Texas's $1 billion school voucher program promises to prioritize students with disabilities. The program, signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott earlier this month, will allow Texas families to receive $10,000 per year to help pay for students' private school tuition. But children with disabilities can qualify for as much as $30,000 a year.

Sen. Ted Cruz has reintroduced legislation that would help Texas parents send their child to private schools, even if the new vouchers won't cover the cost.

With the Texas school voucher program expected to launch soon after being singed in to law, here's a look a how much Lubbock private schools are.

The Senate plan he is overseeing would provide a $5,000 or $10,000 bump for teachers, depending on experience, in small (read rural) districts of 5,000 students or fewer. Teachers in districts with more than 5,000 students would get a $2,500 or $5,000 increase.

Readers are invited to a live Zoom with education experts on the 89th Legislature and Texas' billion-dollar school voucher program

Mandy Drogin, campaign director at Texas Public Policy Foundation —which endorses Cruz's bill and supports school choice in Texas—said the senator's legislation "empowers every family" and puts "parents in the driver's seat" of their children's education.

But Texas isn’t the first big state to launch a universal private school choice plan. In 2023, Florida lawmakers expanded an existing school voucher program, making every student in the state eligible to apply. Two years later, Florida’s program offers a preview of where Texas may be headed.

Even so, this is yet another milestone for the school choice movement. Texas is now the 16th state to have a program like this for which, in theory, every child would be eligible. Idaho, Indiana, Tennessee and Wyoming have also approved such programs this year.