Aaron Gulbransen, executive director of the Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition, said he believes state lawmakers will craft a final bill for Governor Bill Lee’s universal school choice proposal before the General Assembly convenes in January.
Lee’s school choice bill, the Education Freedom Scholarship Act, failed to pass the General Assembly during its recent convened session.
If passed, the governor’s bill would have made 20,000 Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) worth $7,000 available for Tennessee students in the upcoming 2024-2025 school year. If the demand had exceeded available funding, distribution of ESAs would have been prioritized for currently enrolled students, low-income students, and public school students.
Since the bill failed to pass, leadership in both the Tennessee House and Senate have vowed to reintroduce the bill in the next legislative session.
To this, Gulbransen said he believes state lawmakers are in talks to work out the “kinks” in the governor’s bill and will introduce it as the first order of business when the General Assembly officially convenes in January.
“The General Assembly is going to pass school choice next session. All of the kinks are going to be worked out. I believe we will have a final bill before the General Assembly session starts,” Gulbransen who is a former Tennessee Star reporter, said on Thursday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
“I do believe we will have a final bill, or as close to a final as you can have without it being officially final, but there will be a bill that will be agreed upon before the General Assembly session in 2025 starts,” Gulbransen added.
Regarding funding concerns, Gulbransen noted that the $140 million needed for the program is already included in the state budget.
“There’s already money in the budget for this, which removes a hurdle,” Gulbransen said. “School choice and education freedom scholarships are coming to Tennessee in 2025. That is not just a prediction. That is a spoiler…My prediction is it’s going to be Senate Bill 1, House Bill 1 – the first thing they get done.”
Gulbransen also addressed the opposition to the governor’s plan, specifically by that of Republican state lawmakers, explaining how the bill was “misrepresented” during the most recent legislative session.
“Fake conservatives who were actually never-Trumpers also misrepresented what school choice is. Some even went so far as to call it an entitlement program,” Gulbransen said.
Gulbransen said education freedom, per the Republican Party platform, is the “island of relevancy on the school choice issue and all of the opponents of school choice are swimming in the ocean of obscurity.”
“You could either be relevant or not relevant as we’re going into the 2025 legislative session and get on board with school choice. In 2024, you need to get on board with Donald Trump. So as I pointed out many times, if you were in opposition to school choice, you’re not only opposing Donald Trump’s position on the issue, you are opposing the Republican Party platform, which makes you the very definition of a RINO [Republican in Name Only],” Gulbransen said.
“The Republican Party platform specifically says that no child should…be limited to the quality of their education based upon a zip code. Donald Trump says it repeatedly. School choice is a civil rights issue of our time,” Gulbransen added.
To the Left’s point that school choice is not a “compassionate standpoint,” Gulbransen stressed the importance of allowing students to attend the school that best fits their needs.
“This is actually an issue where the left likes to paint the conservatives and the Republicans as the heartless group, right? The left wants to permit everything and shove everything down their throat. I, personally, believe that they’re the heartless ones, but this is a compassionate standpoint. This is practical. This is one of the few times where you can be practical and compassionate at the same time. Giving kids a better education, giving parents a better option, giving people the ability to lift themselves out of poverty and out of these indoctrination centers that we call public schools is an amazing opportunity, and I frankly think that anybody who doesn’t understand that is fooled,” Gulbransen said.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
