NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Education is expected to be one of lawmakers' primary focuses this legislative session, after Governor Bill Lee proposed expanding the state's voucher program universally. The program would effectively allocate public funds to be used on vouchers meant to cover at least a part of a student's private education expenses.
The funds could be used to pay for expenses at faith-based schools, private schools or many others.
A voucher program was already in place at some of the state's most populous counties — Shelby County and Davidson County. The proposal would open the program up to parents of all counties.
However, the state's education leaders said during a presentation to the Senate on Wednesday that preliminary data shows students in voucher programs have performed worse than their public school counterparts.
Around 38% of non-public school students at least meet expectations on the TCAP exam's ELA portion. However, around 21.8% of students in voucher programs at least meet expectations on the same test.
"The results aren't anything to write home about, is my understanding. But at the end of the day, the parents are happy with this new learning environment for their students," said Lizzette Reynolds, the TDOE commissioner.
She said satisfaction survey data showed around 90% of parents participating in school voucher programs were at least "very satisfied" with their overall experience.
However, Sen. Raumesh Akbari (D - Memphis) said the satisfaction survey wasn't enough to justify the program.
"We want the parents to feel great about it, about the students — but we also want the students that are taking public dollars to be performing either at or higher than the schools that those students that are in traditional public schools," she said.
No bills had been filed as of Jan. 11 regarding the expansion of school voucher programs.