Texas voucher program fuels classical Christian school expansion

Who's involved

• Keith Castello · ACCS administrator in Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs launching three classical Christian schools^[3,4]
• David Goodwin · ACCS President^[1,3,4]
• Doug Wilson · Founder of ACCS, conservative Idaho pastor and writer^[1,3,4]
• Pete Hegseth · Defense Secretary; co-wrote 'Battle for the American Mind' with Goodwin; sent his children to ACCS schools^[3,4]

The facts

1. This summer 2026, Texas began rolling out $1 billion in public funding that eligible families can put toward private education expenses.^[3,4]
2. Half of school-age children in the United States are now eligible to apply for state money to attend private schools.^[1,3,4]
3. ACCS membership includes about 500 schools, but it has grown by nearly 200 since 2019.^[1,4]
4. Last year, ACCS formed a coalition with Turning Point Education and the Heritage Foundation with a goal to convert or create 5,000 new classical Christian schools in the next decade with 1.5 million students nationwide.^[1,3,4]
5. Keith Castello, an ACCS administrator in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs, is launching three classical Christian schools in fall 2026 under his Kyrie Christian Academy brand.^[3]
6. ACCS membership credits a pandemic-era mistrust of public education for growth, when debates ignited over school closures, books, race, sexuality and gender identity.^[1,4]
7. In 1981, Doug Wilson helped start the Logos School in Moscow, Idaho, one of the first in the modern classical Christian movement, and founded ACCS in 1994.^[1,3,4]
8. ACCS schools agree to a statement of faith, including that same-sex relationships and gender transitions are off-limits.^[1,4]

Who said what

• David Goodwin, ACCS President It sounds like a very ambitious goal, but this money has never been there before.^[1,3,4]
• David Goodwin, ACCS President The ACCS goal is to take a share of public funding and educate future Christian leaders.^[3]
• Keith Castello, ACCS administrator I have been praying for 28 years for things that are coming to fruition right now.^[3]
• Critics This movement will harm public schools and create church-state issues.^[1,3,4]
• Critics Public schools drain when students leave because state money allocated to educate each student goes away.^[3]