Bill > HB6004

This bill introduces the Education Freedom Act of 2025, which creates a new scholarship program allowing eligible Tennessee students to receive state-funded scholarships to attend private schools. The program will initially award 20,000 scholarships for the 2025-2026 school year, with 10,000 scholarships prioritized for low-income students or students with specific eligibility criteria, and another 10,000 available to all eligible students. The scholarship amount will be equal to the state's base funding amount and can be used for tuition, fees, textbooks, tutoring, transportation, technology, academic programs, and educational therapy. Recipients in grades 3-11 must take standardized assessments annually, and the results will be reported to track academic performance. The bill also includes provisions to protect private schools' autonomy, ensuring they are not required to change their practices to accept scholarship students. Additionally, the bill provides a one-time bonus of at least $2,000 to K-12 public school teachers for the 2024-2025 school year, subject to local board approval. The bill also makes changes to how certain state education funds are allocated, including modifications to privilege tax distributions and provisions for addressing funding shortfalls in the lottery education account.

Budget and Finance, Education, Government Affairs

https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/Billinfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=HB6004&ga=114