Gov. Bill Lee is set to announce his support for a statewide Education Savings Account program next year, expanding from three large counties to every school district in the state, according to two lawmakers.
State Rep. Bryan Richey, a Maryville Republican who supports school choice, told the Tennessee Lookout he was invited to a press conference to be held next Tuesday in Nashville to introduce the education initiative. Richey said the governor’s legislative liaison told him the governor wants to widen the ESA program from Metro Nashville, Memphis and Hamilton County and offer it to students in all 95 counties.
“They’re wanting to put some guardrails on it out of the gate to where it’s 200% of the poverty level as to who’s eligible, and it would slowly increase over the next 10 years to where it would end up opening to everybody,” Richey said Tuesday.
Richey, who defeated veteran Rep. Bob Ramsey in 2022, said he supports education choices for parents but is more amenable to making the voucher program open to all students. Ramsey voted against the ESA program four years ago.
Under the bill that narrowly passed the General Assembly in 2019, qualifying students receive about $8,200 students a year to enroll in private schools. Lee made the legislation the major initiative of his first year in office, but it took a legal battle in which two courts determined the bill was unconstitutional before the Tennessee Supreme Court decided the program could be offered in Metro Nashville and Memphis.
They’re wanting to put some guardrails on (a private school voucher program) out of the gate to where it’s 200% of the poverty level as to who’s eligible, and it would slowly increase over the next 10 years to where it would end up opening to everybody.
– Rep. Bryan Richey, R-Maryville
The Legislature passed more legislation this spring adding Hamilton County Schools as a voucher district.
State Rep. Mark White, chairman of the House Education Administration Committee, has said he plans to sponsor a bill to make vouchers available statewide.
White confirmed later Tuesday the governor is scheduled to hold the press conference and said he offered to carry the legislation “as a supporter of parental choice.” Typically, bills brought by the governor are sponsored in the House by Majority Leader William Lamberth, who could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
White, an East Memphis Republican, said he wasn’t sure whether the bill would have any new parameters but speculated it would be similar to existing legislation.
“I know that’s Gov. Lee’s wish that it open up to parental choice statewide, so that’s what the conversation will be when we go back in session,” White said. “A lot of people say it takes money away from public schools. I’m not a believer in that. … When you have choice, you have competition, which opens up innovation.”
Gov. Lee’s office did not respond to email questions from the Tennessee Lookout.
The governor is inviting several lawmakers to attend his press conference next week. But some could be leery of attending if their school district opposes voucher expansion in rural and suburban areas and the potential for children taking public funds with them to private schools.
The biggest test is expected to be moving the bill out of White’s Education Administration Committee.
State Rep. Antonio Parkinson, a Memphis Democrat and member of the committee, said he hasn’t been invited to the governor’s event, likely because of his opposition in recent years.
“It’s going to be interesting to see what his own people do,” Parkinson said, noting he warned rural and suburban lawmakers about the spread of charter schools and vouchers outside the state’s four biggest cities. “I think it’s great they get to taste what we’ve been dealing with.”
House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Ray Clemmons said Tuesday he’s not surprised about the governor’s planned press conference.
“I know it’s his top agenda item,” Clemmons said via text.
In recent budget hearings, the state Department of Education said it has 2,586 students with approved Education Savings Accounts. The program was approved initially for 5,000 students with yearly increases of 2,500 over four years as part of a pilot program.
But JC Bowman, executive director of Professional Educators of Tennessee, said Tuesday the number of students using the vouchers to attend private schools is closer to 700, mainly because of problems with transportation and other factors.
The teacher group would oppose the ESA expansion bill, he said.
“There’s other options available to allow parents to have public school choice,” Bowman said. “And we think we should be stressing public school choice.”
The average income for a family of four with children using vouchers is $38,000, according to reports. Yet the law sets the limit at $91,364 for a four-member family, double the amount to qualify for subsidized school lunches.
