Education Savings Account expansion could incur additional costs

A proposed expansion of the Education Savings Account (ESA) program to Knox and Hamilton Counties could bring new costs to taxpayers as more students utilize the program.That’s according to Jim Wrye with the Tennessee Education Association.The Tennessee General Assembly originally passed the ESA program in 2019 to allow eligible students in Davidson or Shelby County to use public dollars to cover private school tuition.Wrye told members of the House Education Administration Committee Wednesday afternoon that expanding the program to other counties will bring new costs.“If you look at voucher programs in other states, that the vast majority of those students and this is clear in the data, the vast majority of those students would never have attended a public school. So, these are new costs,” said Wrye.Memphis Representative Mark White is sponsoring the legislation in the House. He says it’s needed to provide economically disadvantaged students with school choice options.“This is designed for students of lower income and minority students,” said Representative White. “It is intentionally designed for those students of lower incomes where they are in a school that is not performing adequately for them to give them a chance for an option where their parents are not able to give them that.”The ESA program has faced opposition for years from those who worry it could take away funding and money from public schools.Knoxville Representative Sam McKenzie argued against the expansion questioning whether the state knows enough about the ESA’s impact to justify adding counties that can take part.“This is a pilot project that just got underway. Just now.  I’m not saying do away with it but let’s let the pilot program commence,” said Representative McKenzie. “I’m saying we don’t have the data.”Culleoka Representative Scott Cepicky also addressed the lack of data, but he says that’s one reason to expand the program. Representative Cepicky argues adding students to the ESA will provide important data on how well it’s working.“I’m sure that if we’re sitting here and we get three years from now and this program is not yielding the results we want it to yield, then we’ll adjust accordingly. But what if this is a tool in the tool belt that allows students who are in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods that may be in a priority school that has a bad situation that we can turn their lives around by giving them an opportunity to go somewhere else,” asked Representative Cepicky.Committee members advanced the legislation on a voice vote to the House Calendar & Rules Committee.