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Earth Native Wilderness School is an approved TEFA vendor, and our program offerings are live in the Odyssey system. We are excited to offer new opportunities for Texas families to attend our programs. This page shares what we know right now, along with Earth Native’s current policies for families intending to use TEFA. 

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What Earth Native programs are eligible to use TEFA funding for?

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At this time, TEFA funding is available for:

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• Wild Outside
  McKinney Falls State Park, Austin

• Farm & Forest Roots
  Earth Native Campus, Bastrop

• Owl Eyes
  Garey Park, Georgetown

• Wild Life Forest Preschool
  Earth Native Campus, Bastrop

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Is Earth Native an approved TEFA vendor?

Yes. Earth Native Wilderness School is an approved TEFA vendor.

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Where should families go for official TEFA updates?

The best place to go for official TEFA updates is the Texas Education Freedom Accounts website, including the FAQ and program updates posted there. This is the Odyssey TEFA support number 737-379-2362.​

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Is Earth Native a Private School or Homeschool? 

Earth Native is not an accredited private school. For TEFA, our programs fall into the homeschool category for funding. If you applied for and were approved for "Private school" funding by accident but intend to homeschool, our understanding is that you are able to contact TEFA and switch your funding award from Private school to homeschool. Please contact TEFA Odyssey support for help with this. 

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Are TEFA vendor listings and vendor pages live?

Yes, our vendor page is live on the TEFA website. You can find it by using the School Finder tool, selecting "Enrichment" at the top of the website, then searching for Earth Native Wilderness School. 

 

If I want to use TEFA funds for an Earth Native program, what do I need to do?

Families who wish to use TEFA funding for an eligible Earth Native program must first enroll through the Earth Native website. There is no need to wait until your funds are officially released. You can enroll at any time to secure your spot in our program and pay the registration fees. The next step is to log in to your Odyssey account and apply your TEFA funds through the portal. Simply search for Earth Native, select the program your child is enrolled in, and submit funding. Please note: Odyssey does not allow funds to be used for partial payment. The only option is to pay the full tuition amount. (This is the balance after paying the registration fee on our website at the time of enrollment.)

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Families must pay the required Earth Native program registration fees out of pocket. Per Earth Native policy, registration fees are not covered through the TEFA payment process. Earth Native requires these upfront fees to reserve a student’s place in a program. ​

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If I enroll, intending to use TEFA funds, am I still agreeing to Earth Native’s cancellation policy?

Currently Odyssey has a strict no refunds policy and there is no way for us to refund TEFA funds back into an Odyssey account once they have been processed and accepted. Due to the current Odyssey rules all TEFA registrations are final, there are no refunds and the regular cancellation policy will not apply to TEFA funds. This is unfortunately completely outside of our control. 

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​​​Will TEFA always cover the full cost of an Earth Native program?

Unfortunately, the Odyssey portal will not currently support partial payments for eligible TEFA programs. Families MUST have enough TEFA funds remaining in their account to cover the full cost of a program (minus registration fees) in order to use TEFA funds. If you do not currently have enough TEFA funds to cover the cost of one of our programs but have been notified of a future disbursement of TEFA funding, please reach out to us at info@earthnativeschool.com to see if we can work out a solution to your individual situation.

 

Can TEFA funds and Earth Native scholarships be used at the same time?

TEFA funds and Earth Native scholarships are not eligible to be used at the same time.

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If a family receives TEFA funding and can use that funding to cover tuition for an eligible Earth Native program, we expect that family to use TEFA funding instead of applying for or utilizing an Earth Native scholarship.

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Earth Native is a small family-owned and operated business, and Earth Native's scholarships are largely funded personally by the owners of Earth Native, Dave and Mikki Scott. Each year, we receive many more scholarship requests from lower-income families than we are able to fund. For that reason, we believe that families with access to public funding for eligible Earth Native programs should use this funding in place of a scholarship, so that our scholarship funds can be reallocated to families who do not have this option.

 

Final note

​TEFA is a new program, and details may change as the state continues implementation. We will share updates as we learn more, but families should continue checking the official TEFA website for the latest updates. 

 

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