By Tabitha Evans Moore, EDITOR & PUBLISHER

Is it a well-meaning way to add “parent choice” to K-12 education or a money grab to subsidize private schools for rich families using taxpayer dollars intended for public school? That’s the “both sides” debate of educational vouchers – one that is heating back up as two state legislators filed identical school vouchers bills last week.

House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland) and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) filed the newly rebranded Education Freedom Act of 2025 in both chambers at 8 a.m. the morning after the election.

The newest iteration contains many of the same core elements of the unsuccessful proposals that failed in the Tennessee Legislature last year. Those bills failed due to bickering among House and Senate leaders in addition to significant push back from public school stakeholders across the state including the local school system. Previously, dozens of rural schools sent resolutions to the state legislature opposing vouchers, including Moore County.

That bill died this April.

New bill shifts over $141 million to private schools

The newest bill proposes to offer publicly funded vouchers for 20,000 Tennessee students to attend non-public schools in Tennessee. According to the proposal, each of those 20,000 students would receive a $7,075 voucher resulting in $141,500,000 being shifted from public education to private coffers.

According to the State Department of Education website non-public schools include private, church-related, and independent home schools. However, according to the bill, only accredited private schools would qualify. Students attending independent home schools and umbrella church-related home schools would not be eligible to participate. 

In a move likely intended to soothe rural educators, the proposal offers a one-time $2,000 bonus to every teacher in the state. It also establishes a new state funding source for school building construction and maintenance – allocating 80 percent of sports wagering privilege taxes collected for construction and maintenance of public-school buildings. If approved, this funding would take effect in the 2025-26 fiscal year.

The bill states that state funding for each school district will not decrease from the previous school year based on disenrollment of students from the public school system into private schools. With few private schools in rural areas, the voucher system could disproportionately affect rural school systems like Metro Moore County.

Under the proposal, 10,000 vouchers, or scholarships, would be reserved for families with incomes below 300 percent of the income limit to qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, or children with disabilities. The remaining 10,000 slots would have no income limit, meaning that over $70 million in state funding supplied by taxpayers would go to families who don’t necessarily need it.

In Florida, where a universal school voucher program went into effect in July 2023, 69 percent of students receiving vouchers were already enrolled in private schools with just 13 percent going to students moving from public to private and the rest entering kindergarten, according to Central Florida Public Media.

Potential trickle down to Moore County schools

Forty cents of every dollar paid by Moore County property taxpayers goes to local schools. Additionally, Moore County does not currently have any accredited private schools inside its borders. With $144 million potentially shifting from the public to the private school sector in Tennessee, how could this potentially affect local taxpayers?

The Tennessee Organization of School Superintendent (TOSS) recently elected Metro Moore County’s Director of Schools Chad Moorehead as their new president. As such, he’s tasked with not only communicating with state legislators about how proposed legislation might impact our school district but also to communicate the position of state educators to state elected officials. We asked him some questions about any trickle down to the local school system, intended or unintended, of the revived school vouchers plan.

When we asked about any potential effects of the new voucher plan, Director Moorehead stated unequivocally the proposed Education Freedom Act of 2025 would shift public tax dollars to private schools.

“Those are state tax dollars that could go to public schools to improve our efficiency in student achievement, or to other departments that could benefit from additional funding (roads, healthcare, etc.),” he told The Times.

He also stated that with ever-rising costs of everything from insurance premiums to copy paper combined with unfunded mandates from the state, that receiving the same state funding from the previous year would essentially act as a budget cut for local schools.  

“Receiving the same funding as the previous year is a cut when the state requires increased expenditures,” Director Moorehead told us. “The devil is in the details, and the law will be interpreted by the state board and the department of education, which could be detrimental to local districts.”

One of those unfunded mandates will be hitting local budgets next year as the Lee administration proposes to raise teachers’ pay across the state. Currently, teachers start at $44,500 per year. That minimum will rise to $50,000 per year in FY 2027. The majority of those raises will come from local taxes with only a small portion being provided by the state.

Director Moorehead also pointed out that the proposed $2,000 teacher bonus could create another funding pinch for local schools.

“Teachers, as defined by state law, would receive a bonus,” he told The Times. “None of the other school employees would, including employees that are required to be licensed educators, but are not providing direct services to students. Local funding would be required to provide the same bonus to the other employees that provide essential services for students.”

Voucher students not held to the same standards

Under the new proposal, a standardized achievement test would be required each year for students participating in third through eleventh grade. One item of note is that students with special learning needs would not be guaranteed individualized education plans under the program.

When we asked Director Moorehead if private schools supported by the proposed voucher system will be held to the same standards as public schools, he answered with an emphatic, “no.”

“The bill requires a test to be administered to recipients, but it does not include the transparency and reporting required of public schools.  The bill clearly states that the private schools that enroll recipients maintain autonomy from the state,” he stated. “None of the laws, rules and regulations, and policies that public schools must follow apply to the private schools.  For example, private schools can hire anyone that they deem appropriate as a classroom teacher, have no minimum salary schedule for employees, no class size limits, etc.  There will also be no tangible method of determining if the funds improve student outcomes.”

New voucher program would begin immediately

If approved, the new voucher program would take effect immediately and would make use of the $144 million voucher program line item already in the state budget

If at least 75 percent of the total 20,000 available scholarships are claimed in year one, the state would make 5,000 scholarships available each additional year to grow the program.

Proponents of the voucher plan say it will empower parents to make the best individual choice for their child’s education and spark competition between school models to prompt improved outcomes.

Opponents, including the current Tennessee Education Association President Tanya T. Coats say the vouchers program will result in shuttered public schools across the state. Opponents also offered failed voucher programs in six states – Georgia, Texas, Idaho, Virginia, Kentucky, and South Dakota – as evidence that the voucher system is not the right plan for Tennessee.

House Minority Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, told The Tennessean that the new bill the “same scam, different language.” 

To voice your support or concerns about the new proposed Tennessee voucher system, reach out to Moore County’s State Senator Shane Reeves at 615-741-1066 or Moore County’s State Representative Pat Marsh at 615-741-6824.•

{The Lynchburg Times is a locally-owned and locally-operated community newspaper in Lynchburg, Tennessee and one of the few women-owned newspaper in the state. It’s owned a Tulane University-educated journalist with over 20 years of experience. If it happens in Lynchburg, you’ll read it here first. Click here to support us.}