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.

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.

It’s not often that statehouse elections in rural Texas steer the national conversation about school choice. But things might change later this month.On May 28, voters will choose Republican candidates in 13 of the state’s 150 House districts. Four are currently held by representatives targeted by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott for persistently stymying his attempts to create a statewide system of education savings accounts (ESAs).

Knox County School Board members are split over Governor Bill Lee’s proposal to let families across the state use taxpayer dollars to attend private school.Governor Lee unveiled the Education Freedom Scholarship Act earlier this year to expand upon the framework of the existing Education Savings Account (ESA) pilot program and offer families a $7,075 scholarship to cover private school tuition and other fees such as uniforms and textbooks.

Arieale Munson says the private school her 12-year-old son Steven attends in Memphis is putting him on the path to his dream of becoming a paleontologist.St. George’s Independent School provides Steven with an outdoor club where he looks for fossils and archives. Munson says the school also provides her son with access to extra-curricular activities like Lacrosse, tennis, and swimming.

Nashville and Shelby County governments have pulled out of their more than 3-year-old legal dispute with the state over a 2019 private school voucher law.The paperwork to withdraw their latest appeal was filed quietly on Aug. 25 with the Tennessee Court of Appeals, according to court documents.

After failing to reach contract terms with its first choice to run its growing private school voucher program, Tennessee has turned to a young Indiana company with a small staff, modest cash flow, and no state-level experience managing education savings accounts.

Governor Bill Lee announced Friday that he’s signed legislation to expand the Education Savings Account to Hamilton County.

House members voted 57 to 35 Wednesday to expand Tennessee’s Education Savings Account Program (ESA) following a strong pushback by Democratic members.The Tennessee General Assembly passed the Education Saving Account program in 2019 to allow lower income families in Davidson and Shelby County to use state and local dollars to help cover private school expenses. Legal challenges delayed the ESA from launching until last year.

Tennessee’s private school voucher program, currently limited to eligible students attending public schools in Memphis and Nashville, would expand to all four of the state’s urban districts under new legislation.A bill to extend the program to Chattanooga-based Hamilton County Schools passed last week in the Senate. And under a new GOP measure filed recently in the House and facing its first vote next week, the bill could be amended to include Knox County Schools, too.

Tennessee lawmakers advanced a bill to expand the state’s ESA program to Hamilton County, allowing more students to use funds for private education.

Lee stated he will propose an additional investment of $350 million into TISA which would include $125 million for teacher pay raises.

State Senator Dawn White was always going to make an impact on education. The Murfreesboro legislator says even as a young child growing up in Eagleville Tennessee, she was attracted to teaching. “I mean my mother will tell you the stories of when my sister and I would play when we were little kids, I would always be the teacher so it’s just something that I always had a passion for and a heart for,” said Sen. White. 

Plaintiffs behind two lawsuits challenging Tennessee’s private school voucher law plan to appeal a judicial panel’s dismissal of their remaining legal claims.Metropolitan Nashville and Shelby County governments, which jointly challenged the 2019 law that applies only to their counties, notified the Tennessee Court of Appeals late last month that they will appeal the latest ruling. Attorneys representing parents and taxpayers in a second lawsuit submitted a separate notice of appeal.