Tennessee Supreme Court to hear arguments Thursday on school-choice program
Tennessee | June 3, 2021
(The Center Square) – Tennessee’s Supreme Court will hear arguments Thursday on the legality of a state school-choice pilot program, 16 months after two school districts filed a lawsuit to shut the program down.
State lawmakers narrowly approved a pilot program in 2019 to provide $7,000 scholarships to low-income families in Shelby and Davidson Counties as an alternative to low-performing public schools. The five-year Education Savings Accounts (ESA) program is a signature proposal of Gov. Bill Lee.
In February 2020, weeks before schools in Memphis and Nashville shut down because of COVID-19, the two counties filed a lawsuit against the Tennessee Department of Education, claiming the ESA program violates the state constitution. Lower court rulings halted the program’s rollout.
Kay Johnson, executive director of Greater Praise Christian Academy in Memphis, said the program would have been life changing for students like those who attend her school. Johnson and her mother founded Greater Praise in 2003 to change the trajectory of families in Memphis’ Frayser neighborhood. The school serves 81 students who all come from low-income families…
(Excerpts from The Center Square)