CROSSVILLE, Tenn. — There are two private school options in Cumberland County — Christian Academy of Cumberland and Trinity Academy.
Trinity Academy is a private, Christian school with 75 students. They serve students in Kindergarten through the eighth grade and recently became accredited by the Association of Christian Schools International.
"There's a picture that's often painted of private education, of being flush with resources," said Corey Wade, the head of schools at Trinity Academy. "And especially in a rural setting, that's not necessarily the case."
Kate Witt says sending her child to Pre-K at Trinity Academy worked for her family due to the small class size and emphasis on teaching Christianity.
"We also have we don't have a lot of smaller private Christian schools, like Trinity," she said. "So I don't see how it could necessarily take away from our public school education system, which I also believe is necessary for our community as well."
Tuition without scholarships is $6,250 per year.
"We live in a very small rural community," Witt said. "So we're not dealing with big city tuition. So one voucher would be able to cover the cost of an entire education for one child."
The universal school voucher program would start by providing a total of 20,000 scholarships to Tennessee students during the 2024-2025 school year. The first 10,000 scholarships would be for students whose families were at or below 300% of the federal poverty line, who have a disability or who are eligible for the state's new ESA program.
The other 10,000 scholarships would be available to a universal pool of students eligible to attend public schools.
The following school year and beyond, Tennessee students would be universally eligible to get scholarships so they could attend schools other than public schools, as long as funds are available for scholarships.
Democratic lawmakers expressed concern that private schools would get public funds despite not having to follow the same standards as public schools. During a press conference, Senator Raumesh Akbari (D - Memphis) also said the system could expand and overtake public schools, attracting charter and private schools to Tennessee to take advantage of the program.