SPECIAL LEGISLATIVE SESSION IN TENNESSEE MAY LINK FUNDING FOR HURRICANE DAMAGED SCHOOLS WITH VOUCHER PROGRAM

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Attempts to Link Funding for Tennessee Public Schools Affected by Hurricane
Helene with School Vouchers.

BY: Kevin Hendricks
On behalf of a fully funded public education for all. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has called for a special legislature session to be held on January 27 th in Nashville. 
The focus of this special session is to address funding for damaged public-
school facilities in the wake of Hurricane Helene, as well as to pass his proposed school
voucher program.
Proposed House Bill HB0001 and the synonymous Senate Bill SB0001 version are both dubbed
the ‘Education Freedom Act of 2025’. The Bills propose to link funding for repairing school
facilities damaged by Hurricane Helene with providing school scholarships otherwise more
commonly called vouchers. Additionally, the combined Bills, if passed, would provide an
inducement in the form of one-time $2,000 bonuses for all public kindergarten through grade
twelve (K-12) teachers, to curry favor for the legislation. This one-time bonus comes with an
estimated price tag of $128 million.
The Bills propose in year one to fund 20,000 scholarships for Tennessee students to attend
private schools of their choosing. The scholarships would amount to $7,000 per student
equating to a $140 million price tag in year one alone. Alternatively, this $140 million price tag
could pay for 2600 teacher salaries per year, according to Brenna Sommers with the Tennessee
based Education Trust. In each subsequent year, the legislation would add an additional 5,000
scholarships at a further cost of $35 million per year. In other words, 25,000 scholarships in year
2 at a total cost of $175 million. The Act would provide, for example, 70,000 scholarships in year
2035 at a projected cost of $490 million.
The majority of private K-12 schools in Tennessee are located in the Memphis and Nashville
areas with few options in more rural parts of the state which tend to have lower per capita
incomes. Tennessee has approximately 1.06 million K-12 students enrolled in schools. In year
one, the scholarships would be available to less than 2% of all students in Tennessee.
The current cost to educate a student in Tennessee is estimated at $12,000.00 per academic
year. This investment comes from a mix of Local, State and Federal tax monies. Roughly 10.2%
of the costs are provided by Federal tax funds which equate to approximately $1,224 per
student on average in the State. Federal assistance in aggregate was estimated to be $1.14
billion USD in 2022 for Tennessee as a whole. Governor Lee and other elected state officials
have committed to no public school district losing dollars if a student leaves a public school and
uses a scholarship to attend a private school. While the Governor and elected officials can
control State funds, and to some degree influence Local taxes, they have no control of Federal
support for schools. In reality, schools could lose over $24 million in Federal support, as Federal
monies are typically allocated on a per student basis, i.e. fewer students equal less funding. If
the local schools will truly lose no funds, then the State and Local governments would need to
cover this probable large loss of Federal money, possibly through increases in taxes. In current
dollars, each incremental increase of 5,000 vouchers would result in an additional decrease of
$6.1 million in Federal school funding. To keep Local districts at current funding levels would
require additional Local and State tax revenues. The estimated initial base 2-year cost of the
scholarship program, including loss of Federal funding, is in excess of $498 million (see Figure
1 below). This estimated cost does not include Local government costs expected to climb by
maintaining revenues to public schools in the face of shrinking student counts.
Similar to the proposed school voucher program, Tennessee already offers an Education
Savings Account (ESA) program available in Davidson, Hamilton and Shelby Counties. This
pilot program was passed by the Tennessee Legislature in 2019 and has to date produced
dubious results and should be studied as a harbinger for Gov. Lee’s expanded scholarship
program initiative. Comparing standardized test results for students utilizing ESA accounts to
attend private schools with students in public schools offers some eye-opening results.
In 2024, here is how the student groups compared:
 Statewide math: 36.7% proficient
 ESA math: 17.6% proficient
 Statewide English language arts : 39% proficient
 ESA English language arts: 27.2% proficient
These test result comparisons hardly make a compelling case to support the idea that private
schools are providing a superior educational experience compared to public schools. An
unanswered question is why are such a low number of Tennessee students proficient in English
and Math? State officials would best serve the citizens, and most importantly students, by
working towards improving our public schools rather than provide an expensive pathway for a
few students to enter private schools.
Funding for repairing school facilities would be covered in the bill by modifying current
Tennessee Code 4-49-104, otherwise known as the Tennessee Sports Gaming Law. This law
presently states 80% of taxes collected under this provision must be directed to education. The
Education Freedom Act of 2025 would amend 4-49-104 to stipulate this 80% be further
restricted to be used only for funding the construction and maintenance of public-school
buildings. The taxes collected could no longer be directed into areas such as teacher salaries or
educational initiatives including scholarships. It is a troubling facet to so restrict this important
revenue source, initially earmarked for education as a whole, and change its function to
construction and maintenance of buildings only. The Education Freedom Act of 2025 explicitly
highlights prioritization of these funds to be used for public school buildings damaged by an
emergency or natural disaster such as Hurricane Helene.
Public Schools damaged by Hurricane Helene unquestionably need State funds to repair
damage. Many schools across the state are in need of infrastructure upgrades. Proficiency
outcomes also need improvement. Will facility upgrades necessarily produce better student
outcomes?
The Education Freedom Act of 2025 would have questionable Constitutional status if passed as
currently written. The State Constitution, Article II, Section 17 fully states, “No bill shall become
law which embraces more than one subject, that subject to be expressed in the title. All acts
which repeal, revive, or amend former laws, shall recite in their caption, or otherwise, the title or
substance of the law repealed, revived, or amended.” As written, the Act would amend
Tennessee Code 4-49-104 and does not mention this with the title of the Act (The Education
Freedom Act of 2025). Amending 4-49-104 is the funding mechanism for school infrastructure,
without this amendment there is no funding for schools. Given the Act fails to meet the
requirements outlined in Section 17, it would fail to qualify under the State Constitution as
currently constructed.
The Education Freedom Act of 2025 clearly attempts to link two unrelated goals into one piece
of legislation; the first goal being money for public school buildings and specifically the need for
this money to repair, maintain and build public schools affected by natural disasters such as
Hurricane Helene and the second being money for scholarships, which in the first two years
alone has an estimated price tag of over $498 million. Again, Section 17 of the Tennessee State
Constitution highlights that this legislation may not pass legal muster as it is currently written.
Many taxpayers would likely agree Tennessee must address repairing and replacing facilities
damaged by natural disasters such as Hurricane Helene. However, it is questionable if
Tennessee can afford to spend $498 million over two years, and even more in subsequent
years, to provide a dubious benefit to a small minority of students with scholarships. Given
current economic constraints and priorities faced by Tennessee and its citizens, it would seem
difficult to justify an expenditure of this magnitude.
Bi-partisan opposition has quickly developed to the Educational Freedom Act of 2025.
NewsChannel 5 in Nashville reported on comments from Tennessee House Democratic Caucus
Chair John Ray Clemons, D-Nashville in which he shared, “It is inappropriate and highly
offensive for Gov. Bill Lee to pair his voucher scam with much-needed relief for Northeast
Tennessee families. It gives one the impression that he is attempting to use an unspeakable
tragedy as a public relations stunt and political leverage with several members of our body who
have opposed vouchers in the past. We could have and should have had a special session
months ago to accomplish everything we need to do for these devasted communities, but Gov.
Lee clearly and purposely waited almost four months until he thought he had enough votes to
pass his voucher scam.” State Representative John Holsclaw R-Elizabethton located in
Northeast Tennessee remarked to WJHL television, “If a student is in a good school system and
the student is doing well, we’ve got to ask, Why would they want a voucher? There may be
something underlying that’s a deeper problem there. In East Tennessee, we rely heavily on our
public schools to provide the much-needed education for our children, so we must strongly
oppose the legislation from the Governor.” These are but a few public comments made
opposing the Act by members of both political parties within the State.
Echoing the disagreement from state elected officials is a recent non-scientific survey
conducted by The Tennessean newspaper which, as of January 14, 2025, has drawn more than
4,000 votes statewide. The Survey asked the following questions with the results to date:
 Do you support Tennessee’s school voucher program? 95% No
 Do you support expanding the Education Freedom Act from 3 to all 95
Counties? 91% No
 Do you think school vouchers are a threat to traditional public
Schools? 94% Yes
 Are you satisfied with the public schools in your community? 74% Yes
There certainly exists a percentage of elected officials, as well as Tennessee citizens, united in
opposition to the passage of The Educational Freedom Act of 2025 within the State.
The issues addressed by The Educational Freedom Act of 2025 should be considered on their
individual merits. The correct course of action is for the Act to be abandoned in its current form
and replaced by 2 separate and distinct initiatives. There should be one bill for school
scholarships and a second bill to address the need for public school infrastructure and
specifically for the repair and replacement of school buildings damaged or destroyed due to
emergencies and natural disasters such as experienced with Hurricane Helene.
It is likely a bill for helping communities rebuild schools affected by Hurricane Helene would
pass with strong bipartisan support. Holding such legislation captive to supporting private school
scholarships appears to be simply an act of intimidation by supporters of The Educational
Freedom Act of 2025 and is untenable. A viable scholarship bill should not need to offer a one-
time bonus of $2,000 to every educator in the State, for a total cost of $128 Million, as an
incentive to garner passage. Tennessee citizens deserve better and should demand an
improved path forward for both issues from those elected to represent them in Nashville. The
special session is on January 27 th which leaves only a few days for citizens to contact their
representatives. To contact your local representative or senator you may call (800)449-8366 or
go to www.capitol.tn.gov.

Figure 1:
Tennessee Education Freedom Act of 2025
Projected Cost for First 2 Years
64,000 Public School Teachers in Tennessee
20,000 Vouchers Year One
25,000 Vouchers Year Two
Scholarship Value, $7,000 per Student per Academic Year
Federal Per Student Funding in Tennessee, $1,224 per Academic Year
$2,000 Bonus @ 64,000 teachers $128.0 Million

$7,000 Scholarship Year One @20,000 $140.0 Million
$1,224 Loss of Federal Funds@20,000 $ 24.5 Million
$7,000 Scholarship Year Two @25,000 $175.0 Million
$1,224 Loss of Federal Funds@25,000 $ 30.6 Million
Total $498.1 Million