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Dear John,

Earlier today, the Tennessee House passed HB6004 ([link removed]) , new legislation that would establish the state’s first universal Education Savings Account. And minutes ago, the bill was also passed by the Tennessee Senate on a 20-13 vote. The bill now heads to Governor Bill Lee's desk, who has championed the legislation and called a special session to advance it.

I want to congratulate Chelsea Crawford, TennesseeCAN’s Executive Director, for the long hours and weeks she spent to enable every family to select the education that’s right for them.

The legislation includes over $350 million in new education funding, including:
* $150 million to fund over 20,000 ESAs
* $198 million to pay public-school teachers one-time bonuses of $2,000
* $3 million to administrate and staff the program

“Education is not one size fits all and every student deserves a great education— Tennessee’s Education Freedom Act expands that opportunity for more of our children,” Chelsea told us. “Our state now has a rich environment for school choice and I am proud that families, regardless of their background or income, can choose to send their child to the public school, charter school or private school that will best support their learning.”

This win is the culmination of nearly a decade of TennesseeCAN's local advocacy work, having fought to enact the state's Individualized Education Account Program in 2015, which provided students with special needs their choice of schools. Four years later, in 2019, the team successfully advocated for the state's first ESA, which was open to low- and middle-income students from Memphis, Nashville and Chattanooga. Now, six years after the ESA first passed, it will be expanded and open to all Tennessee families.

A proposal like this doesn’t advance without the leadership of elected officials like Governor Bill Lee, Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally, Speaker Cameron Sexton and bill sponsors Senate Leader Jack Johnson and House Leader William Lamberth. But it also requires the support of a powerful advocacy coalition, which fought for this bill together. While there are many individuals and organizations to thank, we’d like to recognize the efforts of Tennessee partners including American Federation for Children, Beacon Center of Tennessee, Americans for Prosperity and more for their work to help shepherd this bill over the finish line.

I’d like to congratulate Chelsea and her coalition on this win. And we all look forward to implementing a strong program that helps Volunteer State families get the education that’s right for them. We’ll continue to share updates on that process in the New Reality Roundup over the course of the year.

Derrell Bradford
President of 50CAN

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