Official Summary Text
ON APRIL 13, 2026, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENTS #8, 2, 3, AND 9, AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 2532, AS AMENDED.
AMENDMENT #8 prohibits an eligible student from receiving an education freedom scholarship if the student is enrolled in a private school that promotes or advocates for the support, adoption, or implementation of any foreign law, legal code, or system, i
n this state that, if adopted or implemented, would violate rights guaranteed by the Tennessee Constitution or United States Constitution. This prohibition will be an exception to the present law provision that a private school that enrolls recipients is
n
ot required to alter its creed, practices, admission policies, hiring policies, or curriculum in order to accept recipients.
AMENDMENT #2 rewrites this bill to change from 40,000 to 35,000 the maximum number of education freedom scholarships that may be awarded to eligible students in the 2026-2027 school year, removes the requirement that the governor elect to participate in
the federal education tax credit program created in The One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, and makes the following additions and changes to present law concerning education freedom scholarships:
(1) Present law provides a formula for providing additional funding to an LEA if the LEA's TISA allocation is less than the LEA's baseline funding. Present law also provides a mechanism for providing additional funding to an LEA that received a TISA al
location less than the allocation for the preceding school year and the LEA experienced disenrollment. This amendment changes the allocation for an LEA that experienced disenrollment to the amount of the average per pupil state funds received by the LEA
in
the immediately preceding school year for each student who disenrolled from the LEA for the immediately preceding school year and received, for the immediately preceding school year, an education freedom scholarship; provided, that the sum total of any s
uch additional funds received by an LEA must not exceed the LEA's TISA allocation for the immediately preceding school year. This amendment also requires the department to award additional funds to such an LEA under whichever provision results in the LEA
r
eceiving the greatest amount of additional funding;
(2) Present law provides five levels of priority for awarding education freedom scholarship acts. The first level of priority is students who received a scholarship in the immediately preceding school year. For the fourth through fifth levels of prior
ity, but not the first level, present law requires that the scholarships are awarded in the order the department received completed applications. This amendment makes awards in the first level of priority also subject to the requirement that scholarships
a
re awarded in the order that the department receives completed applications;
(3) This amendment clarifies that, under the five levels of priority for the award of an education freedom scholarship, awards may only be provided to a student in the second or succeeding level(s) if scholarships remain after all eligible students in t
he preceding level(s) have received a scholarship. This amendment also requires that, for each level of priority, scholarships must be awarded in the order in which the department receives completed scholarship applications; and
(4) This amendment requires the department of education to annually report to the education committee of the senate and the committee of the house of representatives having jurisdiction over K-12 education the number of eligible students who applied for
a scholarship, disaggregated by:
(A) The number of applications received from each county;
(B) The number of eligible students who, at the time of submitting a completed scholarship application, were enrolled in a public school;
(C) The number of eligible students who, at the time of submitting a completed scholarship application, were not yet enrolled in school, but who were applying for a scholarship for kindergarten enrollment; and
(D) To the extent such data is available to the department, the number of eligible students whose annual household income is within the priority levels used in awarding the scholarships.
AMENDMENT #3 makes the clarification and new requirement to the scholarship priority levels, as described in (2) and (3) of the summary for House Amendment #2, effective beginning with the 2027-2028 school year.
AMENDMENT #9 revises the hold harmless provisions under TISA for LEAs that experienced disenrollment, as described in (1) of the summary for House Amendment #2.
For the 2026-2027 and 2027-2028 school years, if an LEA's TISA allocation for the current school year is less than the LEA's TISA allocation for the 2025-2026 school year, and the LEA experienced disenrollment, then this amendment requires the department
to allocate additional funds to the LEA in the amount of the average per pupil state funds received by the LEA in the immediately preceding school year for each student who disenrolled from the LEA in the immediately preceding school year and who, at the
t
ime of the student's registration or enrollment in the LEA provided the LEA with the student's Social Security number. This amendment adds a requirement that, in order to receive such funds, LEAs report to the department the reason each non-virtual stude
nt disenrolled from the LEA in the immediately preceding school year, regardless of whether the student provided the LEA with their Social Security number at the time of the student's registration or enrollment in the LEA.
Beginning with the 2028-2029 school year, if the LEA's TISA allocation for the current school year is less than the LEA's TISA allocation for the 2025-2026 school year, and the LEA experienced disenrollment, then this amendment requires the department to
allocate additional funds to the LEA in the amount of the average per pupil state funds received by the LEA in the immediately preceding school year for each student who disenrolled from the LEA for the immediately preceding school year and received, for
t
he immediately preceding school year, an education freedom scholarship.
Under either of the foregoing provisions, the sum total of any additional funds received by an LEA must not exceed the LEA's TISA allocation for the
2025-2026 school year.
Current Bill Text
Read the full stored bill text
HOUSE BILL 2532
By Lamberth
SENATE BILL 2247
By Johnson
SB2247
011713
- 1 -
AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49,
relative to education.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-3502(7), is amended by adding
"any of the grades kindergarten through twelve (K-12) at" after "enrolls in".
SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-3504, is amended by adding
the following as a new subsection (f):
(f) Notwithstanding subsection (b) and subject to appropriation, the department
shall make a maximum of forty thousand (40,000) scholarships available to eligible
students for the 2026-2027 school year in the order required in subsection (c).
SECTION 3. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 35, is amended by
adding the following as a new section:
49-6-3513. Tennessee's participation in The One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act.
(a) It is the intent of the general assembly that this state participate in the federal
education tax credit program created in The One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act.
(b) By December 31, 2026, the governor shall elect to participate in the federal
education tax credit program created in The One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, 26 U.S.C. §
25F. After electing to participate in the program, the governor shall comply with any and
all requirements to maintain the state's participation in the program.
SECTION 4. This act takes effect on becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.