Governor Bill Lee on Tuesday shared details about the new school choice legislation filed in the Tennessee General Assembly, suggesting the path universal school choice begins by making 20,000 scholarships available to Tennessee students, including 10,000 reserved for families who could not typically afford a private or parochial school.
Lee shared a website for the Tennessee Education Freedom Act in a post to the social media platform X, where he also included a clip from his recent Fox News appearance, when he explained the Tennessee Education Freedom plan would eventually lead to universal school choice.
“Every child deserves a shot at success – regardless of zip code or income,” wrote Lee in his post to X. “TN’s Education Freedom Act will reserve the first 10,000 scholarships for low-income families, empowering parents to pick the right school for their child.”
The governor told the network, “Ultimately, I think every family regardless of their income, should have the freedom to choose the educational outcomes and pathways for their children, so ultimately we want it to be universal. Every Tennessean ought to have that option, and that freedom, and that’s where we’re headed, but we’ll start with a priority on low income students.”
The Tennessee Education Freedom Act will initially offer 10,000 scholarships during the 2025-26 school year to students whose families earn income at least 300 percent at or below the $47,767 required for a family of three to apply for free or reduced meals, requiring a family of three to earn less than about $140,000 to apply. The second pool of 10,000 scholarships will be made available to students eligible to attend public school.
After the first year, 5,000 new scholarships would be added annually until the number of applicants reaches 75 percent of available scholarships. Tennessee has about 1 million public school students.
Though detractors of the failed, previous push for school choice in Tennessee cited concerns about funding for public schools, including Representative Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill), the Tennessee Education Freedom website claims the legislation will prevent public school funding from being lowered due to declining enrollment.
It will also provide a $2,000 bonus to teachers and earmark 80 percent of revenue collected through sports betting to public schools, and will raise starting teacher salaries from $35,000 in 2019 to $47,000 in 2025.
Polling published last month found school choice remains widely popular in Tennessee, with The Beacon Center finding that 58 percent of Democrats and 56 percent of Republicans in the Volunteer State support efforts to let parents choose where children are educated.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Gov. Bill Lee Visits with Tennessee Students” by Gov. Bill Lee.
