The Tri-Star State: Tennessee Is One Step Closer To A School Voucher Program

The Tennessee Education Savings Account.

That’s the name of the school voucher program proposed by Gov. Bill Lee during his first State of the State address.

After the announcement, some celebrated the initiative while a group of public school teachers in Tennessee issued a statement expressing concerns.

But, what are the expected impacts of the program? 

The following are excerpts from recent interviews:

Beth Brown, president of Tennessee Education Association, on whether school vouchers will help low-income student:

“We are going to be subsidizing private school tuition for families who are already going to private schools. Because if you think about the communities and the population that this proposed budget item ostensibly target, those students are not going to be able to afford private school.”

William Lamberth, House majority leader, on the state’s promise to make sure the money allocated for vouchers is not misspent: 

“We are again going to make sure that any dollar that we allocate in the budget that there are safeguards in place to ensure that it’s spent properly.”

Our ongoing conversations about Tennessee politics are available in The Tri-Star State podcast. You can listen by visiting wpln.org/tristar or subscribe using your favorite podcasting app.