The Tennessee Department of Education recently released data about the new statewide voucher program after months of pushback from lawmakers seeking more transparency.
The controversial voucher program – called Education Freedom Scholarships – allows families to use taxpayer funds to defray the cost of attending K-12 private schools. The vouchers, which are each $7,300, go directly to the private school to cover anything from tuition to books to classroom supplies.
In May, Gov. Bill Lee boasted of the program’s success – noting that over 33,000 families applied for the available 20,000 slots in the first few hours that applications became available. But there hasn’t been much new information since.
The department recently shared that they received a total of 42,827 applications and vouchers went to students in 86 of Tennessee’s 95 counties. The data also revealed that participating students are enrolled in 220 of the state’s 241 eligible schools.
What’s not shared, however, is whether these students were already enrolled in private schools when they received their vouchers – a regular point of critique for those opposing the program. Lee branded these “education freedom scholarships” as a means of expanding private school access.
The department isn’t tracking enrollment data, but a state review found that two-thirds of the families expected to get these funds are already enrolled in private schools.
Half of the 20,000 available vouchers are reserved for low-income families whose total income is less than $173,000 for a family of four. The remaining 10,000 vouchers are universal, meaning they have no income cap. TDOE received 21,164 applications for the low-income vouchers and 21,663 for the universal vouchers.
“Thank you to all the families, schools, and partners who engaged throughout the launch and implementation of the program,” said Lizzette Reynolds, Commissioner of Education in a press release. “The Education Freedom Scholarship Program provides Tennessee families with additional options to find a learning environment that best fits their student’s unique needs.”
The statewide program is an expansion of a 2019 pilot program where vouchers were only available in Davidson, Shelby and Hamilton Counties. Unlike the new program, all the vouchers in the pilot program were reserved for low and middle income students.
Some school district leaders asked lawmakers not to expand the program because it disproportionately impacts rural school districts that don’t have many private school alternatives and act as large employers for their counties.
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