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A GOP push to double the number of students in Tennessee’s private school tuition grant program cleared its first hurdle in the General Assembly on Tuesday.
Gov. Bill Lee and Republican leadership want lawmakers to sign off on an expansion plan that would grow the program — which is in its first year — to 40,000 students. If Republican lawmakers are successful, the change could direct $303 million in public dollars to private schools in the state next school year.
The K-12 education subcommittee voted Tuesday morning 5-3 to advance House Bill 2352, the first official vote on the expansion leaders have been calling for since last fall. Subcommittee chair Kirk Haston, a Republican from Lobelville, joined two Democrats in voting against the bill.
The push to double the program’s size comes just a year after lawmakers passed the initial Education Freedom Scholarship legislation that included an annual cap on growth of 5,000 new seats, which supporters at the time argued would prevent the program from growing too rapidly.