Applications for Tennessee’s recently created school voucher program continue to roll in, and roughly half of the more than 38,000 such forms submitted thus far have come from families with a financial need.
The state released a breakdown of who has applied for the vouchers — also known as the Education Freedom Scholarship — on Tuesday. The program began accepting applications on May 15. As of the beginning of this week, 38,160 applications have been filed, according to the state.
As written in the law, 20,000 scholarships at $7,295 a piece will be awarded for the 2025-26 school year. Half will be awarded to students with a qualified income, and the other 10,000 will be universal and distributed to students regardless of family income.
So far, 18,852 of the applications have come from families with a qualified income while the other 19,308 qualify for universal scholarships.
The Department of Education said it has received applications from more than 300 zip codes in Tennessee and an average of nearly 3,000 applications per grade level.
The K-12 voucher program materialized via a piece of legislation passed by the state legislature during a special session earlier this year. It will allow public dollars to go toward private school tuition costs.
Vouchers have been a largely divisive issue amongst state lawmakers. Gov. Bill Lee and other Republican legislators have backed the program, saying it expands their notion of school choice. Meanwhile, the scholarships have been fiercely opposed by Democrats, who worry the effort will divert money from public schools.
More than 200 private schools across the state have said they intend to participate in the program, including 37 Davidson County schools. Applications are currently under review, and the state has said a waitlist will be established.
“The demand for universal school choice in Tennessee is strong, and families are embracing the freedom they have been provided through the Education Freedom Scholarship Program,” Lizzette Reynolds, Tennessee commissioner of education, says in a news release. “All students deserve the ability to access a learning environment that best fits their unique needs.”
This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
