The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) announced it received 38,160 applicants for the department’s Education Freedom Scholarship Program (ESFP).
This program will allow students that attend Tennessee public schools “to use state funds toward education expenses,” according to TDOE.
Applications for this program opened on May 15. Within the first day of the ESFP over 33,000 families submitted an application.
After this large interest, Gov. Bill Lee said it was “a remarkable response.”
For the 2025-2026 school year, 20,000 students will participate in the ESFP. Half the scholarships will go to eligible students from households with a qualified income.
The qualified income for this program is 300 percent at or below the federal poverty rate.
To illustrate, a household with four people that makes at or less than $173,160 can apply for the qualified income.
The TDOE said 18,852 applications were submitted for the qualified income scholarships, which accounted for 49 percent of the applications.
Furthermore, the TDOE saw 19,308 applications for universal scholarships. This represented 51 percent of scholarship applications.
Program applications have come from all over the Volunteer State. People from more than Tennessee zip codes have submitted an application.
An average of 2,935 applications have been submitted per grade level for students starting Kindergarten through 12th grade.
“The demand for universal school choice in Tennessee is strong, and families are embracing the freedom they have been provided through the Education Freedom Scholarship Program,” said Lizzette Reynolds, commissioner of Education. “All students deserve the ability to access a learning environment that best fits their unique needs.”
TDOE said interested families can still apply for the ESFP. It added it is starting the application review process. The department said a waitlist will be created if extra spots become available.
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Zachery Schmidt is the digital editor of The Star News Network. Email tips to Zachery at [email protected].
And this taxpayer disaster starts in earnest. Why oh why doesn’t the legislation take $7,000 per student from any public school that loses the students. We are paying twice for these students. That is theft.
Oh, and this wonderful bill also gave public school teacher (or was it for “certified” employees) a $2000 bonus despite the failure of the majority of public schools.