By Kathryn Hickok
Tennessee’s Education Freedom Act of 2025 has become the nation’s 13th universal school choice law. Tennessee lawmakers last week passed the statewide educational choice program, which will initially fund 20,000 scholarships—worth about $7,296 each—to children who want to attend private schools.
Half of the scholarships in the first year are reserved for families whose incomes are at or below 300% of the eligibility level for the federal free or reduced-price lunch program. The rest of the scholarships are open to children of any income. Tennessee Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson explained, “This legislation has been marketed as a parental empowerment tool….We’re not going to penalize people who work hard and might do a little better than someone else. We want these to be universal.”
School choice empowers parents to choose the educational environments that will best help their children succeed. At least 40% of all students nationwide are eligible to participate in a school choice program. When parents have choices, students have more opportunities for their individual learning needs and goals to be met. Tennessee deserves congratulations for opening the doors to success for children in the Volunteer State.
Kathryn Hickok is Executive Vice President at Cascade Policy Institute, Oregon’s free market public policy research organization, and Director of Cascade’s Children’s Scholarship Fund-Oregon program.
