Tennessee State Capitol
With legislation to phase out the state income tax or begin the process, many lawmakers and governors across the country have moved in Tennessee’s direction on fiscal policy. While Tennessee is held up in many state capitals across the U.S. as a model for sound tax policy, Volunteer State lawmakers recognize there is still much they can learn from other states to make Tennessee an even more attractive place to live. to work and invest.
Gov. Bill Lee (R-Tenn.) announced this week, for example, that he wants to make Tennessee the tenth state in the nation to offer a universal school choice program. In an afternoon press conference on November 28, Governor Lee was revealed his proposal to enact universal school choice legislation in 2024;
“A high-quality education has the power to change the trajectory of a child’s life, and there’s no doubt that now is the time to make school choice a reality for every Tennessee family,” Governor Bill Lee he said at the press conference. “The Tennessee Freedom in Education Scholarships will empower parents to choose the right education for their child while also giving them a say in how their taxpayer dollars are invested.
Tennessee’s Education Savings Account (ESA) program is currently only accessible to students in Davidson, Shelby and Hamilton counties. Under Governor Lee’s proposal, ESAs worth $7,075 would go to 20,000 students for the 2024-2025 school year. ESAs will then become universally available to Tennessee families beginning in the 2025-26 school year.
“There’s an absolute conservative education revolution happening in our country, and I wanted to be a part of it here in Tennessee, as well as in my home state,” said Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R), who joined Gov. Lee at his press conference. in nashville. Governor Sanders established a global ESA program in Arkansas earlier this year.
“We are now competing to be the best state in the nation for educational freedom,” Governor Sanders said during Governor Lee’s press conference, adding that “this is a rivalry that will benefit everyone in both of our states.”
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) ushered in another year of school choice in 2023 when she signed legislation in January to create a universal education savings account program. Nearly 11 months from 2023, universal school choice has been enacted in nine states, while more limited forms of school choice have been enacted in more than 20 states.
To the east of Tennessee, the new state budget recently enacted with bipartisan support made neighboring North Carolina the latest state where lawmakers approved a universal school choice program. This new budget, which Gov. Roy Cooper (DN.C.) let become law in September without his signature, removes the income limit for the North Carolina Opportunity Scholarship Program, a nearly decade-old program that provides education vouchers that used by thousands of families for private school tuition and other education-related expenses. North Carolina’s universal education voucher program will be means-tested, with the value of the voucher decreasing as household income increases.
The expansion of school choice in recent years has been unprecedented, but school choice legislation continues to prove difficult, even in red states. Gov. Reynolds supported the first challengers of nearly half a dozen Iowa Republican lawmakers in 2022 so her universal ESA proposal could go into effect in 2023. Most recently, the Texas House of Representatives once again voted down legislation to school choice the week before Thanksgiving.
It looks like school choice won’t pass in Austin until the makeup of the Texas House of Representatives changes. Many believe Gov. Greg Abbott (R-Texas) should take the same approach as Reynolds in Iowa in order to pass school choice in Texas, working to defeat school choice’s GOP opponents in next March’s primaries . On the same day Governor Lee held his press conference in Nashville, Governor Abbott was announced his endorsement as a primary challenger to Rep. Hugh Shine (R), an incumbent Texas House member who has repeatedly voted against school choice and is seeking re-election in 2024;
Governor Lee’s proposal to make Tennessee the next state to offer universal school choice is already facing vocal resistance. “The Tennessee Education Association has pledged to strongly oppose any attempt to expand the ESA program, denouncing the expansion as “irresponsible and reckless‘,” The of Tennessee mentionted. “Meanwhile, Democrats are already voicing their fierce opposition to any expansion, accusing the Lee administration of devaluing public education.”
Despite strong opposition from teacher unions and supportive lawmakers, polls continue to show broad and bipartisan support for expanding school choice. Not only that, but members of the Tennessee General Assembly have already watched former colleagues who voted against ESAs get defeated by primary challengers who ran in favor of school choice.
“Parents everywhere deserve real educational freedom, and Tennesseans across the political spectrum agree.” he said Justin Owen, president and CEO of the Beacon Center, a Tennessee-based think tank. “Our recent poll shows that nearly 70% of Tennessee voters support expanding the ESA program statewide, including a strong majority of Republicans, Democrats and Independents, while only 17% oppose.”
Governors and lawmakers have long worked to make their states more attractive to new residents by lowering tax burdens and regulating in a less intrusive and costly way. But Gov. Lee’s new proposal is the latest sign that state officials are now looking at expanded or universal school choice as a way to make their state more attractive to new residents and investment.
