Image Credit: Williamson County Television / YouTube
The Tennessee Conservative [By Adelia Kirchner] –
At a recent “Policy Talks” panel organized by Williamson Inc., Williamson County’s state delegation spoke on Gov. Bill Lee’s (R-TN) Education Freedom Scholarship Act that will be considered this week during a special legislative session.
In a recent survey of about 1,100 Williamson County Chamber of Commerce members, participants were asked how they thought the implementation of proposed legislation around universal school choice would impact the quality and accessibility of education in their county’s public schools.
The results came in around 2-1 against the idea of it being positive for Williamson County public schools.
Friday’s panel consisted of Senate Majority Leader Senator Jack Johnson (R-Franklin-District 27), Senator Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald-District 28), as well as Representatives Jake McCalmon (R-Franklin-District 63), Lee Reeves (R-Franklin-District 65), Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood-District 61), and Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill-District 92).
“We utilize special sessions to take up things that are time sensitive and important,” said Sen. Johnson, addressing those who might wonder why a special session has been called in the middle of a regular session. “The reason is, is because when you go into special session the governor issues a call. […] So we go into a one week or a two week, whatever it ends up being, special session. We can only talk about those very specific things that are in the call. So we can address those, get them done if they’re time sensitive, and then we can move on to our regular session and address all the other issues.”
According to Sen. Johnson, Gov. Lee’s school voucher plan is a time sensitive issue, seemingly worthy of a special session.
“The Education Freedom Scholarship, that’s time sensitive, need to get it passed so the department [of education] has time to get everything in place so those [scholarships] can be utilized by families starting in the fall,” he said.
Sen. Johnson explained that the intent behind the Education Freedom Scholarship Act of 2025 is to empower Tennessee parents.
“This legislation is to empower parents, it’s not to turn private schools into public schools,” Sen. Johnson stated. “Parents should be able to pick the education alternatives for their child that they think are best for their child.”
When asked about whether these scholarships could be used for a public-school student to attend another public school in a different district, Sen. Johnson clarified that this legislation does not do that.
“There are some who would like to allow the scholarship to be utilized to pay that out-of-zone tuition if it’s a public-to-public enrollment,” he answered. “That’s not included now, but we may have that conversation. I’ve had a couple members bring that up to me previously, but no. There will be no forced open enrollment.”
Regarding the controversial hold harmless portion of the bill, lawmakers noted that the money would not be following the child under this legislation.
“If they [public schools] lose enrollment because of this voucher bill, they would be guaranteed not to have a less budget than they had the previous year,” said Sen. Hensley.
Rep. Bulso also chimed in to point out the bill’s definition of disenrollment.
“Disenrollment is a defined term in the bill, and it does not restrict disenrollment to scholarship recipients who leave,” he explained. “Disenrollment occurs when the enrollment of non-virtual students decreases from one year to the next.”
The example Rep. Bulso provided was that if a public school has a total of 100 students enrolled one year, and then 10 of those students receive scholarships and leave, then the next year when that school has only 90 students, the school will still be funded through TISA for the 100 students they had previously.
In contrast, if that same public school loses 10 students to the scholarship program, but 10 new students come in, the school would be funded through TISA for 100 students.
In this case, according to Rep. Bulso, “There has not been disenrollment as that term is defined in the Act. So there would be no double-counting or double-payment for students.”
“Devil’s in the details right?” said Crouch.
“It is,” said Rep. Bulso. “It’s important because some folks are in favor or opposed to parental choice just as a principle and then some are opposed to the governor’s bill just based specifically on what it says.”
“We’ve got a million, approximately, students in public schools and something less than a hundred thousand in private schools across the state. It’ll take awhile for this program really to have a material effect, economically or otherwise,” Rep. Bulso continued.
Crouch then asked the panelists to speak on the estimated $400 million cost associated with the first year of the governor’s school voucher program.
“That’s counting the $2,000 bonus for the teachers,” said Sen. Hensley. “That’s about $180 million, about $144 million for the scholarships themselves if they’re all used, and then the hold harmless clause…So that total for the first year, if all the scholarships are used, would be around $400 million.”
When Crouch asked Rep. Warner to speak briefly about a recent op-ed that was published by The Tennessee Conservative, Tennessee Stands, and even The Tennessean, he told the lawmaker out of Chapel Hill to “just be nice.”
“Again, I’m not a fan of it,” responded Rep. Warner. “I believe that we ought to do everything we can at our public-school level, to get things right there.”
“We’re double-funding education in this state is what we’re doing,” he continued. “We’re taking those students that are leaving public schools, and we’re gonna continue to pay for their education in private schools.”
Rep. Warner stated that his other main concern about the Education Freedom Scholarship Act has to do with President Trump’s plans regarding the federal Department of Education.
“I asked Governor Lee to hold back a little bit. Let’s wait, let’s see what President Trump does, and let’s see if he does something at the federal level, if he offers a tax deduction for sending your kids to private school,” explained Rep. Warner. “What I do think could happen here, is the taxpayers could actually be funding education in this state three times, through these scholarships, if President Trump does something at the federal level.”
The conservative representative told members of the audience that he didn’t think the school vouchers should be considered under special session and that he believed they, the citizens, have the right to vet these bills and have proper time to comment on them as they move through the legislative process.
“When we rush things through, when we suspend the rules, when we go into flow motion, I think that’s wrong,” he said. “The special session should be about East Tennessee and it should’ve happened three months ago. It shouldn’t be happening right now.”
Watch the full video of the panel below:
About the Author: Adelia Kirchner is a Tennessee resident and reporter for the Tennessee Conservative. Currently the host of Subtle Rampage Podcast, she has also worked for the South Dakota State Legislature and interned for Senator Bill Hagerty’s Office in Nashville, Tennessee. Adelia is The Tennessee Conservative’s on-site reporter for the Tennessee General Assembly. You can reach Adelia at adelia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
