NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Tennessee State Education Board members voted Thursday on how to roll out the voucher program, where students can receive public tax dollars to attend private schools.
Students for participating families will receive $7,295 to attend a school of their choice. The state is dubbing the program the EFS program, Education Freedom Scholarships, which was the name of the bill.
The document before the state school board was only 13 pages long, and it was approved on an emergency basis so the program can start as soon as possible. The state wants to open the application process this spring for it to be used next school year.
"First come, first serve is explicit in the law," said Sam Pearcy, Deputy Commissioner for the Tennessee Department of Education. "Within the 20,000 students, there's a differentiate in the universal concept. We want all families to access a scholarship and get it in on time, and turning around decisions as quickly as we can. This may well exceed 20,000 applications. We are doing internal staffing up and looking at bringing in temporary supports."
How this should work to get the tuition money
- To participate in the tuition money, families must show their students are enrolled in a private school before accessing the money. It doesn't cover room, board or meals that some private schools provide in their plans.
- For testing, the state Office of Research and Education Accountability will look at the test results from the students using the tuition money. The department will select a pool of students in third through eighth grade, which is the TCAP testing window grades.
- A waitlist number will be given to families so they understand where they fall if the number exceeds 20,000.
- For special needs kids, the scholarships don't increase for additional student needs. They are tied to that figure in the law. So more money is not available beyond the $7,295 for students with different needs.
Schools wanting to participate
Schools wanting to participate are primarily in Davidson, Montgomery, Robertson, Rutherford and Sumner Counties. Very few of the schools listed in the NewsChannel 5 viewing area that we cover — which is 45 counties — are in rural counties.
There are jut under 80 schools in our area.
Here is the working list so far from the state. You can look at the page for applying by tapping this link.
How vouchers work, per state law
Of those 20,000 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.
Per the fiscal note, the legislative analyst Alan Hampton anticipated that 65% of existing private school students would take advantage of the available money. He noted that he believed only 35% of public school students would transition out or 7,000 students.
The following year, the state said it would open up 25,000 available vouchers if the demand meets the anticipated number. The voucher amount would increase to $8,750, according to the fiscal note.
As outlined, if the number of vouchers exceeds what is available, the state will have to prioritize students. That would mean the vouchers would go to students enrolled the previous year, low-income students, public school students and then all other eligible students across the state.
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Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at emily.west@newschannel5.com.
Fundraising efforts are underway in Brownsville and Nutbush, TN to build a statue for a major superstar who was raised there, Anna Mae Bullock. You probably know her by her stage name, Tina Turner. I was a huge fan of Tina and glad to see efforts are underway to showcase more of her ties to West Tennessee.
-Lelan Statom
