Image Credit: Gov. Bill Lee / Facebook
The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
An administrative error awarded 166 Tennessee families state-funded scholarships for private school and then rescinded them days later.
Affected parents across the state are expressing their frustration now that their hopes have been dashed following the news.
Governor Bill Lee’s Education Freedom Act which the Tennessee General Assembly passed earlier this year is limited to 20,000 scholarships for the upcoming school year. Lee’s office reported that 33,000 Tennessee families applied for the funds within hours of the program being launched.
One of the affected parents, Haley Bolin, reported that she received an email last Wednesday that confirmed that her child had been approved for a scholarship. But by Saturday, another email from the state rescinded the funds due to an administrative error. Bolin’s daughter is now on the waitlist for a scholarship with Bolin on the hook for her daughter’s tuition as she is already enrolled in a private school.
The Tennessee Department of Education responded to a request for information from News Channel 9 saying that the department sincerely regretted the mistake.
Over 200 private schools have signed on to be part of the scholarship program.
Lee, who is at the tail end of his time as governor, called a special session early into the regularly scheduled legislative session this year in hopes of getting the Education Freedom Act passed.
The legislation blew through four house committees in one day with very few Republicans in opposition.
Conservative Representative Jody Barrett (R-Dickson-District 69) who spoke out against Lee’s glorified entitlement program for private school parents was set to serve on the House Education Committee during the regular session but was removed from the committee by House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville-District 25) for the week of the Extraordinary session along with half of the committee’s regular members.
Even the Committee Chair, Representative Mark White (R-Memphis-District 83) was switched out for Representative Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka-District 64) who led the charge last year in an effort to get Lee’s pet project passed.
The baseline dollar amount of each scholarship is $7,250. The average annual tuition for private school in Tennessee is over $11,000.
As lawmakers discussed the legislation that created the “opportunity” for 20,000 students for the 2025-2026 school year to receive a voucher, they were aware that the majority of recipients were projected to be students already attending private schools.
In a public Facebook group, this projection appears to have been accurate as some parents are still hopeful that they will be moved from the waitlist and receive the scholarship to help offset tuition costs for their children who are already enrolled in a private school.
According to some in the group, those parents who chose to wait and see if they were approved for the state money before enrolling their child in a school are finding that schools are full and are having to decline the scholarship. This means parents whose children were already enrolled are being moved off the waitlist and will be receiving the funds.
At least one Tennessee parent said that their private school asked all families already enrolled to apply for the voucher money.
10,000 scholarships were made available to families whose income does not exceed 300 percent of the amount to qualify for free and reduced lunch – a family of four with a household income of less than $173,000 for example. The remaining 10,000 applications were not income dependent.
Next year the number of spots could increase but lawmakers would have to look at new legislation that would expand the program. The amount of each scholarship would also go up to $8,750.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
