Americans for Prosperity, school choice groups assemble army to push for voucher expansion

As lawmakers consider whether to expand Tennessee’s school voucher program statewide next year, a handful of groups are already assembling both to support and oppose the new legislative push.

Tennessee's Education Savings Account program provides almost $9,000 in state funds to qualifying low- and mid-income students in Davidson, Shelby, and Hamilton counties to attend accredited private and parochial schools of their choice. After surviving a three-year legal challenge, the program launched during the 2022-23 school year.

Last week, House Education Committee Chair Mark White, R-Germantown, told The Tennessean he plans to propose expanding the ESA program statewide next year.

Americans for Prosperity of Tennessee has already knocked on more than 186,000 doors to bolster support for expansion, AFP Tennessee State Director Tori Venable told The Tennessean, and plans to top 200,000 doors before the legislature returns in January.

“Every child, every parent, even teachers are going to have access to this,” Venable said. “We’ve been struggling in education, our literacy rates – everything is at the bottom of the pack. This is a real opportunity to introduce competition and innovation and let parents choose what’s best for their child.”

The group, which has the backing of the conservative network founded by the billionaire Koch brothers, has expanded its full-time staff and hired nearly 100 part-time workers – more than ever before. They’re ready to engage targeted mailers, billboards, and digital ads in the effort.

“Our organization is supporting us 100%,” Venable said. “We have all of the funds necessary to make a big difference in this policy fight.”

Other influential school choice groups are also preparing to join efforts to expand the program, including TennesseeCAN. Victor Evans, the organization's executive director, applauded White’s proposal to expand the program, pledging to “strongly support” the effort.

“TennesseeCAN has long supported efforts to open the door to more educational choices and opportunities for families and students across our state,” Evans said in a statement. “Where a child lives, or the kind of school they attend, should never determine whether a student has the resources and education they need to create a career and achieve their dreams.”

Shaka Mitchell, a senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, said that the group will also support expanding school choice options in Tennessee.

“While I can’t speak to Chairman White’s specific proposal, I can say that lawmakers across the country (e.g. Florida, Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina, Wisconsin) are expanding existing educational freedom programs to respond to overwhelming parent demand and out of a sense of fairness,” Mitchell said in an email to The Tennessean. “We, at AFC, are glad to see that the list includes Tennessee and will support parents and voters by pushing for more choices.”

A pro-school choice administration

Government-funded private school choice policies have been controversial in Tennessee throughout the last decade. Gov. Bill Lee's Education Savings Accounts Pilot program passed with bipartisan opposition in 2019 in a 51 to 46 vote — just one more vote than was required for passage. Several Republicans voting to support the bill did so after being promised their county would not be affected.

Lee has added a number of school choice advocates to his administration since the 2019 legislation, most notably, new Commissioner of Education Lizzette Reynolds.

Reynolds came to the Department of Education from Excel in Ed, a national advocacy group that supports private school choice programs, including scholarships, vouchers, and ESAs.

When asked if she supports expanding ESAs statewide shortly after joining the department in August, Reynolds emphasized that she plans to focus on implementation of existing programs, including the ESA pilot. Her policy team at Excel in Ed had advised Tennessee officials on several policies in the past.

“Excel in Ed has worked significantly with Tennessee as well, because there's a lot of overlap in the policy agenda,” Reynolds told The Tennessean in August, noting efforts on early literacy, accountability, and student-centered funding.

Lee's former legislative director Brent Easley joined his administration from TennesseeCAN. Easley has since left the administration.

Likewise, Lee appointed John DeBerry, a pastor and former state representative from Memphis, as a senior adviser and cabinet member after DeBerry was ousted from his own party for being the lone Democrat to vote in support of the ESA program in 2019.

Former House Speaker Pro Tem Bill Dunn, a Knoxville Republican who sponsored the 2019 legislation, later joined the Tennessee Department of Education as a senior adviser.

And there’s more coming at the department. According to a spokesperson, after a chief program officer is hired for the ESA program, the department will look to hire an assistant commissioner of school choice.

Teacher groups ready to fight back

The Tennessee Education Association will roundly oppose any effort to expand the ESA program, TEA President Tanya T. Coats said.

In a statement to The Tennessean, Coats called on lawmakers to "fulfil their constitutional obligation to provide a system of public education for our children.”

“Taking taxpayer dollars to fund private school tuition statewide would divert much-needed resources from our already underfunded public schools and threaten the strength of our Tennessee communities," Coats said. "It is irresponsible and reckless to push a statewide voucher program that would jeopardize the foundation our state’s success is built upon."

“When legislators forced the limited voucher bill through in 2019, false promises were made about it only being for Nashville and Memphis. Now here we are just a few short years later with legislators attempting to expand the unproven program statewide," Coats said. "What we do know from other states is that vouchers do not improve student outcomes, and they certainly do not empower parents. Private schools are free to turn away students they don’t want to educate, which are often students with disabilities and students of color.”

JC Bowman, CEO of Professional Educators of Tennessee, said lawmakers should prioritize expanding public school options, like open enrollment policies that allow students to transfer to any public school with available space, over expanding the ESA program.

"Governor Lee's current voucher program has several issues: lack of affordable private schools, transportation problems, and private school costs exceed voucher value," Bowman said in a statement to The Tennessean. "Eventually, there will be new regulations for taxpayer-funded private schools, which already underserve students with special needs. Further research is required to determine program effectiveness."

“The rush to expand the voucher program from three counties to all 95 is ill-conceived," Bowman said. “Expanding it before a demonstration of success is a poor use of taxpayer money.”

Vivian Jones covers state politics and government for The Tennessean. Reach her at vjones@tennessean.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: School voucher in Tennessee: State groups begin lobbying for, against