Houston Chronicle

Marissa Gonzalez was one of the first parents in Texas to receive funding from the state’s $1 billion private school voucher program. Her two children have dyslexia, and their family income is below 500% of the poverty level, putting them in the lottery’s top priority group. It also meant that her children were eligible to receive more funding than most applicants. But when Gonzalez received $31,000 in voucher funding for her children, she had to turn it down, joining the 24% of recipients who haven't used their voucher funding — including both families who opted out and those who have not decided yet. The user rate has puzzled leaders of the Texas Education Freedom Account program, who are trying to figure out why some families have outright rejected it or haven't used thousands of dollars for their children's education. 

Families in Texas who opted out of the funding were often those who did not apply to private school in time and therefore did not have confirmed enrollment by the July 15 deadline. Others had enrollment offers, but tuition was still too expensive even with the subsidy. Some, like Gonzalez, couldn’t find a private school in their area that fit their needs, which proved especially difficult for families with children with disabilities. “Once I started pricing the private schools, I was like, ‘Okay, well, this will cover most of it, if not all of it,” Gonzalez said. “But I couldn't find a school.”...

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