PDSES Estimated Funding Timelines

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The PDSES program has a certain amount of funds to create accounts each school year. In the Spring of 2025, we received more eligible applications than we have current funds available.

The PDSES program funds accounts to eligible students based on:

The PDSES program funds accounts to eligible students – students with a status of “ELIGIBLE – Waiting to be funded”, based on:

1) If funding is available.

The PDSES program has a certain amount of funds from the Texas Legislature to create accounts each school year (TEC § 29.042(c) and 19 TAC §102.1601 (d)(1) & (f)(4)(c)). PDSES grants have been previously funded through both state and federal funds, TEA anticipates moving forward that only state funding that has been budgeted by the Texas Legislature will be available to fund the program.

If funds are not available, families will be placed on a waitlist (19 TAC §102.1601 (f)(7)).

2) A student’s prioritization based on qualification for the National School Lunch Program.

TEA is required by law to prioritize students who qualify for free or reduced lunch (FRL). TEA uses the student’s “economic-disadvantage-code” in Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) to determine if a student qualifies for the National School Lunch Program (TEC § 29.044 (b) and 19 TAC §102.1601 (d)(1)).

The “economic-disadvantage-code” is determined for each student at the beginning of the school year or during enrollment. Students who are eligible for free or reduced lunch (FRL), as determined by their “economic-disadvantage-code”, will likely receive accounts before students that are not eligible for FRL.

Student eligibility in the National School Lunch Program is based on the individual student’s family income. Some schools provide free breakfast and/or lunch to all students, regardless of their economic status code. This does not mean all students in those schools are prioritized for PDSES, rather only those students whose PEIMS data indicates they are eligible for FRL. Parents should contact their child’s school if they have questions about their student’s “economic-disadvantage-code”. To see income eligibility please visit this site.

Note: Appeals for a student’s FRL priority status will NOT be accepted. This status will be updated once a year for eligible applications on the waitlist (if one exists).

Parents can see their application’s priority status under “Priority” in the table provided in the PDSES Parent Portal. Students with “Yes” in this column will receive accounts before students with “No” in this column.

3) The date when the application was received.

Applications are awarded in the order they were received.

The below graphic is a sample timeline of when we can expect current applications to be funded based off a student’s prioritization. This graphic will be updated as accounts are awarded or should additional funds become available - so please check back here for the most updated information.

Note: This timeline is meant to give a general idea, not a guaranteed date, and should not be used to predict exactly when funding will be received.

Notes about the funding graphic:

Accounts with estimated award dates of spring 2026 and after will only be awarded should additional funding become available either from unspent account funds or if the legislature should grant additional funds.

If you have additional questions or need help, email us at PDSEShelp@region10.org or call SPEDTex at 1-855-773-3839.