A recent online survey revealed strong opposition among Tennessee voters toward expansion of the state's private-school voucher program.
More than 500 Tennesseans participated in the survey by the bipartisan polling firm Red America, Blue America Research.
John Davis, founding partner of the firm, said 86% of respondents believe supporting hurricane efforts is a more important priority than expanding taxpayer-funded private school voucher programs.
"When we asked a straightforward question here, 'Do you support state lawmakers diverting tax revenue away from public education used for private school vouchers?', 70% of respondents answered no, 30% yes," Davis reported. "On its face, we see a significant amount of opposition to this question."
Davis said 79% of Tennesseans do not believe it would be appropriate for Tennessee's taxpayers to be paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to private schools outside of Tennessee, which he said has happened in states with similar programs such as West Virginia and New Hampshire.
The new Education Freedom Act will provide 20,000 scholarships of about $7,075 each for private school tuition.
Mandy Spears, deputy director of the Sycamore Institute, a nonpartisan public policy research center in Nashville, said only some of Tennessee's five types of private schools may qualify and their online dashboard shows most are in urban areas, with fewer in rural communities.
"We found that 76 counties and 95 school districts did have some private schools, but that means that there are quite a few counties that don't," Spears pointed out. "Of course, that means families could travel to adjoining counties to attend a private school."
Spears noted although the program starts with 20,000 scholarships a year, it could potentially grow by 5,000 annually if there is enough interest, based on the final legislation. The slower growth aims to address concerns about rapid expansion and high costs, which differs from last year's proposal.