Deadlines
ESA deadlines this fall: Indiana closes September 1, Ohio prorates after October 14, Texas re-checks the roster October 1
Fall is when a missed window stops being a date and becomes missing tuition. These are the deadlines between now and January that decide whether a funded student's money arrives — and in two of these states, the school is the one who files.
By the Pearspark team · · about 7 minutes
In short
For the 2026–27 school year: Indiana's Choice Scholarship full-year application — filed by the school, not the family — closes September 1, 2026; applications in the November 1 – January 15 second period pay a half-year award. Ohio's EdChoice window stays open, but applications after October 14 are prorated. Texas pays its October 1 TEFA installment only for students whose enrollment the school has confirmed. Tennessee's 2027–28 new-student window runs January 13–30.
Why fall is the season of discovered mistakes
A school-choice application window is not like a filing deadline. Miss a filing and you file it late with an apology. Miss a window and a family has no funding for the entire school year — which the school discovers in August or September, when tuition that was supposed to arrive does not.
The detail that catches schools out is who files. In Ohio and Indiana the school submits the application, through an administrator-only portal, with documents the parent hands over. A family cannot rescue a missed window on its own, and 'we assumed the parents handled it' is the most expensive sentence in this corner of school administration.
The windows, program by program
Dates below are read from each program's published rules — the same source our compliance pages use — resolved for the school years they fund, as of this post's date. Each window links its citations.
Choice Scholarship Program (Choice Scholarship)
Period 1 — full-year awardNew & renewing · filed by the school
March 1, 2026 – September 1, 2026 (funds 2026–27)
A complete application submitted on or before September 1 is a FULL-year award, provided the student is not withdrawn before the end of the school year. The school files it — through an administrator-only site, with documentation the parent hands you — so a family cannot fix a missed window on its own.
IDOE — Indiana Choice Scholarship Program · IDOE — Choice Scholarship Program FAQ
Period 2 — HALF-year awardNew & renewing · filed by the school
November 1, 2026 – January 15, 2027 (funds 2026–27)
The second period runs November 1 to January 15 and pays a HALF-year award for a student who stays enrolled through the end of the year. It is the last chance for a mid-year enrollee — and it is worth half of what the same application filed by September 1 would have been.
IDOE — Indiana Choice Scholarship Program · IDOE — Choice Scholarship Program FAQ
EdChoice Scholarship & EdChoice Expansion (EdChoice)
Last day for a FULL-year awardNew & renewing · filed by the school
Open now — closes October 14, 2026 (funds 2026–27)
Any application submitted after October 14 is awarded at a prorated amount based on how much of the school year remains after the student's enrollment date. The window stays open — the money shrinks.
EdChoice application — the school files itNew & renewing · filed by the school
February 1, 2026 – June 30, 2027 (funds 2026–27)
A family cannot apply on its own — the parent designates your school on the request form and YOU submit it through the online system. Applications filed after October 14 are prorated for the part of the year that remains, so a September enrollment filed in November costs the family real money for no reason.
ODEW — EdChoice Fact Sheet 2026-2027 · ODEW — EdChoice Request Form 2026-2027
Education Freedom Scholarship (EFS)
New applicantsNew students · filed by the family
January 13, 2027 – January 30, 2027 (funds 2027–28)capped — money can run out first
Seventeen days, closing at 4 p.m. Central. Families apply themselves, in the department's online portal, and all scholarships are subject to available appropriations — so an open window is not a guaranteed award. A family who misses it has no EFS money for the whole school year. Tell inquiring families in December, not February.
TDOE — 2026-27 Education Freedom Scholarship FAQs · TDOE — EFS for parents and students
School confirms enrollment or the offer expiresNew & renewing · filed by the school
Open now — closes June 30, 2027 (funds 2027–28)
An approved family selects your school in the portal; the award is not final until your administrator confirms the student's enrollment there. Confirm by June 30 or the scholarship offer expires — the family keeps the approval letter and loses the money.
Education Freedom Accounts (EFA)
Family application & renewalNew & renewing · filed by the family
March 9, 2027 – June 1, 2027 (funds 2027–28)capped — money can run out first
Families apply and renew through the FACTS application portal, one application per student. DESE accepts filings after the close but warns that anything submitted after June 29 may only be reviewed later, if at all, pending available funding — treat June 1 as the real date and the three weeks after it as a grace period nobody should need. A family who misses it pays your tuition themselves for a year.
Arkansas DESE — EFA, Information for Families · Arkansas DESE — Education Freedom Accounts
Texas has no window right now — it has gates
Texas Education Freedom Account applications for 2026–27 closed in the spring. What remains are payment gates: before each installment, the school confirms each funded student's enrollment, and on or before October 1 and February 1 the program cross-checks its roster against public-school enrollment (Tex. Educ. Code § 29.362(d)). A student whose enrollment is not confirmed before October 1 does not generate an October 1 payment — there is no withdrawal clock in TEFA, because the roster is policed at the gates instead.
Already worth calendaring for 2027–28
Tennessee's Education Freedom Scholarship window for new students is seventeen days long — January 13–30, closing at 4 p.m. Central — and awards are subject to appropriations, so an open window is not a guaranteed award. Families who first ask about EFS in February are a year late. Tell inquiring families in December.
Arkansas families apply and renew March 9 through June 1 for the following year, and Ohio's EdChoice window for 2027–28 opens February 1. All three dates are in the table above with their citations.
What this changes on Monday
Pull the list of students you expect program money for this year, and answer one question per student: is the application filed, confirmed, and traceable to a date? In Indiana and Ohio, remember the filer is you. Then put four dates on the office calendar — September 1, October 1, October 14, and January 13 — with the student list attached to each. The whole exercise is an hour, and it is the cheapest hour of the school year.
Common questions
The family says they applied. Is the school done?
Not in the school-files states. In Ohio and Indiana the school submits the application through an administrator portal — a family cannot complete it alone. In Tennessee, the family applies but the award expires unless the school confirms the student's enrollment. 'Applied' is only meaningful when your office can point at the confirmation.
Our state's program is not listed. Where are its dates?
If we have not read a program's windows in a primary source, we do not print dates for it — a wrong deadline is worse than a missing one. Check the program's own published calendar, and our state guides for the states we have researched in full.
Sources
Every figure on this page is read from the source linked below. Where no source could be found for a claim, the claim is not made.
- Odyssey — Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) program timeline and funding schedule
- Enrolled S.B. 2 (89th Leg., R.S., 2025) — Tex. Educ. Code ch. 29, subch. J (enrollment verification, § 29.362)
- IDOE — Indiana Choice Scholarship Program
- IDOE — Choice Scholarship Program FAQ
- ODEW — EdChoice Fact Sheet 2026-2027
- ODEW — EdChoice Request Form 2026-2027
- TDOE — 2026-27 Education Freedom Scholarship FAQs
- TDOE — EFS for parents and students
- Arkansas DESE — EFA, Information for Families
- Arkansas DESE — Education Freedom Accounts
The rules behind this story, state by state
Each state guide carries what a small private school must file, keep, and report there — plus the state's school-choice program terms, every requirement cited to its statute.
The deadlines above, watched for you
Pearspark's compliance pages count down each program's windows and filings for your school's state — the same sourced dates as this page, next to your actual roster.