Democratic state senator hits back on governor’s school choice expansion

A Democratic Tennessee lawmaker said Gov. Bill Lee's plan to take school choice statewide is a misnamed "scam" that is going to harm public education.

The Republican governor introduced the Education Freedom Scholarship Act on Tuesday, explaining that it will extend school choice to every family across rural and urban Tennessee communities.

The plan calls for 20,000 scholarships to be made available to Tennessee students, including 10,000 scholarships for students who are at or below 300% of the federal poverty level, have a disability, or are eligible for the existing pilot program, and an additional 10,000 scholarships will be available to a universal pool of students entitled to attend a public school.