Comptroller Opens Education Freedom Accounts Spending to Public View, Plans Outside Audit

Texas Comptroller Don Huffines will publish spending data on the state’s Education Freedom Accounts and is hiring an independent auditor to review the program, his office announced Monday.

The comptroller’s office said a new webpage with “a first tranche of data” would go up this week, growing over the following weeks into a full dashboard that lets Texans search and chart how the program’s money is spent. As of Wednesday afternoon, the page had not yet appeared on the comptroller’s site.

“Texans deserve transparency to know how their tax dollars are being spent,” Huffines said. “It will also empower every Texan to be an alert watchdog over the program so they can report suspicious activity should they encounter it.”

What the dashboard will show

The release lists the data points the page will carry, among them applications received, eligible applicants, funded accounts, students on the first-year waiting list, students with disabilities, participation by priority tier, income distribution, a map of participation by school district and the effect on public school enrollment. The office said the data will be published while protecting the personal information of students and families.

The dashboard will link to the comptroller’s whistleblower portal, where Texans can report suspected fraud to the agency’s investigators, anonymously if they choose.

Three layers of review

Huffines said planning for an independent, third-party audit began on his first day in office, as part of a top-to-bottom review of the agency, and that his staff has been working since then to hire an auditor. That audit will be separate from the regular audit the State Auditor’s Office is already performing. With the comptroller’s own internal oversight, the office said, the program will have three distinct layers of review.

“Nobody should have to depend on big media conglomerates to interpret data through a biased lens,” Huffines said, calling the page “the first of many easy-to-follow online dashboards.”

The program

The Legislature created the accounts in Senate Bill 2, which Gov. Greg Abbott signed on May 3, 2025, and which took effect that September 1. The comptroller’s office administers it.

More than 100,000 students are enrolled in the program’s first year, and more than 100,000 more are on the waiting list, according to the comptroller. The office says no program of its kind has served more than 100,000 students in its first year.

“We must protect the integrity of the program with rigorous financial reporting and a robust commitment to transparency,” Huffines said.