More than 1,000 students who live in Austin Independent School District boundaries will use the state’s new private school voucher program this year, according to data released by the Texas Comptroller on Monday.
These students are among the 85,344 students statewide who will participate in the new $1 billion Texas Education Freedom Accountsprogram, which uses public funds to pay for private education costs, such as tuition or tutoring. The vast majority of the Texas students in the program — 68,000 — are from households that make less than 200% of the federal poverty line, about $66,000 for a family of four.
About 20,700 of the students have a disability and are from families living at or below 500% of the federal poverty line — about $165,000 for a family of four. Close to 13,000 students participating in the voucher program are these students’ siblings…