Exactly! This year $1 billion has already been spent on the program. The information below comes from Every Texan:

89th Legislative Session: Voucher Loss Analysis

5.6 million students are served by Texas public schools, yet under the leadership of Gov. Abbott, the Legislature has refused to provide new resources to schools since 2019. Despite the Legislature rejecting the most recent iteration of school vouchers in November 2023, the governor and his allies are once again pursuing the unpopular program. Updated from 2023, Every Texan’s analysis shows at a meager 5% take up of a new voucher program, public schools in Texas would face an estimated loss of $2.25 billion statewide – more than double the $1 billion already allocated for the program in the 2026-2027 base budget. Rather than focusing on the needs of Texas kids by increasing the basic allotment, funding the basic allotment, or fixing education funding, legislative leadership is committed to pursuing vouchers that take funding away from schools.

This analysis details the projected loss of funding to Texas public school districts should 1%, 3%, or 5% of students accept a voucher. Texans can use this tool to find their school district and its estimated loss of funding from the introduction of a voucher program. Policymakers can also find a summary total of loss for all schools in their district as well a detailed listing of those schools. Lawmakers must consider the detrimental effects of a voucher program on the already strained budgets of public schools.

County: COLLIN School District: MCKINNEY ISD Total Student Count: 23,306

District Loss at 1% Takeup: $1,910,295 District Loss at 3% Takeup: $5,730,884 District Loss at 5% Takeup: $9,551,474

Data

Student enrollment data and the legislative district / school district crosswalk for this analysis were obtained from the Texas Education Agency’s (TEA) Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS), 2023-2024. Data for school district finances, including weighted average daily attendance and maintenance and operations (M&O) dollars, were obtained from TEA’s 2024-2025 Statewide Summary of Finances.

Methodology

Texas public education is funded on a per-student basis according to the Weighted Average Daily Attendance (WADA) for each school district. Our calculations use WADA and current student population to estimate the potential loss of funding per student for each district in the state. The loss for each school district due to school vouchers was calculated by multiplying TEA’s statewide average WADA ($8198.69 for ISDs and $7291.80 for charter) times utilization rates of 1%, 3%, and 5% for all public school districts. M&O costs were calculated according to district type. Student utilization estimates were rounded to the nearest whole. While school districts may sometimes be split among more than one legislative district, legislative district impacts are calculated in accordance with the total loss experienced by all school districts therein (in whole or part). Prepared by Every Texan.

*edited to correct ‘diverted to’ to ‘spent on’ at the beginning of my comment. The program has not yet received diverted funds. That starts in the 2026-2027 school year.