Tennessee Passes Education Freedom Act
The bill becomes law.
This past Thursday, Governor Lee signed into law the Education Freedom Act. This law is designed to give parents the ability to redirect state education dollars for public school towards a Title 1, 2, 3 private school.
The school choice movement is part of the Republican Party platform. Republicans across the nation are pushing for school choice programs in order to give families a way out of failing public schools. The section on education states:
“2. Universal School Choice
Republicans believe families should be empowered to choose the best Education for their children. We support Universal School Choice in every State in America. We will expand 529 Education Savings Accounts and support Homeschooling Families equally.” (Source)
The Education Freedom Act (EFA) of Tennessee is a law that allows Tennessee residents to use taxpayer dollars to pay for private school tuition and other educational expenses. The law was passed in January 2025 by the Tennessee General Assembly. Though the income cap is “universal” homeschoolers were not included in the EFA because THEA lobbied to have them removed.
How it works
The EFA provides scholarships of around $7,000 to eligible Tennessee residents. 20,000 scholarships are available the first year to be spent at a private school. (The private school is not required to accept the scholarship funds.)
The EFA reserves 10,000 of the initial scholarships for students with disabilities or from lower-income families. (“Lower income” is defined as $175,000 a year or less.)
The EFA also provides a one-time bonus of $2,000 to classroom teachers. (An amendment was added to the bill during the special session that would restrict the teacher’s bonus to LEAs (Local Education Agency) that don’t block families from accessing the scholarships.
‘The EFA’s first year will cost the state nearly $450 million. In that first year, 10,000 scholarships will go to families making 300% of the requirements for free or reduced lunch — at maximum $175,000 a year for a family of four. Another 10,000 scholarships will have no income requirements for the first year, and subsequent years will remove the cap altogether.’ (Source)
What it means
The EFA gives parents the power to decide how, where, and what their child learns.
The EFA ensures that families, not the government, can decide how their taxpayer dollars are spent.
The EFA aims to make school choice a reality for every Tennessee child, regardless of income or zip code.
Opposition to the bill
Both democrats and some republicans opposed the bill. The democrats didn’t feel that the program did enough to help the disadvantaged. The republicans felt that it was fiscally irresponsible and would muddy the waters between private and public education. Republicans are concerned that this action will create more government control in private spaces.
Conclusion
We had the opportunity to head up to Nashville during the special session and sat in a the Finance Committee meeting. One of the most important point Senator Watson brought up is that the General Assembly is voting on this particular bill and not to jump to conclusions about what might happen. We simply don’t know exactly how the EFA will play out in every aspect of our state. They have set up guardrails for it to be able to watch how it plays out and keep it from breaking the budget. Those who advocated for the law see it as a way to give families a choice to find schools that work best for their children. We see this as a step towards giving families the ability to take back control of their schools by being able to leave if a school isn’t serving their family best.
If you’d like to understand a bit more about the thinking behind the school choice movement, this video does a great job!