You can add Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to the growing list of Tennessee lawmakers who support President-elect Donald Trump’s controversial proposal to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. Lee posted a video on social media Wednesday to proclaim his support for the idea, even though the federal department is directly responsible for funneling more than $800 million to Tennessee.

There have been some mixed reactions to Tennessee lawmakers’ efforts to reintroduce school choice legislation for vouchers that allow public tax dollars to be used for private school enrollment.

Testing didn’t receive a lot of headlines during the debate earlier this year over Governor Bill Lee’s plan to let families use taxpayer dollars to send their children to private school, but it played an important role in why the legislation failed. Members of the State House and Senate advanced different versions of the Governor’s Education Freedom Scholarship, sometimes called vouchers, and couldn’t come to a compromise on those differences. One of the biggest involved a provision in the House version of the legislation that would reduce the number of tests students in public school are required to take.

The Governor’s new voucher plan unveiled Wednesday 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.

When Tennessee Governor Bill Lee unveiled the details of the $100 million Helene Emergency Assistance Loans (HEAL) Program in a press conference Thursday afternoon, a reporter asked whether he might be willing to dip into the unused funding for his vouchers program. The Governor did not seem interested despite $144 million in voucher funding sitting unused.

Despite being called a "RINO" by former President Donald Trump, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has reaffirmed his support for Trump and his 2024 presidential campaign.

Tom Stinnett

Rep. Scott Cepicky calls Governor Lee’s voucher bill “terrible” despite receiving his endorsement in next month’s primary.

Tuesday Governor Bill Lee took his ongoing push for universal school choice to the biggest stage yet.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee made the case Monday for his plan to let parents use taxpayer dollars to send their kids to private school to a group of business leaders who aren’t necessarily supportive.

The Tennessee Department of Education has appointed Jonathan Criswell as Chief Program Officer, where he will lead school improvement efforts and key programming initiatives across the state.

East Tennessee House candidate Jason Emert has a very personal reason for supporting Governor Bill Lee’s universal school choice plan to let families use public dollars to send their children to private school.

Few issues have united Tennessee Democrats more this year their opposition to Governor Bill Lee’s plan to let families across the state use taxpayer dollars to send their children to private school. That opposition now has company in East Tennessee from across the aisle.

While Gov. Bill Lee’s universal school voucher proposal is clearly a key issue this election year, there is less agreement on where Tennessee voters stand on the contentious education policy, incentivizing many state legislative candidates to avoid discussing the matter.

Governor Bill Lee is stepping into a House primary race to help ensure the seat remains supportive of his school choice proposals.On Thursday Lee announced the endorsement of Clarksville-Montgomery County School Board member Aron Maberry in the House District 68 Republican Primary.

In April Tennessee Governor Bill Lee promised to bring his plan to let parents use taxpayer dollars to send their children to private school back next year, and this week he’s taking a new step to help it pass.The governor announced his endorsement of Blount County attorney Jason Emert in the House District 20 race.  Emert is facing county commissioners Tom Stinnett and Nick Bright in the August Republican primary.

Tennessee has begun its process of accepting applications for $194 million in school safety grants after Gov. Bill Lee signed a $230 million school security bill in early May.The largest portion of the grants are $140 million toward full-time school resource officers at Tennessee schools. The grants will pay up to $75,000 a year for an officer. Local law enforcement agencies are asked to apply for the grants, which will be reviewed by the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security on a rolling basis.

This month school districts across the state are continuing a learning strategy that saw success during the pandemic.Summer learning camps played a valuable role in 2021 and in 2022 helping Tennessee students regain ground they lost during virtual learning. Education leaders considered the camps such a success, the Tennessee General Assembly made them permanent with legislation this year.

The Tennessee Education Association (TEA) filed a legal challenge this week that could delay recently passed teacher raises.The TEA’s lawsuit challenges a provision of the “Teacher Paycheck Protection Act” Governor Lee signed last month.  The legislation is set to raise the minimum teacher salary to $42,000 in July, but the TEA is objecting to a section that also prevents unions like it from deducting dues from teacher paychecks.