Tennessee ranked seventh nationally for education freedom in the Heritage Foundation’s 2026 Education Freedom Report Card, with the state receiving particularly high marks for academic transparency and the return on investment of education spending.
The Heritage Foundation’s annual report evaluates states across five categories: education choice, academic transparency, teacher freedom, return on investment, and civic education.
Tennessee ranked second nationally for return on investment and fourth for academic transparency. The state ranked 16th in education choice, 20th in teacher freedom, and 15th in civic education.
Parental choice is fundamental to a child's education.
The Education Freedom Report Card shows where your state ranks in relation to active education choice programs, academic transparency, teacher freedom, the return on investment of the state’s education spending, and civics… pic.twitter.com/yRBw2t4uX2
— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) September 28, 2026
Overall, Tennessee’s ranking fell one spot from 2025. Its education choice ranking improved two places, while teacher freedom fell four places and civic education dropped two spots. Transparency and return on investment remained unchanged.
The report said Tennessee could improve its education choice ranking by increasing participation in private school choice programs, funding Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) through the state education funding formula, reducing regulations on participating private schools, and making it easier for charter schools to open and operate.
Tennessee’s second place ranking for return on investment was driven in part by relatively low per-pupil spending.
According to the report, the state spends $13,027 per student annually when adjusted for cost of living, ranking 44th nationally in spending. Tennessee ranked 16th in its combined fourth- and eighth-grade math and reading National Assessment of Educational Progress scores.
On academic transparency, Heritage cited Tennessee laws addressing classroom instruction and parental rights, including legislation concerning the availability of electronic versions of textbooks and parents’ fundamental rights concerning their children’s education.
The state ranked lower in teacher freedom.
Heritage noted that 34 percent of Tennessee teachers entered the classroom through alternative certification routes but said Tennessee does not have “full reciprocity of teacher licensure with other states.”
The report also criticized the state’s requirement that educators pass the Praxis certification exam, which the organization claimed “[t]here is little evidence that this assessment predicts teacher quality or effectiveness, and how 44 percent of school districts in Tennessee with more than 15,000 students employ a “chief diversity officer.”
“Tennessee can improve its teacher freedom score by allowing full reciprocity of teacher licensure or by eliminating teacher certification requirements altogether, and by stopping the growth in non-teaching administrative staff. It should eliminate the Praxis test mandate,” the report recommended.
Tennessee ranked 15th in civic education, down two spots from 2025.
The Heritage Foundation said the state requires high school students to complete a half-year civics course and pass a civics or citizenship test with a score of at least 70 percent to graduate, and recommended expanding access to classical education schools and allowing the Classic Learning Test (CLT) to be used for admissions at state universities.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network.
