As the Tennessee State Legislature is set to make decisions this week regarding Gov. Bill Lee’s Education Freedom Scholarship Act, the state’s top executive is confident that the act will pass.
“This is an issue that’s been important for me, really going back more than 15 years ago,” Lee said before relaying a story about a child in inner-city Nashville he mentored. “Working with him and his grandmother helped me realize that every child should have access to education in the best school that provides the best educational route for them.”
That story continued five years ago when he pushed for the Education Savings Account bill that was passed for Shelby and Davidson counties and added Hamilton County last year.
“It’s great that students in Memphis, Nashville and Chattanooga have this opportunity, but there are 92 other counties in this state with children and families that should have this opportunity as well,” Lee said during a one-on-one phone interview with The Post. “My proposal for this year’s bill came out earlier than I’ve ever put one out, and I wanted to do that so that all stakeholders – parents, educators, local leaders, everyone – could come to the table and give their thoughts on how to move on that premise that as many parents as possible should be able to have the option to choose the best education for their child and not be relegated to a geographic zone and only the choices that school offers.”
While the right for families to choose is the top priority for Lee behind this bill, his second priority is ensuring freedom for everyone involved.
“Families and schools alike have the option whether or not to participate in this program,” Lee said. “If a private institution doesn’t want to participate for whatever reason, they have that ability.”
As the bill stands now, families would receive $7,077 toward costs they would incur for sending their child to another school. That number is based on how much the state appropriates a school based on each student.
When asked about the financial logistics for families in Madison County wanting to send their child to one of the local private schools whose tuitions are more than $10,000, Lee said the bill is designed at this point to simply give more families more options.
Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news
