Promise vs. Reality: Who Is Tennessee's Voucher Program Actually Serving?

When Gov. Bill Lee signed the Education Freedom Scholarship Act into law in February 2025, supporters promised it would expand opportunity for low-income families. Now, new reporting and independent research show that the reality of this program does not match that promise. ACLU-TN and our partners sued the state, arguing the program violates the Tennessee Constitution by diverting public funds to private schools with no accountability and no obligation to serve every child. This is exactly why public funds belong in public schools. Read some of the recent data and reporting below.

Who is actually applying? According to a Tennessean investigation, the average family applying for Tennessee's voucher program earns more than $96,000 a year — roughly $20,000 above the state's median family income. Read more.

Who is actually benefiting? A geographic analysis of voucher recipients by WKRN News 2 reveals that students in some of Tennessee's wealthiest communities are receiving vouchers at far higher rates than students in lower-income areas across the state. Read more.

Who is actually being left behind? Tennessee's own Comptroller's Office evaluated the state's existing ESA voucher program and found that participating students' test scores consistently lagged behind their public school peers. Perhaps most troubling: families of students with IEPs must acknowledge, as a condition of participation, that enrolling in the voucher program is the equivalent of waiving their child's right to special education services. Read more.