School Voucher Program Sees 33,000 Applicants in First Day

The Education Freedom Scholarship — Tennessee's newly established school voucher program — launched on May 15 and saw more than 33,000 applications by the end of business hours Thursday. 

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Essentially, the K-12 vouchers will allow public dollars to cover private school tuition costs. Twenty-thousand scholarships will be awarded at approximately $7,295 each to go toward private school tuition and other educational expenses. 

Half of the scholarships will be given based on financial need, and the other 10,000 will be available to all students regardless of their families' incomes. Applications are subject to review, and a wait list will be established. 

More than 200 private schools have said they intend to participate in the program, according to the Tennessee Department of Education website. That includes 36 Davidson County private schools. 

The Education Freedom Scholarship program was established through a piece of $400 million-plus legislation passed during a special session of the Tennessee General Assembly earlier this year. The act was largely pushed by Gov. Bill Lee and Republican lawmakers who say the program expands what they call school choice. 

Lee celebrated the program’s rollout in a statement sent to reporters on Thursday. 

“This remarkable response demonstrates what we have known all along: Tennessee parents want choices when it comes to their child’s education,” Lee said. 

“I’m grateful to the General Assembly for their partnership in delivering universal school choice to families across our state, and I thank the department of education for their dedication to a smooth implementation.”

Democrats widely oppose the scholarships and argue that the program will take money away from public schools, which receive state funds partially based on how many students are enrolled in a school district. 

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“Gov. Lee continues to tout his scam as a way to provide parents with school choice,” House Minority Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) said in a statement on Thursday. 

“When in reality it is nothing more than another opportunity for this governor to steer more taxpayer dollars out of our underfunded public schools into private bank accounts. An overwhelming majority of those who apply in the coming days will be wealthy families whose children are already enrolled in private schools.”

Opponents of vouchers also argue that many of Tennessee’s rural counties do not have private schools and that lower-income families in those areas will suffer as a result. In addition, detractors contend that, unlike public schools, private schools are able to reject students with disabilities and other challenges — thus yielding an unfair advantage the latter holds versus the former. 

This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.