Tennessee GOP advances bill to relax voucher testing rules for private schools
Schools that participate in the voucher program could choose to give students a different test than the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program, or TCAP.
Topic: School vouchers
RSSThere are 67 article(s) tagged School vouchers:
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March 2026
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Mississippi Senate advance of phased teacher pay raise gets mixed reviews
The Mississippi Legislature has approved a salary increase for teachers, but some DeSoto County educators say the incremental raises won’t have much of an impact.
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February 2026
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Gov. Bill Lee wants $155 million to fund 20,000 new vouchers
If Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee achieves his goal, Tennessee would spend more than $303 million in public dollars on vouchers next fiscal year to help send 40,000 students to private schools across the state.
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January 2026
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Thousands more applied for Tennessee vouchers. What does that mean for Shelby County?
Last year, 5,500 Shelby County students got about $45 million in public funding to use at private schools by participating in the state’s two major school voucher initiatives. Even more vouchers could be on the way.
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November 2025
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Tennessee voucher application will track public school attendance as part of new award guidelines
The change to the 2026-27 applications will offer insight about the new vouchers that the state awards.
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Lawsuit claims Tennessee voucher expansion is unconstitutional
A group in Tennessee, including two parents in Shelby County, allege that the state’s education voucher expansion “diverts state funding to private schools statewide that are by definition not part of the system of free public schools.”
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October 2025
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Students with income-limited vouchers outperform MSCS on reading, but not math
Data from the Department of Education show students receiving income-limited Education Savings Account vouchers performed slightly better in reading exams than their MSCS counterparts. Both sets of students made gains in math, but at the same clip.
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More than 3,400 Memphis-area kids benefited from state’s new school vouchers. Here’s who got them.
A map of local recipients of Tennessee’s voucher program expansion shows that most live in Shelby County’s top-earning zip codes.
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September 2025
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Opinion: School vouchers expand opportunities for families
“Suggesting that school choice programs drain public schools is misleading and distracts from the real conversation we should be having — how do we give every child in Tennessee access to a high-quality education, regardless of ZIP code, income or circumstance?”
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August 2025
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Memphis-Shelby County Schools has a lot going on. Here are 5 things to watch.
MSCS board members start another academic year with a temporary district leader, as state takeovers loom, school closures are expected, and new policies could take hold.
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July 2025
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Gov. Bill Lee downplays transparency concerns about Tennessee school voucher program
Students’ prior enrollment is a frequently asked question in other state voucher programs and was a required question on the application for Tennessee’s first voucher initiative.
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May 2025
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Thousands applied for vouchers. What Memphis schools will accept them?
Across the state, families’ interest in the new EFS vouchers, which relaxed family-income thresholds and academic testing requirements, has exceeded the available 20,000 spots for its first year.
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March 2025
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Germantown teachers will be getting bonuses
The state-funded bonuses were part of the controversial school-voucher legislation.
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February 2025
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Opinion: The pros and cons of public school vouchers
“I have come to conclude is that school voucher programs nationwide are not necessary and create far more problems than they solve.”
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Gov. Lee signs bill drastically expanding school vouchers
While the $447 million initiative has been touted as a “universal” program for anyone interested, Republican leaders included a key provision: Students living in the country illegally will be prohibited from participating.
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State of the State: Gov. Lee proposes $1B toward $30B road projects backlog
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Monday proposed more than $1 billion into road projects financed by a one-time use of general state tax money and a plan to shift $80 million annually from the sales tax on tires.
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With vouchers coming, Lakeland schools seek level playing field with private schools
The Lakeland School System Board of Education has taken a stance on Gov. Lee’s voucher program, seeking equal standards for between public and private schools receiving the funds.
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January 2025
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Tennessee lawmakers pass Gov. Lee’s school-voucher bill
The House and the Senate passed the Education Freedom Act, legislation championed by Gov. Bill Lee.
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Despite vocal opposition, school-voucher bill sails through state House committees
The Education Freedom Act passed the state House Education Committe, the House Government Operations Committee, the House Finance Ways and Means Committee and the House Calendar and Rules Committee.
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Suburban superintendents concerned by special school-voucher session
With the discussion of school vouchers beginning this week, suburban leaders said they are watching the events in Nashville and hoping the special session doesn’t mean approval of the controversial approach.
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Conaway: The governor’s wallet opens Jan. 27
“Every vote for vouchers takes tax money, your money, from already underfunded public schools and gives it to private schools.”
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Governor calls special session on school vouchers, immigration
Critics of Tennessee’s voucher proposal allege the program is financially unsustainable in the long term and will siphon funds away from public schools.
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Opinion: Can I get some vouchers?
A public school teacher on vouchers: “Let’s be honest, today we’re far more interested in satisfying our own personal interests and we expect the taxpayer to foot the bill. We are entitled.”
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November 2024
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Tennessee K-12 school building costs escalate amid competing political priorities for education
Tennessee needs to spend about $9.8 billion on repairs, upgrades, or construction to keep its K-12 public school buildings safe and conducive to learning, according to a new state report.
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October 2024
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Tennessee is gearing up for another private school voucher debate. Here’s what we know.
Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson told school board members the governor is planning a “substantial” increase for public education funding in 2025 but didn’t specify how much or for what.
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