NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — After weeks of speculation, Gov. Bill Lee said he is finalizing a strategy for a potential special session to establish a voucher program to allow Tennessee students to use public tax dollars to attend their chosen private school along with help for East Tennessee after Hurricane Helene.
"Well, there’s nothing off the table," said Governor Lee during a media availability. "We haven’t determined if and when there will be a special session, but we are certainly considering that because of the importance of getting these done."
Lee said those specifications would become available soon for both issues. "I think both are important and primary issues for the general assembly to take up," Lee said. "We are considering that because of the importance of getting these done. They are important to Tennesseans. Helene relief is timely. If that scholarship act goes into effect, it needs to be implemented for this year in the beginning of the session."
The General Assembly rings in on Jan. 14. But a special session could happen right thereafter.
Educational school voucher program
House Majority Leader William Lamberth and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson introduced the legislation dubbed the Education Freedom Act of 2025. The 11-page bill has provisions for school choice and public schools all in one package after a highly contentious 2024 session led to no compromise on the initiative.
"My belief is parents should choose what's best for their children's education," Lee said. "I believe in promoting opportunity for parents to have choice. There are a couple of issues that need to be addressed. There's legislation that needs to be passed and determined and it needs to be done earlier than later. We know this education initiative. We need to do it soon. We are finalizing a strategy for when and what that looks like."
Though voucher legislation failed in 2024, $144 million remained in the state budget for vouchers even though it didn't go into effect.
Every year, state funding for schools is determined by enrollment. In this plan, lawmakers wrote funding wouldn't decrease if enrollment dipped for school districts if students and their families instead enrolled at a private school with a voucher.
The state is planning to offer 20,000 vouchers if the legislation is passed this year. Those vouchers are around $7,000 per student, per year.
An analysis of our NewsChannel 5 viewing area shows that 61,000 students attend private schools. The biggest concentration of those schools is in Davidson, Williamson, Sumner, Rutherford and Montgomery Counties. Of the 45 counties we cover, the majority of rural counties don't have private schools.
What's in the educational voucher bill
For the upcoming 2025-2026 school year, the bill said it wanted to offer 20,000 voucher scholarships. Of those scholarships, lawmakers want 10,000 to go to students whose family income doesn't exceed 300% of the amount required for free and reduced lunch. A family of four making less than $170,000 per year would qualify. The remaining 10,000 vouchers can go to any student regardless of income. "The taxpayer gets the opportunity to determine where their tax dollars are spent. This is not the government's money, it’s the taxpayers money," said Governor Lee.
A sticking point this past session was testing students who received public tax dollars to attend private schools. The new bill outlined students must take an accountability test from third grade until 11th grade. Those test results will go to the state.
"We need to make sure their is accountability, but parents have options, as well," Lee said.
In this package, lawmakers proposed a one-time $2,000 bonus for teachers. That money would come from state funds.
State money typically doesn't fund brick and mortar for school districts, but this bill would use tax money from sports betting to provide funding for distressed counties to improve their schools and East Tennessee schools affected by Hurricane Helene.
East Tennessee and Hurricane Helene
In October, the HEAL program provide impacted counties $65 million for debris removal and $35 million for clean water recovery efforts. The funds will be loaned to federally declared disaster counties with a zero percent interest rate.
Eventually, the federal government will reimburse Tennessee those funds, but Gov. Lee wanted to make sure especially impoverished counties had that money to spend.
Seventeen Tennesseans died as a result of the catastrophic storm.
To provide that money, the state used $100 million through TennCare funds. Tennessee is the only state in the nation that does a Medicare block grant with the federal government. Under the grant, money they don't spend on insurance for those in need can be spent on other health-related TennCare programs.
It's not clear from the governor's comments what East Tennessee counties need in terms of funding or relief that would be considered in a special session.
Democratic response
However, Democratic lawmakers said they are not in favor of a special session on what they call an "educational voucher scam session."
Further, Democrats said they were enraged that Gov. Lee would combine a special session with Hurricane Helene relief with educational vouchers.
“It is inappropriate and highly offensive for Gov. Bill Lee to pair his voucher scam with much-needed relief for northeast Tennessee families," House Democratic Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, said. "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 held a special session months ago to accomplish everything we need to do for these devastated communities, but Lee clearly and purposefully waited almost four months until he thought he had enough votes to pass his voucher scam."
Another new provision in the updated bill would prevent any school district's funding from dropping, ever, because a student disenrolled for private school. Rep. John Ray Clemmons, House Democratic Caucus Chair, says he doesn't buy it. "Are they trying to argue that the funding for that LEA is going to remain intact, in perpetuity, and not follow all those children into private schools, year after year? That just isn’t true," said Clemmons.
Democrats have fought against vouchers from the outset dating back to 2019 when House Speaker Glen Casada held the board for Lee's education savings account bill. Casada held the board open on the vote for 45 minutes to break a deadlock for the initiative.
Right now, Tennessee has those education savings accounts but those only serve students in Davidson, Hamilton and Shelby Counties.
"Gov. Lee’s push for private school vouchers is a direct affront to Tennessee families and taxpayers," Sen. Democratic Caucus Chair London Lamar, D-Memphis, said. The current voucher program in Tennessee is failing to deliver the promised benefits to students while siphoning essential funds from our public schools. At a time when our communities are still grappling with the aftermath of recent storms, the last thing Tennessee needs is a special session to advance a flawed voucher policy."
Do you have more information about this story? You can email us at emily.west@newschannel5.com or chris.davis@newschannel5.com.
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