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.

The State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) has released a pair of memos highlighting how annual teacher evaluations and assessments have worked together to significantly impact student success in Tennessee.

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.

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.

Ray Jeter says the construction company he manages in Maury County operates with one key motto for its staff. Build people, move dirt.Jeter says he’d apply a similar approach to building up Tennessee’s education system if elected to House District 64 this year.

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.

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

Members of the Tennessee General Assembly adjourned the legislative session Thursday following more than three months of sometimes contentious and challenging educational debate.Headlining the list of challenges was Governor Bill Lee’s Education Freedom Scholarship Act that failed to reach either the House or Senate Floor.

Governor Bill Lee conceded that there’s no pathway for his signature education bill to pass this session and vowed to bring back the Education Freedom Scholarship plan next year.On social media Monday morning the Governor expressed his gratitude to supporters of the plan to allow parents to utilize taxpayer dollars to send their children to private school and his disappointment in pulling the plug on it.

Governor Lee’s signature education proposal this year appears to be on life support.Tuesday afternoon both the Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee and the House Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee passed the state’s budget without taking up legislation to create the Education Freedom Scholarship plan. It would allow parents across the state to use public tax dollars to send their children to private school.

The House Government Operations Committee advanced Governor Bill Lee’s Education Freedom Scholarship Act Monday with a positive recommendation following a sometimes testy debate on accountability and costs.The legislation would expand on the concept of the existing Education Savings Account (ESA) pilot program in Davidson, Shelby, and Hamilton counties to allow families across the state to send their children to private school with taxpayer dollars.

Walter Blanks Jr. says his experience with public schools growing up in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio was hard.Blanks says he struggled to learn how to read and was bullied to the extent his mother feared for his safety.  That changed when his family took advantage of a school choice program that allowed Blanks to attend a private school.

Walter Blanks Jr. says his experience with public schools growing up in an economically disadvantaged neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio was hard.Blanks says he struggled to learn how to read and was bullied to the extent his mother feared for his safety.  That changed when his family took advantage of a school choice program that allowed Blanks to attend a private school.

When Governor Bill Lee announced his Education Freedom Scholarship Act last year, he made it a point to say the Tennessee General Assembly would work some out critical details like whether participating students will have to take state assessments.That decision has led to three different versions of the Governor’s basic proposal to let up to 20 thousand families use public dollars to attend private school. That question about state assessments is a key difference in each.

Three school voucher proposals now before Tennessee lawmakers would create a new statewide program that eventually could open eligibility to all K-12 students, regardless of family income.But the similarities end there.The latest version, filed Monday by House Majority Leader William Lamberth, of Portland, has no testing requirements for students who accept public funding to attend private schools. Gov. Bill Lee’s version doesn’t either, but Senate leaders say that approach is a non-starter.

When Governor Bill Lee unveiled his proposed program to offer taxpayer funded private-school scholarships Tuesday, Tennessee House Education Administration Chair Mark White, R-Memphis, was among the supporters who made the trip to Nashville to be in attendance.White says he plans to support the Education Freedom Scholarship Act as he believes competition will improve education in Tennessee.