A statewide scholarship program can continue after a panel dismissed a lawsuit challenging it under the state Constitution.¶
The three-judge Davidson County panel dismissed the entire case against Tennessee’s Education Freedom Scholarship Act. Chancellor John Rambo and Judge Joseph Howell joined the full majority ruling. At the same time, Chancellor Anne Martin agreed with most of the decision but disagreed with how the panel handled two parts of the case. Parents and taxpayers filed the lawsuit, arguing the program conflicts with Tennessee’s constitutional responsibility to provide public education.¶
Court Rejects Two Constitutional Arguments
One part of the lawsuit focused on Tennessee’s constitutional requirement to maintain a system of free public schools. The plaintiffs argued that requirement prevents the state from also directing education money toward private schools.¶
The panel disagreed. Its majority found that the Constitution requires lawmakers to support the public-school system but does not say that public schools are the only type of education the state may fund. In practical terms, the court found no constitutional language preventing the General Assembly from creating a separate private-school scholarship program.¶
The lawsuit also argued that spending state money on scholarships worsens existing public-school funding problems.¶
The panel judges recognized that Tennessee courts have previously found that the state Constitution requires more than just maintaining public schools on paper and that students have a right to an adequate public education, but the majority concluded that a lawsuit claiming Tennessee is not adequately funding public schools should challenge the law that actually funds those schools and not the Education Freedom Scholarship Act. This matters because the ruling does not say Tennessee’s current public school funding is adequate; it says that this scholarship law was not the proper target for that claim.¶
Martin disagreed with the majority on that part of the ruling. She also disagreed with its treatment of taxpayer standing but joined the conclusion that Tennessee’s Education Clause does not prohibit state funding for education outside the public-school system. The result was still dismissal of the entire lawsuit.¶
Scholarship Program Stays in Place
The Education Freedom Scholarship Act created Tennessee’s statewide scholarship program in 2025, allowing eligible families to use state money toward private-school tuition and other approved education expenses. Lawmakers expanded the program in 2026 by raising the number of available scholarships for the current school year.¶
The court filing states that more than 56,000 applications were submitted for 2026-2027, and all 35,000 available scholarships were awarded. The law also allows the program to continue growing in future years if demand remains high and lawmakers provide the funding.¶
The decision keeps that system intact, but plaintiffs raised concerns about differences between public and participating private schools regarding accountability, testing, and reporting. The judges found those differences to be not enough to support the constitutional claims in this case.¶
