NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — This legislative session, school vouchers will once again take center stage on Tennessee’s Capitol Hill.
Vouchers became available in Tennessee two years ago with several parameters. They are currently available to lower-income families in only three urban counties — Shelby, Davidson and Hamilton — home to some of the state’s worst-performing schools.
Watch Carrie's third and final part of her series in the player above.
Now, Gov. Bill Lee is proposing a universal voucher program — available to all students — essentially giving families $7,075 of state money to spend at a private, or perhaps, home school.
Part two: How the Catholic Diocese outlines new opportunities with Tennessee vouchers
Voucher programs remain controversial nationwide. This week we’ve taken a deep dive into the issue from the perspective of both the public and private school sectors in Tennessee. Now, a look at the voucher program in Arizona which started 13 years ago and was the first in the nation to offer universal vouchers.
Melissa Blasius is the senior investigative reporter for our Scripps News sister station, ABC15, in Phoenix, Arizona. For years, much of her reporting has centered on the state’s school voucher program, called Arizona Empowerment Scholarships.
“These vouchers are very popular here in Arizona. We have nearly 75,000 students currently enrolled,” Blasius told me.
Watch my whole conversation with Blasius in the player below.
Like Tennessee, Arizona rolled out its voucher program to help certain groups of children.
“So that's how the conversation developed with students in special groups or classes, students who have disabilities who weren't being well served by the public schools.”
Part one: A public school perspective: How one Tennessee superintendent perceives vouchers
Over the years, Arizona’s voucher program expanded, and as of July 2022, is now available to every student in the state. New research shows the students benefiting from the program has changed.
“Most of the kids in Arizona, in our mid-scholarship account program, the universal voucher program, did not attend public school beforehand. These were kids who were already being privately educated, that now the taxpayers are paying for their education instead of their parents.”
Gov. Lee has yet to release specifics on his universal voucher proposal. As we wait to learn more, Arizona is learning the hard way details matter when it comes to giving families thousands of dollars.
“Parents can spend that money on educational needs and wants. At least a portion of it must be spent on academics, but it's not specified what portion must be spent on academics.”
Reporting by Blasius revealed while most of the voucher money is spent at private schools on tuition, millions of dollars went to what she calls “educational extras.
“We found that some parents were buying indoor vegetable gardens that cost a thousand dollars a pop. We saw parents who are paying for driver’s licenses in luxury vehicles for their kids. We found parents buying $4,000 pianos for their private homes with this money. We found a $3,000 purchase at a golf store, we found ski lift passes."
In its first full year available to all Arizona students, the program exceeded enrollment expectations and budget projections. The state budgeted $625 million for this school year. The final cost will likely come in higher — at $703 million. That’s an increase of $78 million. The state is budgeting $825 million for the 2024-2025 school year.
As for what this has done to the state’s coffers. That’s up for Arizona lawmakers to debate this session.
“Our state is currently experiencing a billion-dollar budget shortfall,” says Blasius. “A lot of talk about the voucher program was that it would actually save taxpayers money, because the amount of money that a student would get under a voucher is less dollar-wise than a student would get between state and federal funding in a local school. So, the idea was that it was cost savings. But what we found is a lot of students who were never in the public school system, so that taxpayers were never paying for, are now getting these vouchers.”
State law requires Tennessee lawmakers to pass a balanced budget.
If universal vouchers are added, the money will have to come from somewhere. Public education advocates are afraid it will come from public schools
What is the governor wanting?
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced in 2023 his desire to expand vouchers to all 95 counties across the state.
Lee's plan — which he is calling "Freedom Educational Scholarships" — will provide thousands of dollars for students to attend private schools.
Lee's new proposal for an Education Freedom Scholarship Act would provide an estimated $7,000 per student beginning in the 2024-25 school year, according to the one-pager obtained by NewsChannel 5 Investigates.
According to the summary, in the first year, only students who are at or below 300% of the federal poverty level, have a disability or are eligible for the existing ESA pilot program could take part in the program.
Beginning in 2025-26, the plan calls for "universal eligibility for all students entitled to attend a public school."
What is Tennessee's current voucher program?
Tennessee's current education savings account is only for three parts of the state: Davidson, Hamilton and Shelby Counties.
Enacted in 2019 by the legislature, it established a program for students to receive money directly for their education rather than a public school system to pay for private education. The vote was contentious with then-Speaker Glen Casada, passing only by one vote with the board held for more than 40 minutes. Now-House Speaker Cameron Sexton didn't vote for the program.
However, the program didn't start until 2022 because of a lawsuit in the chancery court, where those who didn't want the program deemed it unconstitutional. An order was placed in 2020 that the program couldn't begin. Two years later, a three-judge panel lifted an injunction two weeks before the 2022 school year to allow the program to move forward.
The Tennessee Department of Education officials said in summer 2022 they were "excited to restart work" for families and students. During the injunction, the department couldn't work on preparation plans for the ESAs.
Students now have $9,000 to use toward a school, where they could also apply for financial aid to supplement the rest of the cost.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
