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This article is part of The 74’s EDelection 2024 coverage, which looks at the candidates’ education policies and how they might impact the American the education system after the 2024 elections.

A day after the 2024 election, Gov. Bill Lee and lawmakers launched a recycled “universal” voucher program for private schools designed to garner support from teachers and school districts with extra spending.

The measure does not have a funding estimate attached, but lawmakers placed $144 million in this year’s budget for a plan that failed to pass, and the new proposal could cost another $275 million, plus funds to give teachers a one-time bonus of $2,000. In addition, 80% of all sports betting money will be dedicated to building and maintaining K-12 public schools.

Lee’s plan would provide 20,000 “scholarships” worth $7,075 for students to enroll in private schools in 2025-26, 10,000 of those for students from families at or below 300 percent of the maximum income to qualify for lunches free or low-cost—which equates to an estimated $175,000 per household income. Students with disabilities and those in the state’s Education Savings Account program would also be eligible.

About 350 private schools would be eligible to participate in the program and would have to administer the state’s standardized test or one that matches their curriculum, but the bill says it would maintain educational freedom.

The state would add 5,000 “scholarships” each year, once 75 percent of those are awarded to students.

In introducing the bill, Lee and key lawmakers said they want to give students the chance to succeed in education “regardless of their zip code.”

“Giving parents the ability to choose for their child will provide more opportunity and reduce poverty across our state,” said House Speaker Cameron Sexton, who opposed the school voucher program in 2019. “Increased competition to enroll a student will make schools, school systems, and administrators respond to the need for higher quality education.”

Lawmakers failed to pass a similar bill proposed by the governor earlier this year when the Senate and House could not agree on widely divergent versions. The House bill contained funding to give teachers more money for insurance as well as districts to maintain school buildings. The Senate version allowed students to transfer to any public district in the state.

Lee told reporters Wednesday that this was the “next step” of the legislation and said he believed lawmakers were “moving in that direction” to pass the bill. General Assembly leaders tried to address members’ concerns by drafting the bill, he said.

House Majority Leader William Lamberth said in a statement that the bill “leaves no stone unturned when it comes to providing the best educational path to prepare the next generation for success.” He said the measure would allow public schools to remain the bedrock of Tennessee’s education system while allowing parents, rather than the governor, to determine which route helps their children the most.

The press release also says the bill “ensures that state funding for school districts will never decrease because of the repeal,” and the governor backed that up Wednesday.

One of the biggest complaints from opponents was that vouchers for private schools would drain money from public schools.