The School Freedom Fund and its primary backer, billionaire Jeff Yass, have risen to the top of Tennessee’s political spenders.
Image Credit: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout
***Note from The Tennessee Conservative – this article posted here for informational purposes only.***
By Adam Friedman [Tennessee Lookout -CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] –
For the second year in a row, Tennessee’s Republican lawmakers narrowly passed legislation to expand the state’s private school voucher program.
The first iteration of the bill created school vouchers only for Nashville and Memphis. The original voucher program passed the Tennessee state House 50-48 in 2019, clearing the constitutionally-required 50-vote threshold by one vote.
Gov. Bill Lee then proposed creating a new statewide scholarship in 2024, only to see that bill die in a state House committee that same year.
Then, a new political action committee, the School Freedom Fund, backed by Club for Growth, was formed in Tennessee.
“You can no longer call yourself a conservative if you oppose school freedom, and you should expect a very expensive primary that you’ll probably lose,” said David McIntosh, the School Freedom Fund President, ahead of the 2024 Tennessee state legislative elections.
Over the next two years, the School Freedom Fund spent $4.5 million across Tennessee’s 2024 legislative cycle and a special election for a Middle Tennessee Congressional seat in 2025. The group won five of the six primaries it spent on, signaling the value of its backing in winning competitive Republican elections.
The group spent nearly twice as much as the Tennessee Republican Caucus did in the 2024 cycle. Following that, state lawmakers passed Lee’s original 2024 statewide plan by a five-vote margin in the state House.
When U.S. Rep. Mark Green stepped down in July, triggering a special election, the Republican primary turned into a four-way contest. The School Freedom Fund spent nearly $800,000 to defeat Dickson state Rep. Jody Barrett because he has been one of the most vocal skeptics of school vouchers.
Republicans voted to expand the voucher program to 35,000 students this year by a three-vote margin. Barrett was one of the few Republicans who publicly expressed skepticism of vouchers.
He also tried to pass a slate of amendments to increase transparency into the program and protect local school districts from funding cuts related to it.
“If the vast majority of this money is going to students who are already enrolled in private schools, to the detriment of folks who applied for it and weren’t able to get it, then that’s an issue we need to know about, and we need to make adjustments as we go,” Barrett said to Lookout earlier this year.
All Barrett’s amendments failed.
The School Freedom Fund hasn’t announced its 2026 spending plans, but its backers are already playing a large role in Tennessee’s governor’s race.
Since 2023, School Freedom Fund has raised around $30 million, according to Federal Election Commission filings, and $27 million of it has come from New York finance billionaire Jeff Yass.
Yass is known for his investment in TikTok’s parent company and for being a major financial supporter of President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign.
He’s now the largest single contributor in Tennessee’s gubernatorial election after donating $1 million to Team Tennessee, a PAC that is backing U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s bid for the top job.
Blackburn is a vocal advocate for private school vouchers.
