Tennesseans and many across the nation know that the GOP Governor and legislative supermajority doubled down on private school vouchers in the last legislative session. All told, the state has invested about $350 million annually that could have gone to public schools, instead of allowing students from families of any income to receive a voucher to offset the cost of private school. The measure was passed despite flimsy evidence that vouchers actually result in better academic performance by students.

This month, the chickens of the voucher scheme have come home to roost. Two weeks ago, the Tennessee Department of Education released data showing that of the 15,000 newly available scholarships (read: vouchers), 9,360 (75%) were given to students from families with a maximum income of $173,000 for a family of 4. In contrast, 3,970 new vouchers went to students from families eligible for free or reduced lunch. The maximum income of those families could only be $61,000 for a family of 4. Since low-income students are also most likely to attend a low-performing school, the vouchers helped very few of them attend a better-performing school. However, vouchers helped far more students from better-resourced families attend private schools.

More concerning is data released this week. Students in the first voucher program passed by a single vote in 2019 were required to be lower income, from Davidson, Shelby, or Hamilton counties, and to take the state’s TCAP standardized test. The data shows that these students are underperforming their peers in public schools who did not receive the voucher. Specifically, 24% reached proficiency in English and only 17% reached proficiency in math.

The anticipated poor optics of taking $350 million from public schools for voucher kids who underperformed on the state test led the supermajority to pass legislation in the last session to repeal the TCAP requirement for voucher students in the future. As long as the voucher program remains intact, there is no “apples-to-apples” comparison to determine if students using the publicly funded voucher to attend private schools are performing better academically than their peers.

It is unquestionable that there is room for improvement in public education across the state, and especially in poorer communities. Instead of investing $350 million in studied and tested practices or the teachers who implement them, the Tennessee legislature invested in an unproven education scheme, then eliminated the data needed to hold them accountable.