Texas's new school voucher program has seen a significant response, with over 20,000 applications on the first day, highlighting a major shift in public education. The program prioritizes low-income and special education students, and funds are distributed through a secure system directly to schools, not parents.

Families are getting the opportunity to learn about options when it comes to their child’s education.

HOUSTON – When public schools kept students online with abrupt, unscheduled closures, many private schools were able to keep classes more stable. Bellaire mother of two Charity Zemzous heard how private school Lutheran High North handled the pandemic and school in general. “Probably every private school would say that this has been a nice boon for them,” said Lutheran High North principal Dana Gerard. Gerard has seen enrollment increase and decline in his 37 years at LHN, but he said the pandemic caused families who had never before considered private school to take a look. Private school for low-income familiesCristo Rey Jesuit College Preparatory School, located by Hobby Airport, is a private, Catholic school (accepting all faiths) that exclusively educates students from low-income families.

Andrew Cuomo said Monday he's ordering schools in certain New York City neighborhoods closed within a day in an attempt to halt a flare-up of the coronavirus. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday, saying the severity of shutdowns would vary by proximity to the hot spots. In orange zones, schools also will be remote-only, and nonessential enterprises considered high risk — such as gyms and personal-care businesses — will be closed. In yellow zones, businesses and schools can stay open, with mandatory weekly testing of a yet-to-be-determined percentage of students and teachers. In New York City, about 11,600 people have tested positive since Sept. 1, compared with less than 7,400 in August.

The city's plans to send kids back into classrooms rely on an ambitious plan to do random virus testing of pupils and staff throughout the school year. The New York and Los Angeles systems are respectively the nation's largest and 2nd-largest school districts. New York City elementary school students began returning to school buildings Tuesday after starting the year remote. Middle and high school students started going back Thursday. Boston Public Schools will offer random virus testing to 5% of teachers weekly, under an agreement with the teachers union.