Image Credit: TN General Assembly
***Note from The Tennessee Conservative – this article posted here for informational purposes only.
The Center Square [By Kim Jarrett] –
Bills that would expand Tennessee’s Education Freedom Scholarships are moving through the General Assembly with questions from both parties about the program’s cost and transparency.
Senate Bill 2247/House Bill 2532 would expand the number of scholarships from 20,000 to 40,000 at a cost of $310 million. A bill passed by the General Assembly during a 2025 special session would automatically allow an additional 5,000 scholarships annually.
Gov. Bill Lee and proponents of the bill say demand justifies the additional scholarships. More than 56,000 students applied for the 2026-27 school year, while more than 38,000 applied for the 2025-26 school year, according to the Tennessee Department of Education.
Sen. Joey Hensley, R-Hohenwald, said during a meeting of the Senate Education Committee that he supported the initial bill and was for school choice but had concerns about the cost.
“I’m for increasing it to 5,000 but until we can get better funding, I don’t think I can support the 40,000,” Hensley said.
Henley and Memphis Democrat Raumesh Akbari were the only two senators who voted no to moving the bill to the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee, while seven others voted yes.
Akbari asked Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson what would happen if the state ran into financial trouble.
“Is there a plan to claw back some of the vouchers?” Akbari asked.
“In terms of future expansion, that’s for a future General Assembly, that’s for a future governor,” Johnson said. “But what we know now is we have 56,000 families that are yearning for a better education opportunity for their kids.”
Johnson City Republican Rusty Crowe voted for the bill but said he shared Hensley’s concerns.
“I’ve told my people back home that I was not totally comfortable with, as Senator Hensley said, not really having all the numbers and those sorts of things,” Crowe said. “So I think I have a duty to them to make sure that I have all the information that we can gather before giving this a final vote on the floor of the Senate.”
Rep. Sam McKenzie, D-Knoxville, asked House Majority Leader William Lamberth during a House K-12 subcommittee meeting this week if there was data on how many students who received the scholarship in its initial year were in a private school.
“Don’t know and don’t care,” said Lamberth, R-Portland. “These are all Tennessee children that need education and their parents feel like the schools they’re sending them to are the best for them to receive that education.”
The bill passed the subcommittee 5-3, with Republican Rep. Kirk Haston, R-Lobelville, voting against it. The House Education Committee is scheduled to hear it on Tuesday.
Democrats and Republicans have called for more data about scholarship recipients. House Bill 1544/Senate Bill 1643 would require the Education Department to provide a report on who received the scholarships, which school they attended, and their parents’ income.
The bills are sponsored by Republican Rep. Jody Barrett of Dickson and Sen. Page Walley of Savannah. The House version of the bill is on the K-12 subcommittee’s calendar for next week.
4 Responses
Yup, “Don’t know and don’t care” Lamberth.
Thank you Portland.
We’d be WAAY better off without him.
What this is about is buying votes of parents of kids in private schools -mostly religious schools.
How many of them are Muslims? In most states a lot.
How much are we currently spending per child for education in our State including all private schools? Give a credit for each child at the per child rate for that child to attend the school of their choice. Let the money follow the children. Obviously with the scores we are getting, we are over spending on our public education since we spend thousands of dollars per child they can’t read, write or add. The entire system needs to be overhauled. Giving vouchers to a few children does not solve the problem. When a limb has been severed, a band-aid won’t stop the bleeding.
Johnson’s and Lambert’s flippant responses just prove they think they have the lackeys in both houses to pass this million dollar, big government program to save their faces…..hopefully, they won’t treat these smart “NO” votes like they’ve treated Jody Barrett. But, I’m sure that is the leadership’s S.O.P. Bottom line, if they do pass this SAVE FACE (BILL’s NEW BILL) expansion that they DEMAND that EVERY SINGLE RECIPIENT DISCLOSE where they were PREVIOUSLY in school, what they were paying for it and what their total income is. This farce of a big government program was sold as snake oil to Tennesseans who believe their lies about ‘helping Tennessee students get out of FAILING public schools’ while that has been a disaster, maybe those that do not support this current BIG GOVERNMENT version will be able to leverage their demands that we put limits on it and minimize REWARDING those same poorly performing schools with HIGHER PAY – absurd! Mark my word Bill’s legacy will be this BIG GOVERNMENT program that will break our state’s bank when he leave office and hopefully these same legislative leaders will be ousted!