The Tennessee Senate chamber, February 2026

The Tennessee Senate chamber, February 2026

A bill to expand Tennessee’s school voucher program squeaked through in an 18-14 vote in the state Senate Thursday. It will soon land on Gov. Bill Lee’s desk to be signed into law. 

The Senate conformed to the House version of the bill, which passed on Monday and is set to expand the program to offer a total of 35,000 scholarships for the 2026-27 school year — a backstep from the Senate’s original effort, and the governor’s proposal, to offer a total of 40,000. Last year’s legislation establishing the program created a mechanism adding 5,000 additional scholarships each year if the number of applications exceeds 75 percent of the number of scholarships available. More than 56,000 applications were submitted for the Education Freedom Scholarship program for the 2026-27 school year. Each scholarship will be worth roughly $7,500, an increase from last year’s value of $7,295.