Private school vs microschool under TEFA: which award applies, and the accreditation catch

Short answer, as of October 8, 2026: TEFA does not have a microschool category for families. The Comptroller's rules see only two situations: a child enrolled in a participating private school (award $10,474 for 2026-27) or a child who is homeschooled or not enrolled in a participating school (award up to $2,000). A microschool falls on one side or the other depending on whether it is on the Comptroller's participating-schools list. That one fact changes the money by more than $8,000 a year, so check it first.

What a microschool is

Senate Bill 2 and the program rules (34 TAC §§16.401–16.410), both read on October 8, 2026, do not define "microschool". In practice the word covers small learning communities: mixed ages, one or two guides, sometimes a few days a week, sometimes in a home, a church or a shared office. Some are full private schools with a campus and accreditation. Some are learning pods that support homeschooling families. Some are franchises of a national network. The official finder had a "Microschools" type with 14 entries on October 8, 2026, but that count is a label chosen at registration, not a legal class; many small schools are typed as private schools or as vendors instead.

How a microschool participates as a school

To be listed as a participating private school, a microschool must meet the same four rules as any other school, quoted from the official Schools page: accreditation "by an organization recognized by the Texas Private School Accreditation Commission (TEPSAC) or by the Texas Education Agency", having "successfully run a campus for at least two years", administering "a nationally norm-referenced assessment", and being "located in Texas or, for a virtual school, have an office in Texas". Odyssey's eligibility article adds that the test applies to TEFA students in grades 3 through 12 and that the two years must be consecutive.

If the microschool clears those and is on the list, your child's account holds $10,474 and pays the school's tuition directly, in the state's installments. See how to become a TEFA provider for the school-side steps.

How a microschool participates as a vendor

A microschool that is too new, or not accredited by a recognized body, has a second route. It can register in the marketplace as a vendor: Odyssey's categories include Tutor, Teaching Service and Educational Products. Your child is then a homeschooled or not-enrolled student with an account of up to $2,000, and the account can pay the microschool for classes, tutoring or materials listed in the marketplace. It cannot pay tuition to a school that is not on the participating list, and it cannot pay a family member. The staff who teach your child must complete the program's fingerprinting.

The provider directory lists the providers of the Comptroller's participating-vendors workbook by category, and by county where a row has one, so you can look for a microschool's name there; the homeschool page explains what the $2,000 covers.

The accreditation catch: TxMSAS

Many Texas microschools are pursuing accreditation from the Texas Microschool Accreditation Service (TxMSAS), a program of the nonprofit Texas School Venture Fund. Its site listed 18 accredited schools on October 8, 2026 (13 on September 18) and says more than 50 other schools are in process. Its pricing page shows a flat $750 annual fee per school.

Here is what we can and cannot say. TEA's accreditation page names four private accreditors recognized "for purposes related to the education savings account program administered through the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts": TEPSAC, IALDS, SCL and NAPS. TxMSAS is not on that list. TEPSAC's own list of member agencies (about twenty) did not include TxMSAS when we read it on September 18, 2026. So on the official sources we have read, TxMSAS accreditation by itself is not shown to satisfy the accreditation rule. A TxMSAS-accredited microschool may still be on the Comptroller's list because it also holds recognized accreditation or joined as a pre-K provider or vendor. The test is the list, not the accreditor's name on a website. If this changes, we will log it on our what-changed timeline.

A school's profile names its accreditor and the recognizing body once we have checked them, and we mark the difference between "participating school" and "vendor" plainly.

Cost patterns, honestly

We do not print a microschool price until the school confirms it, so this section has no numbers. What we can say from the rules:

• At a participating microschool, the award is $10,474; the gap you pay is tuition minus that. Check fees, part-week schedules and whether the school follows the state's three-payment calendar.
• At a non-participating microschool, the award is up to $2,000, and only marketplace purchases count. The rest of the fee is yours.
• Sibling math matters more at small schools with sibling discounts; the net-cost calculator handles both cases and several children.

The Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and Fort Worth boards show only confirmed tuition and seats, and the comparison table puts a microschool and a traditional school side by side on accreditation, award tier, seats and net cost. Microschools that are listed can claim a free profile to add those fields.

How we verify: rules and amounts are quoted from the Comptroller's pages and TEA's accreditation page, checked October 8, 2026, and from TEPSAC's database, read September 18, 2026. Participation status comes only from the Comptroller's participating-schools workbook (educationfreedom.texas.gov/toolkit), file dated October 5, 2026. This site is independent and is not affiliated with the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts or Odyssey. See our methodology.