It seems almost quaint now to recall the passage of Gov. Bill Lee’s Education Savings Account (ESA) pilot program in 2019 that allowed eligible students in Davidson and Shelby County schools to use state and local money toward education expenses, including tuition at participating private schools.
The program, which was expanded two years ago to include Hamilton County schools, was passed to assist low-income families who wanted a better educational experience for their child than they believed the child could get in the child’s local public school district.
We supported the use of state and local funds for such a pilot program for a limited amount of time, provided it showed at the end of the period that a majority of students who attended exhibited improving skills.
The ESA program is limited to 10,000 students this year, although as of March 13 only 3,721 are taking advantage of it.
But all that is a drop in the bucket to the governor’s Education Freedom Scholarships Act, which was passed in early February and, in its second year, 2026-2027, will allow any student to receive more than $7,000 in public funds to attend eligible private schools.