The $2,000 purchasing checklist

For families on the $2,000 homeschool / other track, 2026-27. Last updated September 15, 2026.

The award is a wallet, not cash. It only spends inside the state's marketplace, run by Odyssey. Anything bought elsewhere is not reimbursed, and you agree at signup not to withdraw cash. Everything below is what that wallet can and cannot do, with the rule it comes from.

What the wallet can buy

• Books, curriculum and supplies: textbooks, workbooks, fiction and nonfiction, audiobooks, learning kits, manipulatives, art, school and printer supplies, musical instruments and accessories, sporting equipment.

• Instruction and testing: approved tutoring, online learning programs and educational apps, online or college classes, credential training, fine arts and PE instruction, assessments and exam fees.

• Educational therapies: behavioral, occupational, physical and speech therapy, only to the extent not already covered by insurance, government benefits or a public school.

• Transportation: commercial fee-for-service travel to and from an approved provider. Not your own mileage.

• School-specific costs: approved tuition and fees, uniforms required by an enrolled school or program, school-day meals provided by a private school.

The $200 technology rule

Technology is capped at 10% of the year's award, and on the $2,000 track that is $200 for the whole year, all items combined. One shared limit, not $200 per item. What counts toward it: laptops, tablets, desktops, monitors, headphones, cameras, webcams, printers, 3D printers, computer accessories, calculators, internet hot spots, and software programs. Technology also has to be required by an educational provider or prescribed by a physician. Rolled-over money does not raise the cap.

Two more limits

• Musical instruments: $1,000 price cap per instrument.

• 3D printers: one per year, and it counts inside the $200 technology limit.

What is excluded

Groceries and homeschool meals, ordinary clothing, hair accessories, jewelry, spirit wear and lettermen jackets, childcare or supervision that is not educational, fundraising and capital campaigns, parent-organization dues. Vendor approval is not product approval: a vendor can be listed while a specific item of theirs is not.

You cannot pay yourself or a relative

No payment for teaching your own child. No payment to anyone related to the child within the third degree by blood or marriage, including their sole proprietorship or partnership. An approved organization is not disqualified just because a relative works there.

Refunds and rollover

• Refunds go back to the child's wallet, never to your bank.

• Unused money rolls over to next year if the child stays eligible, you send the annual continuation notice, and you have not been disqualified.

• Leave the program and, once pending payments clear, the account closes and the balance returns to the state.

The annual continuation notice

Each year you tell the program your child will continue. An unused balance does not replace this notice; sending it is a condition of keeping the money.

Sources: 34 TAC §16.403(b)(4)(B), §16.404(k), §16.406, §16.407(g)–(j); Odyssey "Texas Marketplace: Categories for Offerings" and "Purchase Restrictions for TEFA"; Comptroller uniform and fee guidance (July 2026). Funding is never guaranteed and requires state approval.