On the homepage of Grace Baptist Academy’s website, one of the first items a visitor reads is a notice that the school qualifies for Tennessee’s education savings account program. That’s just one way the school has aimed to inform its constituency about the program.
It’s worked. The school has 63 students enrolled in the program, almost double the number of any other school in Hamilton County.
“You don’t promote something you don’t believe in,” Head of School Matthew Pollock said in a phone interview. “We really believe that this is going to be a very positive thing for parents, so why hide that?”
Grace Baptist Academy is one of 12 private schools in Hamilton County participating in Tennessee’s education savings account program. Known informally by some as private school vouchers, it allows low-income students to use up to $8,756 of state and local money for private school tuition and other education-related expenses.