Gov. Lee wants state to fund more than 20,000 private school vouchers next year – The Tennessean
Gov. Bill Lee says he hopes to propose new funding in his budget proposal next year to expand Tennessee’s $144 million taxpayer-funded private school choice program beyond the existing 20,000 scholarships.
“The only thing I’m not happy with is that we don’t have more scholarships to give to more income-limited, low-income families and to families that aren’t limited in their income,” Lee told reporters in Nashville on Oct. 3.
This spring, Lee signed legislation creating a statewide Education Freedom Scholarship program, offering 20,000 taxpayer-funded grants of $7,295 each to students regardless of previous school enrollment or zip code. Half the scholarships were distributed to families without regard to income. Other than Tennessee residency and legal citizenship, there were no other qualification requirements.
The state received more than 42,000 applications.
“So many Tennesseans wanted this. The applications were so many that they outnumbered the number available,” Lee said. “I’m hoping that we’ll be able to get the General Assembly to provide more scholarships to more Tennessee families.”
New county-by-county data released by the Tennessee Department of Education shows that more than half of the 20,000 scholarships, 10,802, went to participants in Tennessee’s four most populous counties: Shelby, Davidson, Knox and Hamilton.
“They’re awarded to students in the vast majority of counties all over the state. It’s very widespread,” Lee said. “It’s evenly divided between those that have income limits and those that don’t.”
Just over 82% of the scholarships, 16,416, went to students in metro and suburban areas around Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Clarksville, Murfreesboro, Franklin and Jackson.
Most of the schools benefiting from the program are religious institutions.
The income limit for scholarships this year was $173,000 for a family of four. By law, half of the 20,000 available scholarships are required to go to families with no income cap, meaning even those making $1 million or more could qualify.
TDOE turned away more than 11,100 applicants for the state’s new universal private school choice program this summer who fell under the $173,000 income cap for a family of four.
Vivian Jones covers state government and politics for The Tennessean. Reach her atvjones@tennessean.com.
