Tennessee won’t offer ESAs to illegal immigrants under new program 

Illegal immigrants won’t be able to benefit from Tennessee’s recently enacted universal education scholarship program. 

Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill into law last week that will make $447 million available for K-12 private school tuition, transportation, tutoring, textbooks and other expenses. Scholarships worth up to $7,000 are expected to be distributed to over 20,000 recipients during the 2025-26 school year. 

The law reserves half the scholarships for low-income families, but the governor made it clear that only legal residents are eligible.

“What’s most important to know is that this language doesn’t change anything about the state’s obligation as it currently stands to educate children,” Lee told reporters last week. “But, for this scholarship, it’s only available to Tennessee citizens.” 

State Rep. William Lamberth, R-Cottontown, said the state should not suffer because of poor border security. 

“Tennessee communities should not have to suffer or pay when the federal government fails to secure our borders,” Lamberth told reporters. “Our obligation is to ensure a high-quality education for legal residents first.” 

Jonathan Williams, president of the American Legislative Exchange Council, applauded the bill’s passage. 

“Tennessee was a huge win for education freedom and parental choice,” Williams told the Washington Times. “We need to be looking at ways to fund alternative forms of education and reexamine how states operate if the Education Department ceases to exist.” 

However, the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee strongly opposed the bill, claiming it was “unconstitutional” and takes funds from public schools. 

The ACLU also went after private Christian schools when explaining its opposition. 

“Private schools participating in the voucher program are not obligated to comply with the academic, accountability, and governance standards that apply to public schools,” the ACLU said. 

While the program is expected to provide significant financial relief to thousands of families who already send their children to private schools, it could also bring about 7,000 new students into the state’s private schools, ChalkBeat reports. 

Tennessee is the 13th state to enact a universal education savings account program.