Bill > HB2532

This bill makes several changes to Tennessee's education laws, primarily focusing on expanding educational freedom scholarships and addressing funding for local education agencies (LEAs) that experience student disenrollment. Specifically, it increases the maximum number of education freedom scholarships available for the 2026-2027 school year from 25,000 to 35,000, and also clarifies that these scholarships can be used for any grade from kindergarten through twelfth grade. The bill also modifies how LEAs are compensated when students leave their schools, with different formulas for allocating additional state funds based on the year and whether the disenrolled student received an education freedom scholarship. Furthermore, it establishes a new order of priority for awarding scholarships starting in the 2027-2028 school year, prioritizing students who received a scholarship the previous year, followed by students from lower-income households, and then those currently enrolled in public schools or eligible for kindergarten. Finally, the bill mandates that the department of education report annually on scholarship applications, disaggregated by county, student enrollment status, and household income, to provide greater transparency.