll stop right there.
>> MATTHEW DICKENS: I really want to thank everyone who has asked a question, those were excellent questions.  Thank you for the presenters for coming and being available to answer.  I know some of those were tough questions, and as soon as we receive more info, we will get this sent out.  And I appreciate everyone.
So for those who continue to have questions, here's the contact information.  We've got also frequently asked questions available, and anything related to TEFA.
Again, thank you everyone, and I hope you have a great rest of your day.
>> LINDSAY BAERWALD: Thank you all.
>> MARK DOMEL: Thank you.
>> Recording stopped.