Legislation to expand school choice, free meal programs, and pedestrian-friendly schools are among the first filed

A photo of the State Capitol in Nashville.

We’re still more than a month away from Tennessee lawmakers returning to Nashville for the 114th General Assembly, but already multiple bills have been filed to tackle longstanding education challenges and key priorities for members of both parties.

By far the most talked about for next year is Governor Bill Lee’s Education Freedom Act of 2025, which aims to expand school choice statewide. The legislation would fund 20,000 scholarships for Tennessee students to use taxpayer dollars to attend private school beginning in the 2025-26 school year. The legislation will also devote half of those scholarships to students from families who meet income requirements and other special student populations. The plan, sometimes referred to as school vouchers, deviates from similar proposals that failed last year, in that it includes no reduction in testing and additionally requires participants in grades 3 through 11 to either take a nationally standardized achievement test or the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP).

Universal school choice has long been a priority for Governor Lee. The legislation is expected to be among the first issues the General Assembly tackles when it convenes January 14. 

“As we continue to invest in public education, nearly doubling the amount of state funding over the last decade, parents and families deserve the freedom to use their hard-earned tax dollars to provide the best opportunity for their children to achieve,” House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, said in a public statement about the new legislation.

Keeping students safe and fed

State Representative John Ray Clemmons (Photo by Tennessee General Assembly)

Democratic lawmakers have also filed multiple pieces of legislation to address their policy goals, including two bills sponsored by Representative John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville.

House Bill 16 would establish an account within the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) to create a grant program for districts to use to improve pedestrian safety. Clemmons told Nashville television station WKRN the program addresses an important need.

“Children are walking to and from school alone or in groups with friends and they’re having to walk on the side of the road or they’re having to walk in ditches,” Clemmons said. “And that’s just not safe.”

Clemmons also sponsored House Bill 12, which aims to provide free breakfast and lunch to students throughout the state. According to the bill, the state would reimburse districts for providing free meals to each student after all federal funding for meal programs has been used. The bill will go into effect next school year if passed.

Clemmons has proposed legislation to expand free meal programs at schools in the past, including House Bill 1844 this year. That bill failed due to lack of a second in the state’s K-12 Subcommittee. 

Banning cell phones in schools

As district cell phone bans gain traction at school systems across the state, lawmakers are seeking to institute statewide restrictions on how students can use devices in schools. 

Representative Scott Cepicky, R-Culleoka, introduced House Bill 13 to require districts to pass policies prohibiting the use of devices during instructional time. The legislation has already been met with the support of school leaders across the state, who consider excessive student cell phone use to be a distraction to learning and a catalyst for bullying. 

Hamblen County Schools Superintendent Arnie Bunch said recently that his district chose to restrict cell phone use among students due to concerns over cyberbullying and false threats.

“In basic terms, our driving force behind the policy change was our desire to create a safe learning environment that is conducive to educating our students,” he told Tennessee Firefly. “We were seeing too many nefarious acts that were hindering or impacting safety or were disruptive to the learning environment.  Bullying was just one of the items we were experiencing but not the sole driver.”

School funding formula changes 

Lawmakers will also consider changes to provide smaller school districts with more money under the state’s Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) funding formula.

Representative Michael Hale, R-DeKalb County, is proposing increasing the per-student bonus districts with enrollment between 1,000 and 1,999 students receive from 5 percent to 10 percent. 

The new bill would also add new weighted allocations for students residing in school districts with enrollment between 4,000 and 4,999 (1 percent), 3,000 and 3,999 (2 percent), 2,000 and 2,999 (3 percent), and 1,000 and 1,999 (4 percent) students, and changes the definition of a "small local education agency (LEA)" from "one thousand (1,000) or fewer students" to "fewer than one thousand (1,000) students".

It would additionally establish a direct allocation of $50 for each student in all districts to assist with maintenance and infrastructure.