A local Tennessee Educators Association Representative says he is worried about the state’s decision to double down on school choice.
Governor Bill Lee announced that he plans to double the number of Freedom Education Scholarships to 40,000 for the 2026–2027 school year, following an estimated $155 million allocation in this year’s state budget. Overton County Education Association Vice President Greg Dingwall said he is not sure what the governor’s plans are and believes it is too soon to make this kind of investment.
“We don’t have enough information from this previous year,” Dingwall said. “How did it affect? I mean, what was the quality of education these students were getting? Is it a plan that is going to work? Is it going to make an impact for these folks that have a choice? And the question is again, who are the folks that are getting these choices?”
Dingwall said there are limited private school options in the Upper Cumberland and believes many families in the region still lack meaningful access to school choice. He added that, based on conversations with other local TEA representatives, the Upper Cumberland has not experienced the benefits lawmakers initially promised.
“It takes money away from the public school kids and the programs,” Dingwlal said. “I see programs being deleted, teachers not being rehired because they don’t have the funding any longer, because students are leaving schools. And that’s statewide, not just in our area.”
Dingwall said he questions how the state will measure the success of the school voucher program. Though Dingwall said he believes in school choice, he still thinks the state should focus on improving public school education.
“I would like to see all these folks come into the public schools and find out where our problems are and say, hey, this is what we need to address and to help, and let’s make it better for the sake of taking money away from public schools.”
Dingwall said he is afraid that down the road, this program will separate students into privileged and underprivileged classes.
