(The Center Square) – An expansion that would double the number of private school vouchers offered by Tennessee topped the list of priorities outlined by Republican Gov. Bill Lee in his final State of the State address on Monday.
The state spent $144 million providing vouchers of $7,295 to 20,000 students in the 2025-2026 school year. Lee proposed $155 million for the program in 2026-2027, which he said would fund vouchers for 40,000 students.
“Last year, we received more than 40,000 applications, and this year, 54,000 applications so far for 20,000 spots. That means, right now, 34,000 students are still waiting for a shot at education freedom. We owe it to them,” Lee told lawmakers at the state Capitol.
Lee’s overall spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year, which totals $57.9 billion, includes other education initiatives. He proposed $339 million for public schools, a pay raise that would bring starting teacher salaries to $50,000 per year, $20 million for K-12 facilities and maintenance grants at public schools, $40 million for facility improvements at charter schools and $3 million to expand the state’s school-based behavioral health liaison program.
Tennessee’s voucher program has faced pushback over increasing costs and equity issues. A lawsuit filed last year argues the program violates the state constitution by diverting money from public schools that serve all students.
Critics say most of the students using the vouchers are already in private schools, leaving behind those who can’t afford private school without financial assistance.
School vouchers have produced similar concerns in other Republican-led states that have expanded them in recent years.
Florida’s system, which ballooned from $2 to $4 billion, failed to properly track where all the money was going, according to a state audit of the program. In Louisiana, the state Senate cut Gov. Jeff Landry’s $100 million request for vouchers in half in 2025, and the chamber’s leadership remains skeptical of the process for tracking the money.
Some of Lee’s other spending priorities include $30 million to build affordable starter homes, $425 million for roads and bridges, $230 million for the state’s Medicaid program to cover increasing costs related to medical inflation and $205 million for health care initiatives that would allow the state to receive federal grants in exchange for rural health care reform.
“In order to be eligible for these federal dollars, Tennessee must take legislative action to make it easier for medical professionals to practice and easier for rural health care facilities to operate,” said Lee, who has called for easing restrictions on nurses, physician assistants and others.
Tennessee Democrats said Lee’s speech failed to address affordability issues for “the average person.” They said the state’s Medicaid program should be prioritized for expansion, as well as the minimum wage, which remains at the federal rate of $7.25 per hour.
“There was nothing that was really talked about today that eases those issues,” Sen. Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari said at a news conference following the speech.
