Tennessee House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland) said the new universal school choice bill filed last month in the Tennessee General Assembly is a “win-win” for “everybody” on the issue, specifically for those in favor of a school choice program and those in favor of allocating more funding for public schools.
Last month, House Bill 1/Senate Bill 1 was filed by Lamberth and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin). The bill would make 20,000 Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) worth $7,075 available for Tennessee students in the 2025-2026 school year.
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.
“We as a state would like to make sure that parents are in the best position, whether you are wealthy or poor or somewhere in between, to be able to decide what school is best for your child…No public school will lose one red cent from this program, not one penny, because it is funded out of the general fund from your tax dollars. I think it’s a really good balance to provide choice for students and parents in this state and at the same time, continue to heavily invest in our public schools. It’s really a win-win for everybody,” Lamberth explained on Monday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
Lamberth said the amount of $7,075 available for each scholarship distributed is “not designed” to cover students’ full tuition at private schools but instead “help out and allow roughly the same amount of money that would go to a child who’s going to a public school.”
“If they choose, and their parents choose, that a private school is best for them, then that money would be allocated for scholarships for them. We’re not taking money from public schools to be able to fund private schools. These are scholarships that are funded through the regular general fund,” Lamberth said.
While the next legislative session of the General Assembly officially convenes in January 2025, Lamberth said the bill was filed early in order to give legislators time to “spend time with their constituents and decide what’s best for their communities” when it comes to school choice.
“One of the reasons that Jack and I wanted to make sure that we filed this bill, right after the election, is we knew that this has been a major goal for the governor from day one. Six years ago when he got elected, this is something that the governor has said he really desires for Tennessee to have, is to have a school choice option that’s available out there to everyone,” Lamberth said.
“We filed it the day after the election so that folks would have months to look at the details of this bill, talk about it with their constituents, and then just come to a decision,” Lamberth added.
Watch the full interview:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
