Tennessee policymakers are pushing to expand the state’s newest voucher program, the Education Freedom Scholarship, a program that uses public tax dollars to pay for certain families’ private school tuition. The program has only been in effect for a year, with barely any transparency and no real accountability about whether or not the program works.   

Despite bipartisan calls for more information on the voucher program, policymakers have already blocked two bills that would have required basic data collection about the program’s impact.  

With no accountability measures in place, Rep. Lamberth and Sen. Johnson on behalf of Governor Lee, have set out to double the voucher program from 20,000 to 40,000 seats through HB 2532/SB 2247.  

After receiving pushback from constituents and legislators on both sides of the aisle, there are multiple proposed harmful amendments. Lawmakers are messaging the amendments as a compromise that would drop the number of vouchers to 35,000 and reduce the cost to taxpayers.  

They’re calling this a compromise, but it isn’t. Buried in the amendments are even more far-reaching changes, including: 

• Removing the cap on vouchers, allowing the program to grow year after year based solely on what lawmakers allocate in the budget  

• Expanding the Education Savings Account (ESA), which also diverts public funds to private schools, from 3 counties to 20 counties 

• Increasing the income limits for ESAs further opening the program to families who can already afford private schools 

• Eliminating the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP), a statewide testing requirement that assesses what our students know and what we can do to help them succeed, as required testing for students in the ESA program 

The result: public dollars diverted from public schools at a massive scale, with almost no transparency and no accountability. That’s money that could go directly to the students and schools that need it most.  

This legislation is moving fast, and we need you to join us  on Thursday, April 2 from 4:00 – 4:30 PM to get the full picture on the impact of the voucher expansion bill and how we can take action together to push for the transparency and accountability Tennessee students deserve.