Governor Lee plans to bring his "voucher" plan back next year. Two polls show Tennessee remains divided.

Governor Lee (center) announcing his Education Freedom Scholarship plan last year (Photo by Sky Arnold)

Two polls released this month found Tennesseans remain sharply divided on Governor Bill Lee's plan to let parents use taxpayer dollars to send their children to private school.

The governor pulled the plug on his Education Freedom Scholarship plan last month after lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on it.  Lee issued a statement vowing to bring the proposal back next year.

"I am extremely disappointed for the families who will have to wait yet another year for the freedom to choose the right education for their child, especially when there is broad agreement that now is the time to bring universal school choice to Tennessee," said Governor Lee.

While school choice in general scored strongly in a recent poll by Tennesseans for Student Success, that poll and a new one from Vanderbilt University show the governor still has work to do to increase support for the Education Freedom Scholarships.

The Vanderbilt poll of 1,003 registered Tennessee voters found 45 percent were in favor of the proposal, sometimes called "school vouchers," and 46 percent opposed them, with 9 percent saying they neither support nor oppose them. That poll also found if school vouchers became available, 49 percent of respondents would be very or somewhat likely to use them while 50 percent would not. The poll found Republicans who support former President Trump (71 percent) are, by a wide margin, the group most likely to use vouchers, while only 26 percent of Democrats would take advantage of the option.

“These results show that vouchers remain a controversial issue,” said John Geer, co-director of the Vanderbilt Poll, senior advisor to Chancellor Daniel Diermeier, professor of political science and holder of a Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Chair. “It is a complex and complicated topic,” he added, “that makes the issue difficult to measure in a poll.”

The poll by Tennesseans for Student Success (TSS) reached 4,000 registered voters across the state. It found slightly more support for the governor's plan than Vanderbilt's poll, but still plenty of opposition.

Just over 50 percent of voters polled by TSS support the governor's universal school choice program compared to more than 42 percent who oppose it. The largest group of respondents (31.5 percent) strongly oppose the plan.

Of those polled, 8 percent said they weren't sure if they support universal school choice.

The Tennessee Firefly is a product of and supported by Tennesseans for Student Success.