Charter School Marketing in Texas: Funding, Lottery Timing, and the Enrollment Math

Texas charter schools grew while Texas public schools overall shrank.

What this means for enrollment marketing. A charter in Texas is growing inside a shrinking pool. Every new charter student is a student who left a district school, another charter, or a private school. That makes growth a competition for the same families, not a rising tide.

Method note. Figures are TEA's fall enrollment counts for state-authorized charter schools (open-enrollment and university charters). The five-year change compares the 2020-21 report (365,930 students) with the 2025-26 report (446,633 students).

Taylor Wiz measures what we control: the cost of a submitted application. You know your own yield, meaning the share of submitted applications that become enrolled, attending students. Divide our number by your yield and you have your marketing cost per enrolled student.

The Taylor Wiz figure. Across 20 charter school accounts, from October 2025 to September 2026, a submitted application cost $113 in Meta ad spend over the full year, and $103 from October through July. The seasonal detail is in the Charter Enrollment Marketing Benchmark 2026.

The math at different yields, using $113 and $11,821 in first-year state funding:

Over more than one year. A student who stays four years brings about $47,284 in state funding at the FY 2025 rate ($11,821 times 4). Use your own re-enrollment data for the number of years.

What this table does not include. Staff time, open houses, and printed materials. It is ad spend only, because that is what we can measure across accounts.

Method. Total Meta ad spend divided by applications marked submitted in our CRM, counted only in months with at least $300 in ad spend. All 20 accounts are charter schools in more than one state. The full method is on Cost Per Enrolled Student.

The authorizer. The Texas Commissioner of Education grants open-enrollment charters. The State Board of Education can block a proposed charter by majority vote within 90 days of notice. State law caps open-enrollment charters at 305 (Texas Education Code Section 12.101).

What the law says about spending public funds on advertising. Texas law does not name advertising either way. The test it sets is use: state funds must be spent for purposes allowed for public schools, and may not support "an operation or activity not related to the educational activities of the charter holder" (Texas Education Code Section 12.107). Whether a specific campaign meets that test is a question for your charter's counsel and auditor.

What your ads cannot say or do:

1. Imply selective admission. Texas charters may not discriminate in admission on the basis of sex, national origin, ethnicity, religion, disability, academic, artistic, or athletic ability, or the district a child would otherwise attend (Texas Education Code Section 12.111). An ad suggesting students are chosen by grades or test scores conflicts with that. Performing arts charters are the one stated exception for artistic ability.
2. Promise a seat. If applications exceed capacity, seats go by lottery or arrival order. Ads should say "apply," not "reserve your spot."
3. Skip the common application. Applicants must complete the charter's common admission application form by the school's deadline (Texas Education Code Section 12.117).

Texas Education Freedom Accounts (TEFA) are the state's education savings account program, run by the Texas Comptroller. They put public money toward private school tuition.

1. Size. On August 13, 2026, the Comptroller announced that 101,600 students had received funding, with more than 100,000 still on the waitlist.
2. Award. The standard 2026-27 award for a student at a participating private school is $10,474.
3. Federal money arrives January 1, 2027. Texas is one of 27 states that opted into the federal scholarship tax credit (IRS, IR-2026-76, June 8, 2026).

For Texas private schools, TEFA turns tuition into a question of whether families know the program exists and choose your school. See Private School Marketing Agency.

For Texas charter schools, TEFA adds a second choice option competing for the same families. Charters remain tuition-free, which is a message worth putting in front of families weighing an ESA-funded private school.

See published school results on Results.