by Jon Styf
Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill into law on Friday that expands the state’s pilot educational savings account program to Hamilton County, which includes the Chattanooga area.
The Legislature approved the deal April 21 after removing Knox County and then passed the bill along to Lee on April 24.
“Proud to sign legislation to expand TN’s Education Savings Account program to Hamilton County,” Lee wrote on Friday. “Now, families across Memphis, Nashville & Chattanooga have the opportunity to pick the best school for their child. Learn more & apply for the 23-24 school year: http://ESA.tnedu.gov”
Knoxville was considered as part of the original 2019 voucher program but later removed. The pilot ESA/voucher program originally passed in 2019 but was blocked in the court system until late last summer.
The Senate passed the bill in March while the House version was later amended to include Knox County. The House later voted to concur with the Senate version that excluded Knox County.
During discussion of the bill, State Rep. Mark White, R-Memphis, said 500 students in Davidson and Shelby counties have enrolled in the first year of the pilot program while 1,500 other families have applied.
The two versions do not change the number of students who can be admitted to the statewide program each year, which started with 5,000 this year then is 7,500 in the second year before growing to 10,000, then 12,500 and 15,000 students in the fifth year.
Families must have an annual household income that does not exceed twice the federal income eligibility guidelines for free lunch to be eligible. They also must attend a school district with at least three schools identified as a priority school in 2015 and 2018 and must have been among the bottom 10% of schools as identified by the Department of Education in 2017.
The first ESAs were estimated to be worth $7,572 in the first year and then grown to be $8,684.
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Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter at The Center Square who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies.
Photo “Bill Lee” by Gov. Bill Lee.
