In response to news that the State of Tennessee will be “partnering” with Turning Point USA to create “clubs” in every high school and college in the state, Democrats have something to say:
A Response to Turning Point
Category Archives: Bill Lee
Moving Toward the End of Public Education
The Trump Education Agenda is clear: End public schools.
Education Department officials are openly calling for plans to move a majority of kids to private schools (by way of vouchers, for example) within just 5 years.
One official even suggested that the ideal number of kids in traditional public schools would be “zero.”
For all the talk of the benefits of “school choice,” the reality is more stark: Choicers simply mean they want ZERO government responsibility for education, other than handing taxpayer cash to private school operators.
Tennessee’s Gov. Bill Lee is no exception, as he and his allies work to rapidly increase the state’s new, universal school voucher scheme.
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A Plea for Bill Lee
Will Gov. Bill Lee do the right thing in the last year of his term? Will he accept federal assistance for Sun Bucks – a summer EBT program that provides help for families with kids who receive free or reduced lunch?
Probably not.
But, local elected officials are asking him to.
33 County Mayors are calling on Gov. Bill Lee to participate in the federal Sun Bucks program in 2026.
The local leaders penned a letter to Lee asking him not to forego the summer program that provides additional EBT funds for families during the summer. The program is designed to provide additional assistance during a time when kids are unable to get free or reduced-cost meals at school.
Lee refused to participate in Sun Bucks last summer – and left hundreds of thousands of kids without the food assistance their families need.
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State-Sponsored Extremism
Gov. Bill Lee, Sen. Jack Johnson, and U.S. Senator and gubernatorial candidate Marsha Blackburn joined together to announce they are backing a “partnership” between the state and Turning Point USA to help the extremist right-wing group indoctrinate kids at high schools across the state.
Tennessee state leaders announced Friday morning that the state will partner with Turning Point USA, a conservative nonprofit founded by the late Charlie Kirk.
Those state officials announced at an event at the Tennessee State Capitol that there would be Club America chapters, student-led organizations affiliated with Turning Point USA, at every high school in the state.
U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who is running for Tennessee governor, and state Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, spoke at the event announcing the partnership. No media was invited, but a 30-minute video was posted on Rumble, a social media platform that’s particularly popular with right-wing creators.
It’s not clear how the state will facilitate Club America chapters – if there will be a mandate from the Department of Education, how state funds may be used to pay for the expansion of the group’s clubs, or if other groups may be able to obtain the same type of explicit state support.
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How Big Will TN’s Voucher Program Get in 2026?
Tennessee’s private school coupon scheme already has 20,000 takers. It will grow to 25,000 in 2026-27 unless the legislature intervenes to expand the program further.
And, that’s just what Gov. Bill Lee and House Speaker Cameron Sexton plan to do – with some suggesting a doubling of the program to 40,000 students next year.
Chalkbeat reports:
A mechanism in the state law will allow lawmakers to easily expand the program for 5,000 new students since the state received more than 40,000 applications, well above the expansion threshold set by state law. But Gov. Bill Lee and other Republican lawmakers say they want to expand the program even further.
But it’s unlikely the number of new seats will be decided on by the time applications close on Jan. 30, just days into the 2026 legislative session.
At least one issue advocacy group is calling for the state to rapidly expand the voucher program and other school privatization efforts – calling for 200,000 students to be using vouchers by 2031.
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Chattanooga Private Schools Reap Voucher Rewards
NewsChannel9 reports on the Chattanooga-area private schools getting taxpayer dollars from Gov. Bill Lee’s school voucher scheme:
New data shows that just over 600 Hamilton County students are enrolled in private schools this school year through Tennessee’s Education Savings Account (ESA) program, also known as school vouchers.
Here’s the list of Hamilton County students using Education Savings Accounts (ESA) for the 2025–26 school year:
- Annoor Academy of Chattanooga – 47
- Avondale SDA School – 29
- Beacon Academy – 26
- Belvoir Christian Academy – 42
- Berean Academy – 31
- Bethel Christian Academy – (number not listed)
- Brainerd Baptist School – 20
- Chattanooga Christian School – 95
- Dolphin STEM Academy – (number not listed)
- Enlightium Academy – 10
- Grace Baptist Academy – 95
- Hamilton Heights Christian Academy – (number not listed)
- Hickory Valley Christian School – (number not listed)
- Imagine Learning Excellence Academy – (number not listed)
- Notre Dame High School – 81
- Our Lady of Perpetual Help School – 49
- Silverdale Baptist Academy – 23
- Skyuka Hall School – 15St. Jude School – 16
- St. Nicholas School – (number not listed)
- The Montessori School – (number not listed)
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Chattanooga Mom Takes on Lee’s School Voucher Scheme
NewsChannel9 in Chattanooga reports that a local mom is part of a group of Tennessee parents challenging Gov. Bill Lee’s private school discount coupon scheme.
Crystal Boehm, who has children in Hamilton County Schools, is one of several parents suing the state.
They argue the program drains money from public schools at a time when districts are already cutting staff, trimming transportation and reworking special education services.
Boehm says the impact is already felt locally. She points to recent cuts in Hamilton County, including the elimination of magnet school transportation and staff reductions across multiple campuses.
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Lawsuit Challenges Tennessee’s School Voucher Scheme
Advocates say Gov. Lee’s voucher plan violates the state’s Constitution
Tennessee’s expanded, universal school voucher scheme violates a state requirement to maintain a system of free public schools, a new lawsuit says.
The Education Law Center, on behalf of a group of Tennessee parents, filed the suit in Davidson County Chancery Court.
“I taught for 12 years, and I fought to get my children into Rutherford County Schools because I knew the quality of education here,” said Jill Smiley, Rutherford County parent and former teacher. “Now the state is systematically defunding the very schools families like mine depend on. You can’t expect excellent schools on a shrinking budget.”
The suit cites the requirement in the Tennessee Constitution that the state establish and support a system of free public schools.
According to the plaintiffs:
The lawsuit argues the voucher law violates the Education Clause of the Tennessee Constitution in two ways:
- The Education Clause’s adequacy requirement: By diverting public funds away from already underfunded public schools, the law prevents Tennessee from providing students with the adequate education guaranteed by the state constitution.
- The Education Clause’s mandate of a single system of public schools: By funding schools outside the system of free public schools, the voucher law violates this Education Clause mandate.
Estimates by state analysts suggest the program will cost more than $140 million this year alone and may cost over $1 billion a year within 5 years.
Additionally, an issue advocacy group calling itself Tennessee Leads says it will fight to expand the school voucher program as well as the state’s charter schools so that as many as 450,000 students are removed from the state’s public school system by 2031.
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Gov. Lee Takes On Hunger by Refusing to Feed Hungry People
While Tennessee faith leaders are encouraging Gov. Lee to fill the gap left by Donald Trump’s refusal to fully fund SNAP during the government shutdown, Lee is taking a firm stance: Hungry people can just stay hungry.
Trump is now defying two court orders to release emergency funds to provide benefits to SNAP recipients in November.
States like Kentucky are stepping up – using state money to bridge the gap.
Lee is standing down – refusing to do what is totally possible. Just because he doesn’t want to.
Just like he did when he refused the summer EBT program designed to help give kids food during the summer when school meals aren’t available.
The message from Lee is clear – and it’s not even “let them eat cake” – it’s “no food for you.”
Bill Lee vs. SNAP
While other states are stepping up to help provide food assistance in the wake of SNAP benefits stopping on November 1st due to the ongoing government shutdown, Gov. Bill Lee has said he will not direct state funds to help recipients.
Lee, who’s out of state this week on an economic trip to Asia, has thus far declined to tap state resources to help mitigate the loss of more than $145 million in monthly food aid intended for the state’s poorest residents – among them more than 300,000 children living in poverty.
The Tennessee Justice Center explains the challenges faced by the loss of SNAP:
On November 1, over 700,000 Tennesseans will face the unthinkable loss of access to the food they depend on through SNAP.
For the first time in history, we are up against an unnatural disaster. Families across Tennessee will be forced to make impossible choices about meals, bills, and basic needs as food support disappears.
Lee has directed state resources to launch a website that provides information on where Tennesseans can find food assistance – though the Governor is not directing additional state funds to help provide this assistance.
Lee announced that the FeedTN.org platform will connect Tennesseans with resources and opportunities to serve.
2025 has seen Lee take a hard line against feeding the hungry. This summer, Lee refused millions in federal funding to provide the “Summer EBT” program to help families bridge the gap when kids are not in school to receive free/reduced costs meals.
“Instead of serving 700,000 Tennessee children through Summer EBT, TDHS’s program will reach a max of 25,000 children. Despite spending nearly as much as it would take to serve the entire state, the Tennessee program will reach less than 4% of the children that received Summer EBT in 2024.”
Lee rejected $75 million in federal funds that would have supported a program to add funds to EBT cards for families whose kids receive free/reduced lunch during the school year.
