Category Archives: Vouchers

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An Explosive Voucher Scheme

State budget set to take a hit from rapid private school coupon scam

This blog takes a look at the numbers when it comes to Tennessee’s expanded school voucher scheme – set to go universal in the upcoming academic year.

Applications continue to flow in for Tennessee’s Education Freedom Scholarship program. The TDOE has released data showing that the number of scholarships applied for by families with a qualified income was equal to those for by parents with no economic restrictions.

As of the beginning of this week, the department has received a total of 38,160 applications:

  • 18,852 applications for qualified income scholarships.
  • 19,308 applications for universal scholarships.
  • Applications have been received from more than 300 zip codes across the state.
  • An average of 2,935 applications per grade level have been submitted for students entering Kindergarten through 12th grade.

Critics of the program continue to fire away even as applications increase. According to Sam Stockard at the Tennessee Lookout, the program is slated to cost about $400 million next year and escalate to $1.1 billion in five years. Democratic Rep. John Ray Clemmons says, calling Gov. Lee’s program “a scam that will harm students, de-fund public education, and expedite our state’s impending budget crisis.”

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TN “Wins” Race to the Bottom on School Funding

Vouchers Kill Local Public Schools

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TN Vouchers: Funding Discrimination

Tennessee’s school voucher scheme is set to go universal in the 2025-26 school year.

It’s bad news for the state budget – and for local schools.

It will also likely lead to bad outcomes for kids.

And not just on the academic side.

Peter Greene writes about the potential for taxpayer-funded discrimination.

This is what vouchers are about–defunding a system that has an obligation to serve all students and giving that money to a system that can discriminate against whoever for whatever reason. Operate that private system if you feel you must, but do not fund it with public tax dollars. I hope Tennessee Christian decides not to accept vouchers. Better for them, and better for the taxpayers of Tennessee.

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Robbing Food Banks and School Lunches

Trump Cozies Up to Christian Nationalists

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What’s Eating the Budget?

It’s vouchers – thanks to Gov. Bill Lee

Bill Lee’s legacy will be the undoing of Tennessee’s public education system. First, through the ill-designed TISA formula and then by way of a universal school voucher scheme.

In fact, states with existing voucher programs are already reporting budget woes:

Stateline reports:

In submitting her updated budget proposal in March, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs lamented the rising costs of the state’s school vouchers program that directs public dollars to pay private school tuition.

Characterizing vouchers as an “entitlement program,” Hobbs said the state could spend more than $1 billion subsidizing private education in the upcoming fiscal year. The Democratic governor said those expenses could crowd out other budget priorities, including disability programs and pay raises for firefighters and state troopers.

Tennessee’s voucher scheme will cost nearly $150 million in year one – and the cost of the private school coupon plan could balloon quickly.

Of course, by the time the voucher plan eats so many state dollars that other programs are cut, Lee will no longer be governor.

Still, when public education in the state suffocates under the weight of school vouchers, there is one man who should bear the brunt of the blame: Bill Lee.

Gov. Bill Lee promoting school privatization

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A National School Voucher Scheme?

A Legacy of Hungry Kids

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Vouchers All Over

The incessant push to destroy public education

Over at The Education Report, I note that vouchers are not just a problem in Tennessee, they may soon be a national disaster:

From Arizona to DC, the agenda is becoming increasingly clear: privatizers are after our public schools, and they’re aiming to totally dismantle public education, replacing it with an unaccountable, voucherized, for-profit free-for-all that will undermine quality education for generations.

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Another Call for “One Big Test”

TN Winning Race to the Bottom

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National Voucher Madness

House Republicans are not only busy cutting Medicaid, but also working on dismantling American public education while giving the very wealthy a nice tax break.

Yes, a national school voucher scam – supported by President Trump and backed by his former Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos – is taking shape as part of the current budget wrangling.

Here’s what one group that analyzed the bill said:

“. . . we estimate that this tax avoidance maneuver would deprive the federal government and state governments of more than $2 billion in capital gains tax revenue over the next decade. This would come on top of the roughly $21.5 billion cost of the tax credit itself, bringing the net total revenue loss to over $23.6 billion.“

If you wanted to undermine public education – even in states like Kentucky with no vouchers or charter schools – this would be the way to do it.

As an example, Tennessee public school districts are estimated to lose more than $50 million in state investment in year one of the state’s new, universal school voucher scheme.

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A Sad Legacy for Lee

Yes, Money Matters for Schools

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Voucher Coupon Scheme Starts NOW

May 15th is the launch of TN’s new, $1.1 billion voucher scheme

Gov. Bill Lee spent significant time and energy during his term attempting to pass a universal school voucher scheme that would provide coupons for discounted admission to private schools.

He finally convinced the legislature to pass this plan during a special legislative session early this year. In 2019, lawmakers passed a limited voucher plan – for only Memphis and Nashville – and then expanded that to Chattanooga.

The early results from that plan suggest it isn’t “working” – if by working one means helping students improve academic outcomes.

Results from other states show vouchers consistently cost a ton of money and fail to produce results.

No matter, Tennessee lawmakers are all-in.

So, here we are.

And some lawmakers are issuing a final warning about the dangerous territory Tennessee is about to enter:

Tennessee Senate Democrats said school vouchers will cost state taxpayers more than $1 billion. They also warned the plan could lead to less state funds for public schools. As a result, the Democrats are calling the plan a “billion-dollar boondoggle.”

The plan calls for 20,000 vouchers worth $7295 each to be available for students in grades K-12 to use at the private school of their family’s choice.

Gov. Bill Lee promoting school privatization

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Is it Time for Super NAEP?

Trump Administration Leaves More Kids Hungry

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America’s Privatizer-in-Chief

Trump seeks to voucherize American education

Yes, getting rid of or partially dismantling or otherwise destroying the core functions of the U.S. Department of Education is bad.

Also bad: A national school voucher scam. But, of course, that’s just what Donald Trump wants:

Josh Cowen, in his newsletter for Public Funds for Public Schools, highlighted the voucher threat:

Finally, we’re all still waiting to see what happens with the so-called Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA)—aka the tax shelter for the wealthy that’s also a federal voucher scheme intended to ram vouchers into every state—even those that don’t want it. Those of us with our ear to the ground have heard conflicting things: maybe it will make it into the federal reconciliation process (where it would need only a simple GOP majority to pass) or maybe it’ll come up for a vote later in the year. One thing we know is that Betsy DeVos’s group is continuing to make this a top priority, so it’s something to keep monitoring closely.


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Vouchers vs. Local Schools

Elon Musk Takes on School Lunches and Food Banks

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North Dakota Lawmakers Kill Expensive Voucher Bill

Legislators in North Dakota soundly rejected an attempt to provide private school discount coupons – school vouchers – to families already using private schools.

The North Dakota Monitor reports:

The North Dakota House overwhelmingly rejected an Education Savings Account bill Thursday night, a day after the governor vetoed a similar bill.

House members voted 78-14 against Senate Bill 2400, which sought to provide private school vouchers plus Education Savings Accounts for public school and homeschooled students.

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Vouchers Kill Local Public Schools

Ohio Data Says Vouchers are Very Bad

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Vouchers Rejected in Utah, Missouri

As Tennessee moves forward with expensive voucher scheme, other states are rejected the bad idea

The effort to divert public funds to unaccountable private schools ran into roadblocks in Missouri and Utah last week.

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe’s plan to rapidly enlarge a scholarship program for private and religious schools with an infusion of state tax funds was cut out of the budget Wednesday as the Senate Appropriations Committee finished revising spending plans for the coming year.

The Republican Senator who stripped the voucher funding said public schools should be the state’s top funding priority.

In Utah, a judge came to the rescue of the state’s students:

Utah’s $100 million school voucher program violates the state’s constitution, a judge ruled Friday.

“[Because] the Program is a legislatively created, publicly funded education program aimed at elementary and secondary education, it must satisfy the constitutional requirements applicable to the ‘public education system’ set forth in the Utah Constitution,” Third District Judge Laura Scott wrote in her ruling. “The Program is not ‘open to all children of the state.’”

The judge said public education funds in Utah must be used to support schools that accept all students – and that private schools may restrict admission, so cannot be recipients of public education dollars.

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Texas Advances Costly Voucher Scheme

Elon Musk Takes Millions from TN Farmers and Kids

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Nashville Public Education Foundation Announces Hall of Fame Honorees

The Nashville Public Education Foundation (NPEF) announced the newest recipients of their Hall of Fame honor.

Janet Miller, this year’s Nelson C. Andrews Distinguished Service Award honoree. Janet has served as a real estate and development leader in Nashville for over 30 years. She is currently the CEO and Market Leader as well as the incoming Vice Chairman of Colliers Nashville. Janet proudly declares the foundation for her success is the public education she received in Nashville, which has guided and inspired her service to our community throughout her career

We are also excited to announce this year’s Distinguished Alumni honorees. These individuals have shown exemplary leadership and service in our community and are inspiring examples of the incredible talent cultivated by Metro Nashville Public Schools.

Martesha Johnson Moore, a graduate of Whites Creek High School, is the Nashville Metropolitan Chief Public Defender.

Marlene Eskind Moses, a graduate of Hillsboro High School, is an internationally recognized family law attorney at GSRM Law.

Tom Parrish, a graduate of Hillwood High School, now known as James Lawson High School, is the Chief Operating Officer at the Scarlett Family Foundation where he manages the day-to-day operations and relationships with grant seekers, recipients, and key business partners.

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Voucher Scheme Rejected in Utah

Missouri Legislature Deals Blow to Vouchers