8 more community schools close: Our hearts break for the Kyrene and Scottsdale communities, as their school boards have voted to shutter neighborhood schools. Kyrene voted to close 6 schools, and Scottsdale Unified voted to shut down 2 schools at the end of this school year. These votes come after months of emotional community input and difficult conversations about budget constraints. This brings the total number of schools shut down since universal ESA voucher expansion to 28, with at least 4 more closures expected in Amphi.
It turns out, all that “school choice” talk Gov. Bill Lee used to promote his signature policy issue – private school discount coupons – was just talk.
Kids aren’t leaving failing schools.
Kids aren’t performing better once they are in private schools.
It’s just state-sponsored privatization of a public good.
Most Tennessee public school students who use Education Savings Account vouchers aren’t leaving low-performing public schools, while ESA students overall are underperforming their public school peers in both academic achievement and growth.
Overall, students receiving ESA money performed worse on the state’s standardized tests than students in public schools, although ESA students outperformed their peers in Memphis-Shelby County schools last year. The comptroller’s report also notes that scores from students receiving ESAs have increased over time.
Meanwhile, virtual schools participating in the ESA program for the first time last year performed worse than both private schools with ESA students and local public schools. Just 20% of ESA students enrolled in virtual schools were proficient in English language arts, and just 17% were proficient in math.
And, the kids aren’t leaving behind schools that are “failing:”
“Most schools that students are leaving to participate in the ESA program are neither reward nor priority schools, which would indicate their performance is neither among the highest or lowest of public schools in the state,” the comptroller’s report states. “When considering schools that have received state and federal designations, more ESA students are leaving reward schools than priority 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.
These federal vouchers divert public funds to private education uses, with all the attendant harms, and they must be recognized as such, even if it may be possible to use the voucher money for public school students.
All vouchers harm students and undermine public education, and the federal voucher law is no different:
o Vouchers divert public funds to private schools.
o Vouchers lead to worse educational outcomes for students.
o Vouchers put students’ civil rights at risk.
o Vouchers lack quality and accountability standards and encourage fraud and abuse.
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.
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.
NewsChannel9reports 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)
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.
A Tennessee Republican who stood up for public education in the state legislature paid the price, as a conservative political action group backing Matt Van Epps attacked him with millions of dollars in advertising.
Barrett was attacked because he voted against Governor Bill Lee’s Education Freedom Act – also called vouchers.
State Representative Jody Barrett (R-Dickson) ran for the open congressional seat in Tennessee’s recent special election, but he finished second to Matt Van Epps in the Republican primary.
After the primary, the head of the conservative PAC, Club for Growth, took credit for Barrett’s loss and called it a warning to other candidates.
After the primary, the head of Club for Growth wrote, “I made it clear that any republican lawmaker who failed to support Governor Bill Lee’s Education Freedom Act … should expect to lose an expensive primary funded by Club for Growth.”
Lee’s so-called “Education Freedom Act” essentially provides discount coupons to private schools for use by wealthy families.
On a related note, a new dark money group with ties to the state’s top Republicans has formed and announced plans to push for a rapid expansion of the voucher scheme – costing the state billions and taking nearly 500,000 students out of public schools.
