Introduction

With the 2019 passage of the Tennessee Education Savings Account Pilot Program Act, Tennessee joined the growing list of states providing low- and middle-income families with greater educational choice. Today, the program provides scholarships worth up to $8,000 to families from Shelby County, Hamilton County and Metro Nashville school districts to use on a wide array of educational expenses, including private school tuition, textbooks, and tutoring services. To be eligible, children must come from households earning less than 200 percent of the federal free lunch program, which equates to an income cap of about $778,000 for a family of four. While the pilot program is capped at 15,000 students, it can be expanded by future legislation. In short, Tennessee is about to offer low- and middle-income families the same educational choice options that wealthier families already enjoy.

The governments of Metro Nashville and Shelby County, however, were threatened by the idea of giving more opportunities to parents with children in underperforming schools. By teaming up with the Metropolitan Nashville Board of Public Education to challenge the program in court, Shelby County and Metro Nashville attempted to deprive Tennessee families of the opportunity to send their kids to better performing public schools—opportunities that their wealthier peers currently enjoy.

The main claim against the law was that it violates Section 9 of the Tennessee State Constitution—its Home Rule provision—which prohibits the legislature from adopting “private or local” laws. This section was designed to prevent the legislature from singling out certain local governments for unfavorable treatment and reducing their power. In May 2022, however, the Tennessee Supreme Court held that the program did not violate the Home Rule provision, flatly rejecting the opponents’ main claim. The county plaintiffs attempted to press their remaining claims in the lower court after losing on their lead claim in the Tennessee Supreme Court, but later abandoned their legal claims and dismissed their lawsuit in October 2023.

Undeterred, a handful of opponents of the program continue to challenge it in a separate lawsuit, raising a handful of legal claims under the Tennessee Constitution and state law. Each of the challengers’ legal claims were dismissed by the lower court in November 2022 and their appeal remains pending.

IJ’s Parent Clients