Tennessee governor signs universal school choice bill after shrewd additions helped it pass

Tennessee is the latest state to enact universal school choice as Gov. Bill Lee signed a $447 million plan Wednesday granting families educational freedom.

The measure, which passed during a special legislative session Lee called last month, will establish education savings accounts (ESAs) that grant scholarships up to $7,300 per student, or the same amount the government spends per child in public school.

The money can be used to pay private school tuition and fees first, with parents able to direct any remaining funds to items ranging from textbooks and instructional materials to transportation and technology devices such as computers used for education. They can also pay for summer and afterschool programs, dual credit courses, college admissions exams and industry certification exams, as well as educational therapies.

Participating students must take a standardized achievement test annually from grades 3-11, to help the state monitor their progress.  

Private schools are not required to participate, and if they do, no new state requirements will be placed on them. Students in homeschools or church-based homeschool co-ops are not eligible. 

The law also denies participation to families that “cannot establish the eligible student’s lawful presence in the United States,” the Associated Press reports, a reaction to the surge in illegal immigrants over the last few years, something Donald Trump is attempting to reverse.

Provisions that helped the bill pass 

While most Democrats and some Republicans opposed the school choice measure, it passed thanks to Republican supermajorities in both houses and several provisions designed to broaden its appeal, including with public school advocates and educators. 

The first is one-time, $2,000 bonuses for the state’s 86,000 public school teachers – but only in districts where the school board passes a resolution indicated support for the measure. The requirement was added after multiple school boards had passed resolutions opposing the bill, the Associated Press reported. 

Another is to raise the starting salary for a teacher to $47,000 for the upcoming school year, which is up from $35,000 in 2019, a 34% increase.  

The legislation also prohibits the state from decreasing the $7 billion it distributes to public school districts across the state annually, even if their enrollment falls. This helped shut down arguments that school choice takes money from public schools. 

“Thanks to the General Assembly and to thousands of Tennesseans who have worked so hard, universal school choice is now a reality for Tennessee families,” Lee said after the bill passed the Legislature. “I have said all along that we should and could have the best public schools in America and provide parents with choice, and we’ve done that.” 

Lee, a Republican, also praised President Donald Trump, “who’s followed our efforts and encouraged us as we set an example for other states.” Trump recently signed an executive order that the Department of Education find ways to direct funding to school choice programs in various states. 

School choice expanding nationally 

There are 33 states with school choice programs, 13 of them with universal, or nearly universal, access. 

Tennessee’s initiative will roll out in two phases: 20,000 scholarships will be available this fall, with half in a universal “pool.” The other half will go to students with disabilities, those eligible for the state’s current ESA program, and students from families at or below 300% of income qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch – about $170,000 for a family of four. 

But in 2026-2027, the program goes truly universal, with current participants and low-income and public-school students receiving priority if demand exceeds available funding. If at least 75% of scholarships are taken in a given year, that will trigger an automatic increase of 5,000 scholarships for the following year, Lee’s office said. 

While there are some provisions catering to lower-income families, Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson told The Tennessean it was intended to empower parents.  

“I never once said this was a program designed for disadvantaged families, and I’ve never heard the governor say that. … This legislation has been marketed as a parental empowerment tool,” said Johnson, R-Franklin. “We’re not going to penalize people who work hard and might do a little better than someone else. We want these to be universal.”  

The state has more than 900,000 public school students and more than 115,000 students in private schools.  

Keri Ingraham, director of Discovery Institute’s American Center for Transforming Education, says it’s time states such as Texas, Idaho and Georgia with Republican governors and Republican-controlled legislatures join Tennessee in enacting universal school choice bills. 

Texas and Wyoming are currently advancing laws to establish their own school choice programs. If passed, Texas’ $1 billion program would be the nation’s largest. Gov. Greg Abbott has given the Texas Legislature 60 days to pass that measure.  

Trump has spoken out in favor of it, saying he will be watching the Texas Legislature “closely,” and that “we need School Choice passed in every State!”