ESA Deadlines, Rails, and What Changed (2026-27)

Freshness note. Every date and dollar amount on this page was retrieved in August 2026 and describes the 2026-27 program year unless another year is stated. This is a living page, revised as programs move; the current revision is dated August 27, 2026. The linked program pages are the authority on the day a family applies.

Deadlines and award amounts, 2026-27

The table covers programs a home-educating family can spend from. Programs that exclude homeschool spending, such as Iowa’s ESA and Tennessee’s new Education Freedom Scholarship, appear in the changelog below rather than here. Award figures are per student per year unless noted, retrieved August 2026.

Two Florida details sit outside the table. First, an application is not the last PEP deadline: families had to submit a Student Learning Plan in EMA by May 31, 2026 to receive 2026-27 funding, and the final reimbursement window for the year runs July 1 to 31, 2027 (PEP Family Handbook). Second, Florida students with qualifying disabilities can be homeschooled while using FES-UA, a separate scholarship whose base awards average roughly $10,000, rising to around $22,000 at matrix 254 and $34,000 at matrix 255, with 2026-27 amounts published by district (Step Up award amounts, retrieved August 2026).

Payment rails: which platform runs which program

The rail decides where the money can actually go. On a marketplace-only platform, a vendor that has not joined the platform is simply unavailable to the family, with no reimbursement workaround; Texas is explicit that out-of-pocket purchases are not reimbursed (Odyssey). A reimbursement rail such as Florida PEP’s, which accepts out-of-pocket receipts alongside its catalog and direct-billing paths, leaves vendor choice with the family (PEP Family Handbook).

Before committing to a curriculum for an ESA year, check whether its publisher is on the program’s platform. On a marketplace-only rail, that single fact decides whether the award can pay for it.

What changed for homeschoolers in 2026, program by program

Entries are dated, cited, and limited to what the sources support. Items that circulate in ESA forums but could not be verified are labeled unconfirmed.

Texas: a program that did not exist last year

• 2026-27 is TEFA’s first school year. The program was created by SB 2 (89th Legislature, 2025) and is administered by the Texas Comptroller (Texas Legislature Online); Odyssey was selected October 6, 2025 to run the end-to-end platform (Comptroller).
• The inaugural window drew more than 274,000 applications; over 100,000 awards were made and roughly 25,500 applicants were deemed ineligible (TEFA site, retrieved August 2026). First-round awards went out April 22, 2026 to 42,600-plus priority-tier students, and more than 53,000 additional students were awarded May 4-6, bringing recipients to roughly 95,600-plus, with the lottery observed by the State Auditor’s Office and Ernst & Young advisers (Comptroller, May 4, 2026).
• The $2,000 homeschool award landed in full on July 1, 2026, while private school awards split 25/25/50 across the year (TEFA site). Eligible categories include curriculum, online courses, tutoring, therapies, assessment fees, transportation to approved providers, and technology, with hardware and software capped at 10% of the award, which works out to $200 on the homeschool tier (Odyssey).
• Odyssey states that unused funds may carry forward to the next program year under program rules while the student remains eligible (Odyssey). A circulating claim that 66% of unused funds roll over, capped at $2,000, could not be confirmed as TEFA-specific and should be treated as unconfirmed. Likewise, published summaries of Odyssey’s purchase restrictions state that parents cannot pay themselves or a family member for teaching their own child (Odyssey); the exact help-center wording could not be independently retrieved. Full program detail is in the Texas TEFA guide.

West Virginia: the first fully universal Hope year

• Beginning with 2026-27, all students eligible to enroll in a West Virginia public school in grades K-12 are Hope-eligible. This is the first year existing homeschool and private school students qualify without first enrolling in public school (Hope Scholarship FAQ, retrieved August 2026).
• West Virginia Watch reported more than 20,000 applications by mid-April 2026, after eligibility broadened (West Virginia Watch, April 13, 2026). Unlike hard-deadline states, late applicants can still enter mid-year at prorated amounts through February 28, 2027 (FAQ). Full program detail is in the WV Hope Scholarship guide.

Alabama: first universal year, homeschool tier funded

• 2026-27 is the CHOOSE Act’s first universal year; the 300% FPL income cap from 2025-26 lifted, with income-based priority retained. On July 1, 2026 the Governor’s Office announced over $174 million in accounts, with more than 34,000 students approved out of roughly 49,000 applications (Governor’s Office, July 1, 2026). The 2027-28 application process opens in January 2027, open to all Alabama families regardless of income.

Arkansas: year two of universal, award raised

• The standard award rose to $7,208 from $6,864, and applications were up 23% over the prior year as of mid-April 2026 (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, April 18, 2026). Homeschoolers have been eligible since the 2025-26 phase-in completed, with funds covering curriculum, tutoring, and educational therapies (Arkansas DESE, retrieved August 2026).

New Hampshire: cap reached, new application system

• EFA applications moved to CSF-NH’s new ScholaVia system on March 16, 2026 (CSF-NH). The program then hit its 12,500-student cap: 13,570 students were deemed eligible, 1,030 over cap via statutory priority exemptions, with roughly 1,000 to 1,070 waitlisted as of late August 2026 (CSF-NH dashboard release, August 24, 2026).
• Projected 2026-27 spending is about $68 million against a $73.5 million biennium allocation, with a base grant of $4,351 against last year’s $4,963 average (InDepthNH, August 25, 2026). Income limits were removed by SB 295, signed June 2025, making all NH K-12 families eligible subject to the cap (NH DOE, retrieved August 2026).

Utah: new statute, old lawsuit

• HB 467 (2026), signed by Gov. Cox, moved online and virtual school students to the home-based tier amounts of $4,000 and $6,000 instead of $8,000, guaranteed sibling eligibility, protected extracurricular access, and added consumer-protection standards for expenses and reimbursements (enrolled bill text, retrieved August 2026). The program’s 2026-27 allocation is $120 million serving 15,000-plus students (program FAQ).
• The court cloud persists. Third District Judge Laura Scott ruled the program unconstitutional on April 21, 2025, but no injunction issued and the program operates while the Utah Supreme Court reviews the appeal; as of August 2026 no decision had been announced (ABC4 Utah).

Florida: the cap arrived

• The PEP cap grows by 40,000 students per year from its initial 20,000 in 2023-24, putting the 2026-27 cap at 140,000 (Fla. Stat. 1002.395), and that cap has been reached; newly eligible students who accept go on an at-capacity list and are notified only if a spot opens (Step Up For Students, retrieved August 2026).
• In the legislature, SB 318, which would have created a statewide Home Education Instructional Program definition and requirements, died in House messages on March 13, 2026; the enacted education bill (chapter 2026-33) changed scholarship-account reimbursement and reversion language but created no statewide HEIP test (Florida Senate).

Arizona: eighty bills later, no restrictions passed

• The 2026 session, January 12 to June 13, ended with no ESA restriction or regulation bills passing. Arizona Families for Home Education counts more than 80 bills to regulate or end the ESA introduced since universal expansion, and a homeschool refundable tax-credit bill died in its originating chamber (AFHE session report, August 5, 2026).
• Participation stood at 96,802 students in 2025-26 (EdChoice, retrieved August 2026). ADE publishes quarterly Executive and Legislative Reports on the program; the FY26 Q2 report posted in March 2026 (ADE report).

Louisiana: year two, with a registration trap

• LA GATOR launched in 2025-26 as Louisiana’s first ESA, replacing the Louisiana Scholarship Program; 2026-27 is its second year (LDOE, retrieved August 2026).
• Homeschooling families can participate, but reporting on program rules indicates that students registered under a Board-approved home study program (or as a nonpublic school not seeking state approval) are not eligible while so registered; GATOR homeschoolers instead operate under program rules including annual standardized testing and possible financial audits (The Advocate). This is a statutory nuance families should confirm against the LDOE FAQ before acting on it.

Oklahoma: cap raised, applications near it

• Gov. Stitt signed HB 3705 on May 13, 2026, raising the program’s total credit cap from $250 million to $275 million effective August 13, 2026 (Governor’s Office). The state approved 39,637 applications totaling about $252.3 million for 2026-27 (KGOU, May 6, 2026).
• The homeschool portion of the credit carries a $5 million annual statewide cap per EdChoice’s program tracker (EdChoice, retrieved August 2026); the Tax Commission’s taxpayer page does not state this cap, so treat the figure as the tracker’s. Qualified homeschool expenses include nonpublic online program tuition, tutoring, textbooks, curriculum, and standardized assessment fees (Oklahoma Tax Commission).

Missouri: the FPE path, quietly maturing

• SB 727 (signed 2024) created the Family Paced Education designation, letting home-educating families use MOScholars without registering as a traditional homeschool, raised the tax-credit cap to $75 million, and raised income limits (CEAM, retrieved August 2026). The reported closure of 2026-27 applications comes from EAO and secondary guides and is unconfirmed with the Treasurer’s office (TTEF).

Iowa: ESA still closed to homeschoolers, co-op rules loosened

• Iowa’s $8,148 Students First ESA remains closed to independent homeschoolers: participation requires enrollment in and attendance at an Iowa-accredited nonpublic school, so a student homeschooled in 2025-26 qualifies only by enrolling in one for 2026-27 (Iowa DOE, retrieved August 2026).
• The homeschool-relevant change came elsewhere: on May 12, 2026, Gov. Reynolds signed a charter school and homeschooling bill that removed the four-unrelated-student limit on independent private instruction and lifted the ban on charging tuition or compensation for homeschooling services, a change that matters for co-ops and microschools (Iowa Capital Dispatch, May 12, 2026).

Tennessee: a new universal program that skips homeschoolers

• The Education Freedom Scholarship, launched under the 2025 Education Freedom Act with 20,000 first-year scholarships (Sycamore Institute, retrieved August 2026), does not fund homeschooling: a homeschooled student may apply but must enroll in an EFS-registered Category I, II, or III non-public school to receive funds (TN DOE FAQ, retrieved August 2026). The 2026-27 window closed January 30, 2026.
• Awards track the TISA base, $7,295 for 2025-26 (Sycamore Institute); a 2026-27 figure of roughly $7,530 circulates on private-school admissions guides but is unconfirmed against the state (reported figure). Funds are never paid directly to the parent, and the portal vendor behind the program is reported as the Theo Learning platform, an identity that is likewise unconfirmed (TN DOE FAQ). For home-education spending, the Individualized Education Account program, limited to students with qualifying disabilities, remains Tennessee’s only ESA that covers it (TN DOE, retrieved August 2026).

Montana: struck down, wound down, on appeal

• On December 9, 2025, Lewis and Clark County District Judge Mike Menahan ruled the special-needs ESA’s funding structure unconstitutional for lacking a valid statutory appropriation (Montana Free Press, December 9, 2025). A stay let OPI keep processing reimbursements for enrolled students only through June 30, 2026 (Flathead Beacon, December 22, 2025).
• The state’s appeal was docketed at the Montana Supreme Court as case DA 26-0179 (docket document); its current procedural posture, and the program’s availability for 2026-27, including any new enrollment, remain open pending that court. ESA students in the program must be registered as homeschool students with their county (OPI Parent Handbook, June 2025).

The pattern across the year is consistent: demand ran past capacity. Texas drew more than 274,000 applications for just over 100,000 awards (TEFA site, retrieved August 2026), Florida’s PEP reached its statutory cap (Step Up For Students, retrieved August 2026), and New Hampshire is waitlisting past its enrollment cap (CSF-NH, August 24, 2026). For 2027-28, the earliest dates already known are Alabama’s January 2027 opening (Governor’s Office) and the Texas interest list for the next cycle (TEFA site). The eligibility rules behind every program on this page are mapped in the ESA-by-state guide.

Deadlines, award amounts, and tax treatment change midyear, so families should confirm current figures with the administering state agency or a tax professional before relying on them.