I've opened and plan on maxing a tIRA and HSA this year. My new job as a Texas charter school teacher also offers a 401k. There is no match
No match? I've heard enough to recommend you open your own IRA or Roth IRA. If there's no match you just eliminated the #1 reason to contribute to a 401k. We'll get back to this.
If my 401k options suck but I don't want to be limited to HSA+IRA contributions, do I bite the bullet and eat the fees, or do I have options?
You can lobby congress for increased limits on IRA contributions :D - I really don't know all your details, but one way to do it is open an IRA, fund it to the max, and invest it using your "three fund portfolio" strategy. If you're not satisfied with the $5500 individual limit you have a variety of additional options. The 401k limit is $18k/yr if you're under 50 so you could put the difference in the 401k and eat the fees just to take advantage of the higher contribution limit. Strangely enough there are strategies for over-funding life insurance policies which go beyond death benefit to pay out in retirement as well as provide guarantees re: injury/disability - without knowing what the fees are like in the 401k it's hard to say how this compares. Chances are the LI strategy will be pricier than the 401k for providing the guarantees.
So what are the 401k fees? What are some of the funds they want to use?