House GOP Caucus Chair Jeremy Faison pours cold water on the idea of expanding Gov. Bill Lee’s private school coupon scheme:
Cold Water
Tag Archives: Tennessee School Vouchers
Privatizing Just to Privatize
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.”
Read the Comptroller’s report on Education Savings Accounts (ESAs)
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Vouchers on the Menu
Lifting income caps and expanding voucher access are on the menu in 2026:
House Speaker Cameron Sexton has expressed interest in removing income caps and enrollment limits from Tennessee’s Education Savings Account program.
“Whether you’re making $30,000 or $140,000, you should have the opportunity,” Sexton said.
This comes as lawmakers also discuss expanding Education Freedom Scholarships, which launched last year with a cap of 20,000 students.
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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 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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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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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.
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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.
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Democrats Slam Lee’s Voucher Plan as a “Scam”
Lawmakers speak out ahead of State of the State
In remarks delivered Friday, Senate Democratic Caucus Chair London Lamar challenged Gov. Bill Lee to lead on issues that make a difference for working families.
Among the topics addressed by Lamar was school vouchers. Here’s what she had to say:
Once again, Tennesseans are going to be told they should support a scam that defunds our neighborhood schools to subsidize private school tuition for wealthy families.
Lamar’s description of the impact of vouchers is especially salient in light of mounting evidence that school vouchers not only fail to improve student achievement but also exacerbate inequality.
Privatization Efforts Deferred – But Not Denied
Efforts to privatize Tennessee’s public schools were deferred today in a key House Committee.
The privatization push includes potential expansion of school vouchers into Knoxville and the other would open the doors for charter schools to operate in districts without first being subject to local review.
More from The Education Report:
This bill (HB433), as currently written, would expand the state’s school voucher program (known as Education Savings Accounts, or ESAs) to Chattanooga. Currently, the voucher scheme only applies to students in Memphis and Nashville.
It’s bad enough that some policymakers are ready to expand this privatization program to another Tennessee school district. However, what’s even more alarming is that Education Administration Committee Chair Mark White has filed an amendment to expand the program even further – this time into Knoxville.
As you might recall, I wrote about an amendment to the charter legislation that would:
- Create a scheme for allowing charter schools that serve homeschooled students
- Allow for the creation of residential/boarding schools that are charter schools
These new charters would also be able to bypass local school boards and apply directly to Bill Lee’s State Charter Commission for approval.
That would mean zero local input and zero local accountability – even though millions of local tax dollars would be spent supporting these charter schools.
It’s important to look at these pieces of legislation for what they are: A clear agenda.
Gov. Lee and his legislative allies want to privatize our public schools.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport