Lupita Reyes is shopping online for her two young sons.
“We got their supplies, their backpacks, and the supplies that the teachers need,” Reyes said.
But she’s not browsing Amazon. She’s shopping on Odyssey, the online marketplace for Texas’ new private school voucher program.
Her family received about $10,400 for each child – more than enough to cover tuition at Momentous School, the Dallas private school her sons attend. Tuition there is based on family income, so Reyes paid $50 per child for the entire school year, leaving nearly all of that voucher money available for other educational expenses.
Her 7-year-old son, Benjamin, loves books and art, she said. And, he’s been asking for an artist’s easel that costs more than $100. Normally, Reyes said, they’d save up and wait until Christmas. Now, she can buy it with voucher money.
“It takes away the worry — how are we going to provide these resources for my kids,” Reyes said. “It’s learning resources.”
Families began receiving money this summer through Texas’ new $1 billion voucher program, with another round of funds arriving in October. Beyond tuition, the money can pay for books, school supplies, tutoring, therapy and enrichment activities — even approved indoor playground memberships and transportation services.
As of Oct. 5, families had spent more than $270 million through the program, including nearly $50 million on purchases through the online marketplace, according to the Texas Comptroller’s Office.
But the range of things families can buy with taxpayer dollars is raising questions about oversight.
At a recent Senate Education Committee hearing, state Sen. José Menéndez, a San Antonio Democrat, wanted to know how the marketplace works.
“Is it somewhat like an Amazon, but it’s an approved place where they can use these voucher, these tax dollars to shop?” Menéndez asked.
“That’s a reasonable description,” replied Travis Pillow, who oversees the program for the Texas Comptroller’s Office.
Pillow told lawmakers there are safeguards to make sure purchases qualify as educational expenses.
“Everything that is on that online purchasing platform has been reviewed to ensure that it meets the requirements in the law and is an eligible education expense,” Pillow said.
Still, some lawmakers question whether those safeguards go far enough.
State Sen. Royce West, a Dallas Democrat who opposed the voucher program, said the rules allowing families to use taxpayer money for purchases beyond private school tuition are unfair.
“I can give you $10,000 and you can use a portion of that $10k, which is taxpayer money, in order to procure services and or products at taxpayers expense,” West said. “You can’t do that in a public school.”
West isn’t the only one raising concerns about how the money can be spent. Jaime Puente is with Every Texan, a nonprofit that opposed the voucher program. He points to what’s happened in other states with similar programs.
“In Arizona and Florida, we have seen that these funds have been used for everything from karate lessons to scuba diving lessons to, you know, Uber rides,” Puente said.
In Texas, families can choose from more than 2,200 approved vendors, including businesses offering jiu-jitsu, cheerleading, piano and cooking classes. The list also includes food service businesses and a cybersecurity company, with little public information about what educational services some vendors provide.
Puente argued the lack of oversight isn’t accidental.
“One of the major, major problems with this piece of legislation and this program is that it is intentionally designed to have as few regulations on the actual service provider as possible,” he said.
KERA News reached out to Odyssey Texas Director Daniel Warner for an interview. He referred us to the comptroller’s office. Travis Pillow did not respond to a request for an interview.
And there’s another question about accountability: Beyond approving purchases, how does Texas know whether those taxpayer dollars are actually helping children learn?
Dee Carney directs the Texas Center for Voucher Transparency.
“An approved purchase does not by itself demonstrate that a student is receiving an appropriate education or the services that a student needs,” Carney said.
Back at her sons’ school, Reyes said she’s already bought uniforms, books, school supplies and learning toys.
And she still has thousands of dollars left. According to the comptroller’s office, she can carry that money into future years to help pay for her sons’ middle and high school education.
“We have what we need,” Reyes said. “If anything else comes up it will probably be little things – more books for Benjamin.”
Sujata Dand is KERA’s early childhood education reporter. Got a tip? Email her at sdand@kera.org.
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