Nashville:

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee is set to announce legislation establishing a new statewide Education Savings Account (ESA) program to provide funding for students attending private or homeschools of their choosing in 2024–2025. 20,000 students would receive $7,075 in state funding under the proposed law, and the Republican governor also plans to open school vouchers to all 95 Tennessee counties from 2025.

The governor's office announced that Lee will introduce his proposed Education Freedom Scholarship Act on Tuesday at the Tennessee State Museum. According to an official, Lee will be joined by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who spearheaded the state's adoption of a universal school choice bill this year.

Legislative representatives from Tennessee, as well as students enrolled in the state's current school choice initiative, ESA, will take part in the event. Leading legislators have signaled that they plan to move toward statewide school choice expansion in the upcoming year. Earlier this month, Representative Mark White, the chair of the House Education Committee, pledged his support for the statewide plan.

According to the proposed law, “Of the 20,000 students, half of the funding will be available to students whose families’ incomes are below 300% of the federal poverty level, students with disabilities, and those who meet eligibility requirements for the existing ESA pilot program. And the remaining 10,000 will be made available to any student currently entitled to attend a Tennessee public school.”

Meanwhile, universal eligibility would be available in the program's second year in 2025–2026. This implies that present-day private school kids who can pay for it can likewise get a voucher. Low-income kids, pupils enrolled in public schools, and program participants who had already registered would be given priority if financing became unavailable.

Lee has been a proponent of the school choice program since he took office and introduced the bill in 2019. However, it took a legal battle after two courts declared the bill unconstitutional before the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled that the program could be offered in Metro Nashville and Memphis counties. Meanwhile, after its implementation last year, the program has given 2,400 low- and middle-income kids in the counties of Hamilton, Davidson, and Shelby access to state funding worth about $9,000.

Recently, school choice laws have been enacted in Arkansas, Arizona, Iowa, West Virginia, and Utah. These laws provide state-funded scholarships to families, regardless of income or county residency, to cover tuition costs, books, transportation, and technology at non-public schools that best fit their child. Opponents of such schemes contend, however, that they divert state funds from government schools, which already receive inadequate financing.