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By Sam Stockard

Tennessee Lookout

In one of the most hotly-contested questions in modern Tennessee political history, the legislature narrowly approved a $430 million private-school voucher program that critics say will grow quickly to $1 billion and endanger the state’s budget.

The House voted 54-44 in favor of Gov. Bill Lee’s voucher initiative, with 20 Republicans opposing the measure, only four more than required for passage.

Rep. Justin Pearson of Memphis was the only Democrat to be recorded as voting for the bill, but he did that inadvertently and filed an immediate request to change his vote.

The Senate followed with a 20-13 vote, concluding the governor’s six-year effort to create a statewide private-school voucher program and wrapping up a special session in less than a week.

“We are taking a significant plunge with no proof these students will be successful,” said Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari of Memphis.

In contrast, Republican Sen. Brent Taylor of Shelby County said he wants “every family” to have the same opportunity to afford the same private education his children received.

Republican Sen. Todd Gardenhire of Chattanooga was expected to vote against the bill but said his concerns about the finances had been resolved.

Yet another Republican lawmaker, Sen. John Stevens of Huntingdon, said the measure would allow parents to enroll their children in a school that “aligns with their values,” referring to schools with religious affiliations.

Lee’s plan calls for providing more than $7,000 each to 20,000 students statewide and then expanding by about 5,000 annually, even though two-thirds of the scholarships are expected to go to students already enrolled in private schools, based on the state’s financial analysis.

Half of those students in the first year could come from families with incomes at 300% of the federal poverty level, an estimated $175,000 for a family of four, while the rest would have no income limit. No maximum income would be placed on the program after the first year. The bill also allows students to attend online private schools.

“We’re going to steal from the poor city schools and give it to the rich folks,” Democratic Rep. Bo Mitchell of Nashville said.

The legislature put $144 million in this year’s budget for the program, even though the governor’s private-school voucher bill failed in 2024. That same amount will go into the next budget.

But for fiscal 2026-27, vouchers are expected to cost $188 million and exceed that amount in subsequent years, according to a state financial analysis.

Roughly $63 million from the state’s sports wagering revenue is slated to go toward school construction projects statewide. That section raised concerns that Tennessee’s Hope Scholarship Fund, which students use to pay for college, would suffer.

In addition, the state will spend $2.6 million to hire 11 people to run the private-school voucher program.

“School choice” was the overriding argument for proponents.

But Republicans Rep. David Hawk of Greeneville said he voted against the measure because the people in his district oppose it.

Another Republican lawmaker, Rep. Lowell Russell of Vonore in East Tennessee, said the bill went against his principles and “simply doesn’t add up” financially.

“I’ll be voting for less spending and smaller government,” Russell said.

Most House Republicans, though, defended the plan by saying test results from Florida and Wisconsin show students receiving vouchers are performing better, many of them low-income children. Their claims clashed with those of Democratic opponents who said students in voucher programs historically perform worse than their peers.

The Republican-controlled House defeated more than 20 amendments brought by Democrats but got stuck on an amendment by Halls Republican Rep. Chris Hurt to give more protection to special needs students, who don’t have to be accepted by private schools. Ultimately, it failed 37-54 after extended debate as House Republicans raised concerns it could derail the bill.

“I can’t sit by idly,” said Hurt, whose amendment said private schools can’t “discriminate” and keep special education students from enrolling.

Rep. William Slater, former headmaster of Hendersonville Christian Academy, opposed Hurt’s amendment and called it an “untenable situation” because many private schools can’t handle special education students’ needs.

House Majority Leader William Lamberth worried that the amendment would be a “poison pill” for the entire bill and said he didn’t know the “legal ramifications” for requiring private schools to accept special needs students.

The House adopted an amendment by Rep. Scott Cepicky that requires local school boards to approve one-time $2,000 bonuses for teachers being offered in the bill. That provision will cost $198 million in the first year.

Lamberth promised that the legislature would give teachers a salary raise when the regular session convenes.

Democrats sought to drop the required school board vote and make bonuses automatic but couldn’t push it through the chamber.

“Our teachers deserve the bonus because they do the hard work in our classrooms every single day,” Pearson said.

Some Republicans who backed the bill said they grew more comfortable with it because of a provision designed to make school districts “whole” from one year to the next if they lose students.

Yet Democratic Rep. John Ray Clemmons of Nashville called that provision “fiction.”

A financial analysis by the state’s Fiscal Review Committee determined K-12 schools will lose $45 million and that only $3.3 million would go toward 12 school districts most likely to lose students in the program’s first year.

Democratic Rep. Bob Freeman of Nashville predicted lawmakers would have to reset the “hold harmless” clause in a few years because those funds will hit a $29 million cap.

Democrats claimed they were “fiscal conservatives” by opposing it.

Democratic Rep. Ronnie Glynn of Clarksville told the House how he grew up poor and made it through public schools with the help of teachers and coaches.

“When we start to take from public schools, we’re hurting our kids, our lower-income kids. They will not prosper from this legislation,” Glynn said. “Sometimes man-made laws conflict with moral laws.”

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.    Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and Twitter.