For Sen. Bill Powers, R-Clarksville, high-quality public school choice options begin with a simple premise: a family’s finances should not affect their ability to find the right school for their children.¶
Powers is the third lawmaker to receive the Tennesseans for Student Success (TSS) Action Award. He discussed his education priorities in an interview with the Tennessee Firefly at his office in the Cordell Hull State Office Building in Downtown Nashville on Tuesday, saying high-quality public education should be accessible to everyone.¶
“Public Education is for Everybody”
Powers centered his comments around access. If a student is not thriving in one setting, families should have the means and opportunity to find other options.¶
“Public education is for everybody, and I think that everybody should benefit from it,” Powers said. “We do what we can to make sure that everybody has a high-quality education.”¶
He described constituent feedback as a key influence on his legislative work. He said his conversations with parents in his district help him determine which education issues remain important to him while in session.¶
“The feedback that I get from local parents in Clarksville, Montgomery County, is what pushes me,” Powers said. “It's the stuff that makes me who I am today.”¶
Today’s students need a variety of skills to succeed in an ever-changing workforce, and the variety and value of their education are more important now than ever. According to the Tennessee Department of Education’s (TDOE) 2026 Charter Schools Program Report, 72 percent of charter schools earned a TVAAS level of 3 or higher, which means their students demonstrated expected or greater-than-expected academic growth.¶
“You have people that are not able to get out of an environment where they don't thrive (and) where they don't prosper, and giving them (the chance) to get out of that environment and hopefully do well in life, it's just important to me,” Powers said.¶
Powers is also active in education policy outside of regular legislative sessions and is the vice chair of the Senate Education Committee. He said that the measure of education policy is ultimately whether it improves opportunities for students and families across the state.¶
“All legislation really is important to somebody,” Powers said. “Just knowing that it’s doing good across the state for someone is gratifying.”¶
