Tennessee lawmakers have introduced a new private school voucher bill. The Education Freedom Scholarship Act of 2025 would create a maximum of twenty thousand (20,000) $7,000 scholarships. Half of the scholarships will go to eligible students whose annual household income does not exceed 300% of the amount required for the student to qualify for free or reduced price lunch. According to WVLT, a family of three with an annual income less than $147,301 would qualify for a private school voucher.
The other 10,000 scholarships will not be based on family income.
The bill states public school funding will not be affected. It also promises that 80% of the privilege tax collected from sports betting must be allocated for maintaining and building public schools.
The private school voucher bill will also award a one-time $2,000 bonus to each teacher employed in a K-12 public school in Tennessee for the 2024-2025 school year.
The One Hundred Fourteenth General Assembly will convene on Tuesday, January 14, 2025.