The Heritage Foundation has released the latest version of its Education Freedom Report Card, and the Volunteer State is not faring particularly well.
Tennessee fell one spot overall from 2023, and now sits at eighth in the rankings, which still leaves the state in a comparatively good position. However, it fell two spots in the “education choice” category, and now sits at a middling 19th.
“Tennessee does well in empowering families to choose among private and charter schools, as well as other learning environments, but could do more to expand education choice,” the report card notes. “Tennessee could improve its ranking by expanding eligibility for and boosting participation in its private education choice policies, funding [education savings accounts (ESAs)] via the state education funding formula, and eliminating unnecessary regulations on participating private schools, including the state test mandate.”
This is something the Tennessee Legislature failed to do during the 2024 legislative session. HB 1183 and it’s Senate companion SB 503 would have created an ESA program with universal eligibility. Both ended up dying in committee.
However, Tennessee does have two small ESA programs on the books. The Individualized Education Account Program, launched in 2017, is available to students who have an Individualized Education Account (IEA) for autism, deaf-blindness, a hearing impairment, an intellectual disability, an orthopedic impairment, a traumatic brain injury, developmental delay, visual impairment, and/or multiple other disabilities. Only 3 percent of students statewide are eligible for the program. Meanwhile, the Education Savings Account Program, launched in 2021, is available to students from low- and middle-income households in Chattanooga, Memphis, and Nashville only.
Copious empirical research on school choice programs such as ESAs makes clear these programs offer families improved access to high-quality schools that meet their children’s unique needs and circumstances, and that these programs improve academic performance and attainment while delivering a quality education at lower cost than traditional public schools.
Additionally, education choice benefits public school students and taxpayers by increasing competition, decreasing segregation, and improving civic values and practices. Research also shows students at private schools are less likely than their public school peers to experience problems such as alcohol abuse, bullying, drug use, fighting, gang activity, racial tension, theft, vandalism, and weapon-based threats. There is also a strong causal link suggesting private school choice programs improve the mental health of participating students.
Not only are education choice programs good policy, they are also broadly popular. A poll released in January by the Beacon Center of Tennessee found 68 percent support from Tennessee adults for a universal ESA program. The following month, Americans for Prosperity released a poll showing 70 percent support for ESAs across five separate rural state senate districts, These earlier polls are backed up by EdChoice’s Public Opinion Tracker, last updated on October 8, which shows 67 percent of all Tennessee adults and 70 percent of Tennessee parents with school-aged children are in favor of ESA programs.
Further, a universal ESA program is sorely needed in the Volunteer State because the state’s public schools are habitually failing Tennessee’s children. In 2022, only 36 percent of Tennessee’s public school fourth-graders and 25 percent of eighth-graders tested “proficient” to grade level in mathematics on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) examination, colloquially known as the “Nation’s Report Card.” Just 30 percent of fourth-graders and 28 percent of eighth-graders tested “proficient” in reading. Essentially, and embarrassingly, the state’s public schools are failing to educate roughly seven out of 10 Tennessee children to grade-level proficiency in reading and math.
The goal of public education in Tennessee today and in the years to come should be to allow all parents to choose which schools their children attend, require every school to compete for every student who walks through its doors, and make sure every child has the opportunity to attend a quality school that best fits their unique needs and circumstances. There has not been a time when providing these opportunities has been more urgent and more needed than right now, but unfortunately the school choice wave is threatening to pass Tennessee by.
Simply put, states with robust and expansive school choice programs will be more attractive to families who have the ability to migrate to the state of their choosing. How many will decide against moving to Tennessee because it doesn’t offer their children the opportunity to attend the school that best suits their educational needs? Legislators should recognize this and enact a universal ESA program, allowing all current and future Tennesseans as many options as possible to get their children the education they need and deserve.
Heartland Impact can send an expert to your state to testify or brief your caucus; host an event in your state; or send you further information on a topic. Please don’t hesitate to contact us if we can be of assistance! If you have any questions or comments, contact Cameron Sholty, at csholty@heartlandimpact.org or 312/377-4000.
