Governor Lee Proposes $155 Million to Double the Number of Education Freedom Scholarships

Governor Bill Lee delivering his State of the State Address (Photo by House Speaker Cameron Sexton, seated above)

Governor Bill Lee used his final State of the State address to call for expanding an education program that will be a key part of his legacy.

Lawmakers passed Lee’s Education Freedom Scholarship Act in last year’s special session, allowing up to 20,000 students to use taxpayer funds for private school expenses. Families filed more than 40,000 applications in the program’s first year, and the state has received 54,000 applications so far this year.

Lee said demand warrants spending $155 million in what’s expected to be a tighter budget year to expand the number of scholarships to 40,000.

“Growing the program would open the doors of opportunity for thousands more children statewide,” said Lee. “This is why we should empower parents. This is why we need education freedom, and this is why we should, at the very least, double the amount of scholarships this year for Tennessee students.”

The program was opposed last year by every Democrat in the Tennessee General Assembly, who frequently referred to it as “school vouchers.” A spokesperson for the Senate Democratic Caucus pushed back on the Governor’s proposal to expand the program on Tuesday Morning, arguing that it would divert resources from traditional public schools.

“Lee proposed nearly $500 million in new K-12 spending. About a third of it goes to his private school voucher scheme. The ratio here is off the charts: $339 million for 960,000 public school students and $155 million for 20,000 new private school vouchers. Voucher students already receive more state funding per pupil than public school students. Meanwhile, Tennessee ranks 47th in K-12 public school per-pupil student spending,” said the Senate Democratic Caucus.

Touting Public Education Investments

In addition to expanding the Education Freedom Scholarship program, Governor Lee is proposing spending an additional $339 million on K-12 education. This includes extra funding for summer learning camps and teacher pay raises.

Governor Lee’s proposed K-12 education spending follows more than $2.5 billion in new funding lawmakers have approved during the last seven years of his administration.

Lee said those investments have funded important reforms that are making a difference for students.

 “When I took office in 2019, Tennessee ranked in the bottom half of states in both math and reading,” said Lee. “Today, not only do our scores outpace the national average, but since 2022, Tennessee is a top five state for gains in reading and math. This didn’t happen by accident.”

Higher Education and CTE Investments

Governor Lee’s final budget will include significant investments in higher education, including $350 million to fund a new College of Medicine Interdisciplinary Building at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, more than $71 million to support maintenance projects across the state, and $39 million to fully fund the outcomes-based funding formula that rewards institutions of higher learning for student performance.

Lee also touted his administration’s impact on rural Tennessee with investments in career and technical education (CTE).

This year the governor is proposing a continued $10 million investment in the Vocational Education GIVE program to support nuclear workforce education, and $3 million for Next-Gen Academies at Tennessee Tech University for nuclear and cyber technologies.

“Over the past seven years, more than 50 percent of dollars invested by businesses have gone directly to rural counties,” said Lee. “That kind of success doesn’t happen by accident, it takes skilled workers. How did we get them? Thanks to you, they were on a TCAT (Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology) waitlist that got funded by a $1 billion investment, their community college received a GIVE grant, or their high school’s new CTE program taught them how to weld. This commitment to our workforce is the reason why companies are creating thousands of jobs across Tennessee, changing lives from Unicoi County to Union City.”