NASHVILLE — Gov. Bill Lee on Thursday fleshed out details of his proposed school voucher program with the experiment expected to cost taxpayers $125 million in its first five years.
If approved by lawmakers, the Republican governor’s “education savings account” program would allow lower income parents in poorer performing school districts to use public tax dollars to send their children to private schools or home school them as well. It would also enable parents to use the money to pay for approved education expenses.
Parents would receive on average $7,300 to pay for approved expenses including tuition and school supplies.
Enrollment is capped at 5,000 students in the first year. But that increases by 2,500 the next year if the cap is met. By Year 5, the number of students could hit 15,000, depending on how many students actually participate.
Beginning in Year 6, the program could increase by 1,000 students annually.
Lee rolled out the proposal during his first State of the State address earlier this month, saying it could cost at least $25 million the first year.
An administration amendment expected to be filed shortly lays out far more detail for the program. Officials are looking at providing $25 million a year. The Lee administration isn’t expecting any dollars to be drawn down until 2021-2022 school year — Year 3 — when the program actually begins with $75 million in the bank.
Students would be eligible if they are zoned to attend a school in a local system with three or more schools among the bottom 10 percent of schools as measured by state testing.
For now, at least, that only applies to school-age children in Hamilton, Davidson, Knox, Jackson-Madison and Shelby county school systems as well as the state-run Achievement School District.
Districts losing students would be “held harmless” from their losses in the Basic Education Program funding formula for a three-year after a student departs.
But efforts to learn whether public schools would be receiving any money out of the dollars being set aside for the vouchers hit an administration brick wall on Thursday afternoon.