NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — There are multiple versions of how Tennessee should expand its school voucher program to 95 counties, but a new Republican House proposal includes much more than just spending tax dollars on private school tuition.
Known in the bill as education freedom scholarships, HB 1183 also includes a plan for the state to pay a bigger chunk for teacher insurance plans.
The House bill has become a catch-all for several education-related issues in the state, but the language is all tethered to expanding vouchers for nearly all families in Tennessee. Right now, only certain families in Davidson, Shelby, and Hamilton Counties qualify for the voucher program.
How is this different from the Governor's plan?
Both plans would provide vouchers for 20,000 students across the state. Both plans would include roughly $7,000 in tax dollars for students to use for private school tuition. One big difference is the family income requirements to qualify.
In the governor's plan, a family of four making less than $62,400 a year would qualify for a voucher during the first year of the program. Under the House plan, that number would be $124,800.
Both plans use the federal poverty level as a guideline for who qualifies. The governor's plan is 200% above the poverty line. The House plan is 400%.
Students taking part in the current voucher program — known as an Education Savings Account — would not qualify for the new program.
What's new in the House proposal?
The House version of the plan includes much more than just school vouchers. It includes an increase in state funding for teacher insurance plans.
Under this plan, the state would pay 60% of those healthcare costs, and local government would be responsible for the remaining 40%.
Health insurance coverage is typically a big part of city and county government budgets — so it could be a big savings for local counties. "That will increase the teacher’s salary, because they have to pay less for insurance," said Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton, in a one-on-one interview with NewsChannel 5's Chris Davis.
However, full on raises for Tennessee teachers is not part of this plan. "Well there could be. We’re in negotiations. The conversations we had with teachers, the number one issue is the health insurance," said Sexton.
House Republicans also want to scale back some of the TCAP testing to where students don't have to be tested on every subject, every year. The house proposal would also eliminate end-of-course exams in high school. "We want to emphasize instruction in the classroom, with some tests, but make it reasonable," he said.
Their plan would also eliminate the Achievement School District.
No state testing for private school students
The House plan would not require students in private schools (including those receiving voucher money) to take standardized tests like the TCAP test. All public school students are required to take those standardized tests.
This issue is a major point of contention between Democrats and Republicans.
Republicans argue this gives parents and families more freedom, but Democrats say it's not fair that public schools have to take the tests if private schools do not. They argue it's unfair if you don't have accountability for everyone.
Speaker Sexton says there will be some measures of accountability through a third party service monitoring students who take vouchers, but didn't give specific details.
Reaction from teacher advocates and Democrats
J.C. Bowman of Professional Educators of Tennessee says many of the add-ons Speaker Sexton included in their bill, are ones they support. "Of all the bills that came out on the voucher stuff, this has been the most palatable of all of them," said Bowman.
However, he did say many aspects of the vouchers themselves are troubling to him, like there being no specific cap on the number of scholarships and the impact it could have on public schools. "Outside the voucher piece, we really like a lot the work in there," said Bowman.
Criticism from Democrats was a lot more damning.
“If Governor Lee and the Republicans truly cared about our public schools, students and teachers, they would have enacted some of these proposals years ago, voted in support when we Democrats introduced them, or even put them on the table as a stand-alone bill this year. Instead, they are trying to use inducements and extra funding as a Trojan horse, thinking they can trick Tennessee families into welcoming a voucher scam into their communities.” Clemmons continued, “Vouchers will not benefit Tennessee's students in any way, and they provide no real choice to Tennessee families whatsoever. They are nothing more than a scam designed to steal money from our underfunded public schools, enrich the rich, and blow a gaping hole in our state and local governments' budgets. If Lee and Republicans have their way, local governments will have no choice but to increase local taxes on families. The House Democratic Caucus stands firm with Tennessee families and our public schools and against vouchers."
What are the other proposals?
Sen. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, submitted hisown proposal for voucher expansion. It mirrors most of the governor's ideas, except his plan would require voucher recipients to take a "normed referenced test approved by the state board of education," according to the amendment obtained by NewsChannel 5. Basically his plan would require students using vouchers to take the same TCAP tests that public school students take.
Third graders would still have to take the TCAP test and perform well on the English-Language Arts portion to be consistent with the controversial Third Grade Retention Law. Eighth graders would also have to take the Math portion of the TCAP test to show adequate growth in that subject.
His proposal would also create "open enrollment" that would allow any public school student to pick which public school they'd like to attend, even if that's a school not in their home county.
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
