Tennessee Education Freedom Scholarship: Empowering Educational Choice

The Education Freedom Scholarship (EFS) in Tennessee is a program designed to provide families with greater educational choices for their children. By offering state funds to eligible K-12 public school students for use towards private school expenses, the EFS aims to empower parents to make the best decisions for their children's education. This article delves into the details of the EFS program, including eligibility, application processes, scholarship amounts, and its potential impact on Tennessee's educational landscape.

Overview of the Education Freedom Scholarship

The Education Freedom Scholarship Act, which will provide Tennessee students with approximately $7,300 per year to cover the costs and expenses of attending private school, is set to begin in the 2025-2026 school year. The program will initially offer 20,000 scholarships, sometimes referred to as vouchers. The annual increase in the number of available scholarships will be determined by the demand and funding from the previous year.

For the inaugural year, half of the scholarships will be reserved for students who are eligible for the state's existing Education Savings Account (ESA) program, those with household incomes below 300% of the eligibility threshold for reduced-price lunch (approximately $173,000 for a family of four in the 2024-2025 school year), and students with disabilities. The remaining half will be available to all other eligible students. For the 2025-2026 school year, each scholarship account will be worth $7,295, with funds primarily intended for tuition and fees at a private school.

Eligibility and Priorities

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) has established a priority system for awarding scholarships, ensuring that those with the greatest need and specific eligibility criteria are considered first. The scholarship priorities are as follows:

Current school voucher recipients: Students who are already receiving EFS scholarships.
Students with high financial need: Students whose annual household income does not exceed 100% of the amount required for the student to qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Students with moderate financial need: Students whose annual household income does not exceed 300% of the amount required for the student to qualify for free or reduced-price lunch.
Public school students: Students who are currently enrolled in a Tennessee public school or who are eligible to enroll in kindergarten.
All other eligible students: Any other student who meets the eligibility requirements.

The majority of applications received have been for Priorities 2 and 3, with a close second going to Priority 5, indicating a significant demand for school choice among families with varying financial backgrounds.

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Application Process and Timeline

The Tennessee Department of Education has started delivering decisions to families regarding student eligibility for the state’s school voucher program. The notifications started to go out on Friday for the 2026-2027 school year.

The renewal application for the 2026-27 school year opened on Dec. ET for current EFS recipients. The renewal window for current recipients opened on Tuesday, Dec. ET. New applications for students who are not currently receiving EFS scholarships are scheduled to open on Jan. Every current EFS recipient who wants to continue in the program must submit a renewal application. To be considered for continued participation in the EFS program, renewal applications must be submitted by Jan. According to TDOE, you may be prompted to sign the Parent or Guardian Participation Agreement when you log in if you have not already done so. Renewal applications must be submitted through the online portal.

The Qualified and Universal Scholarship designations were applied only to the 2025-26 school year. Renewal applications must be completed in the online portal using your account holder credentials. The Education Freedom Act is designed for current recipients to receive a scholarship in the next school year, subject to eligibility, regardless of the order in which their applications are received.

Scholarship Value and Usage

For the previous school year, each scholarship was worth $7,295. For 2025-2026, that value is $7,296. All funds must first be used for tuition and fees at a private school.

Private School Categories in Tennessee

Tennessee has five categories of private schools, each with different requirements for accreditation, approval, curriculum, testing, and teacher qualifications.

Category I, II, and III schools: These schools are subject to the most requirements. Scholarships are limited to students enrolled only in Category I, II, and III private schools. The state’s existing ESA program is similarly limited to Category I, II, or III schools, but schools must apply to receive ESAs.
Category IV church-related schools: These schools have fewer requirements.
Category V schools: These schools are often in the process of meeting the requirements of one of the other categories.

Relationship to Other Educational Programs

It's important to distinguish the Education Freedom Scholarship from other similar programs in Tennessee, such as the Education Savings Account (ESA) program and the Individualized Education Account (IEA) program.

Education Savings Account (ESA) Program

The Education Savings Account (ESA) program is separate from Education Freedom Scholarships. It was enacted and first became available to students . ESA eligibility is restricted to students whose family income meets certain guidelines and are zoned for one of four districts that meet specific school performance criteria. Family incomes are capped at twice the eligibility level for the free lunch program-which is about $82,000 for a family of 4 for the 2024-2025 school year. ESA school district criteria translate to only three local education agencies-the Metro Nashville-Davidson County, Memphis-Shelby County School, and Hamilton County Districts.

Individualized Education Account (IEA) Program

Tennessee also has a similar Individualized Education Account (IEA) program for students with disabilities.

Families may be eligible for both the ESA grant and the Freedom Scholarship but can only enroll in one program.

Private School Landscape in Tennessee

Tennessee had 626 private schools in 76 counties (and 95 school districts) with over 154,000 K-12 students as of January 2024. These counts include an uncertain number of out-of-state students enrolled in virtual/satellite options, attending boarding schools, or commuting from other states.

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In 2022, private or home schools enrolled as many as 172,000 Tennessee kids (or about 16%), according to Census Bureau estimates. A study by the Urban Institute estimated that about 98,500 (or 9%) were enrolled in private schools , and another 13,600 (or 1%) were in home schools. The number and percentage of private and home school students in Tennessee have increased steadily since 2015 - with significant increases during the pandemic and a slight dip .

Impact and Considerations

Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds said this year’s applications were “building on the successful launch of the EFS program’s second year.” “This milestone reflects our ongoing commitment to expanding meaningful educational choices in Tennessee,” she said.

As outlined in the bill, private schools accepting these scholarships are not required to change their creed, practices, admission policies, hiring policies, or curriculum-aligning with our status as an independent school. The current law explicitly states that accepting Educational Freedom Scholarships will not affect a school’s autonomy in areas such as creed, practices, admissions, hiring, or curriculum, nor does the program expand the state’s regulatory authority over private schools.

The governing law has an escalator provision, which increases the student cap by 5,000 for each year that more than 75% of the available scholarships are awarded to students.

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