Governor Lee unveils statewide program to allow families to use taxpayer dollars to attend private school

Arieale Munson says the private school her 12-year-old son Steven attends in Memphis is putting him on the path to his dream of becoming a paleontologist.St. George’s Independent School provides Steven with an outdoor club where he looks for fossils and archives. Munson says the school also provides her son with access to extra-curricular activities like Lacrosse, tennis, and swimming.Munson says as a single parent with two children, private school tuition would be unaffordable if she didn’t receive financial assistance through the state’s Education Savings Account (ESA) pilot program.“I was able to feed my family and not have to worry about an education. You should never have to worry about feeding your children and an education,” said Munson.Tennessee’s ESA pilot program allows qualifying economically disadvantaged students like Steven who attend Memphis-Shelby County Schools, Metro Nashville Public Schools, Hamilton County Schools, or a school that was in the Achievement School District on May 24, 2019, to apply state and local dollars toward education expenses at private schools.Tennessee lawmakers narrowly approved the ESA in 2019 but legal challenges prevented it from going into effect until last year.Munson’s family was the first to be approved in Shelby County, but Governor Lee wants to offer something similar to the 900 thousand Tennessee students who wouldn’t currently qualify for the ESA.Tuesday afternoon Governor Lee unveiled the details of his proposed Education Freedom Scholarship Act that would expand upon the framework of the ESA.  Under the plan, Tennessee would offer 20,000 scholarships next school year on a rolling first-come, first-served basis to help Tennessee families send their children to private school.Half of those scholarships would go to economically disadvantaged students, disabled students, or those eligible for the existing ESA pilot program.  The remaining 10 thousand scholarships would go to any Tennessee student.A one-pager of the program obtained by the Tennessee Firefly prior to the announcement referenced the scholarships would provide families with $7,075 to cover private school tuition, fees, uniforms, textbooks, computers, and transportation.“We need to make sure that every child finds the right educational opportunity that fits their individual needs,” said Governor Lee. “Parents know best what’s best for their child as it relates to education.”The Education Freedom Scholarship Act will need to be approved by the Tennessee General Assembly next year and Governor Lee wants to expand it further in the coming years to allow universal eligibility for all students entitled to attend a public school, with a priority for those students who have an economic need.Currently nine states offer universal school choice, including Arkansas. That state’s governor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders joined Governor Lee at the announcement ceremony, calling the effort a “conservative revolution.”“This couldn’t come soon enough. It’s not a secret that America’s students are struggling. COVID lockdowns erased years of progress in math and reading,” said Sanders. “Some schools now see more interest in teaching the newest political fad than basic writing and arithmetic.”Democratic lawmakers blasted the Governor’s proposal at a press conference hours before his own, pointing out the cost of private school tuition would still be unaffordable to many poor families even with the scholarship.Senator London Lamar, D-Memphis, said the proposal would further separate poor families from rich families.“Vouchers are a scam.  They steal public tax dollars from our neighborhood schools and give them to wealthy families’ credit coupon system for their private school tuition. What we’ve seen is an opportunity to separate rich families from poor families,” said Lamar.Democratic leaders also questioned the quality of education taxpayer dollars would be paying for.  Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis, raised doubt that private schools would be required to follow the same requirements that traditional public and charter schools have.“Schools will not have to adhere to those standards. They will not have to have the same types of licensing and curriculum and accountability,” said Raumesh. “If this was just a private school, ok.  If you as a parent choose to send your child there with your own money and you want them to get education that’s inferior to a traditional public school by all means.”Students taking part in the ESA are required to be assessed annually in Math and English Language Arts through the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP). Governor Lee said decisions still need to be made by the legislature whether private schools participating in the proposed Education Freedom Scholarship program would also have to participate in state assessments along with the upcoming School Letter Grades.Governor Lee says the important accountability number is that 91 percent of the 2500 families taking part in the ESA program say they’re satisfied with it, including Munson.“I’m a single parent, so the ESA program helped me to be able to make this possible. My children mean the world to me, so of course I want to make the best decision for them.” said Munson. “This is about a choice.”