Republican leadership in the Tennessee General Assembly filed new legislation on Wednesday, the Education Freedom Act of 2025, to support Governor Bill Lee’s universal school choice plan.
House Bill 1/Senate Bill 1 was filed by House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland) and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin).
The 11-page bill would make 20,000 Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) worth $7,075 available for Tennessee students in the 2025-2026 school year – 10,000 scholarships of which would be reserved for “students at or below 300 percent of income qualifying for free or reduced price lunch, have a disability, or are eligible for the existing ESA program.”
The bill would also create 5,000 additional scholarships with universal eligibility each year after 75 percent of total scholarships are taken in the prior year.
The bill does not make vouchers available to homeschoolers.
In addition to creating school choice vouchers, the bill would provide K-12 public school teachers with a $2,000 bonus in the 2025-2026 school year and dedicate 80 percent of all sports wagering dollars to build and maintain public school facilities.
“For more than a year, I have worked in partnership with the General Assembly to introduce a unified school choice plan that empowers parents when it comes to their child’s education and further invests in Tennessee’s public schools and teachers,” Lee said in a statement.
“Every child deserves an opportunity for success regardless of their income or ZIP code, and I look forward to delivering on this promise with the Education Freedom Act,” Lee added.
The 114th Tennessee General Assembly is scheduled to convene on January 14, 2025.
Wednesday’s filing of the new school choice bill comes months after lawmakers could not agree last legislative session on a pathway to pass Lee’s original proposal, which at the time was called the Education Freedom Scholarship Act.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
What a crock. Standardized testing. Bonuses for public school teachers who have already received large pay increases. Limited number of vouchers. Mr. Lee and his cronies in the Assembly must think that we taxpayers are downright ignorant.