The following may be attributed to TEA President Tanya T. Coats, a veteran Knox County educator:

Tonight’s State of the State address—and the accompanying budget—present Tennessee with a clear and consequential choice.

The governor’s budget makes that choice unmistakable. It proposes foregoing additional investments in career and technical education and after-school programs in order to expand a voucher program that diverts public dollars away from neighborhood public schools, primarily benefiting families who already have access to private education. Alternatively, Tennessee can make the smarter, more responsible investment: strengthening the public schools where 90% of Tennessee students receive their education.

That is a fundamental choice about where we invest public dollars. And Tennessee’s students, families, and communities deserve clarity about which path we choose.

The numbers tell the story. The governor proposes diverting an additional $155 million investment in vouchers—roughly $7,750 per student—while proposing approximately $170 million in new funding for nearly one million public school students statewide, or about $170 per student. At the same time, programs that directly support working families and students, like career and technical education and after-school opportunities, are left behind. The governor’s priorities are clear. But so is the responsibility now facing the General Assembly.

Public schools are the hearts of our communities. They are where students are fed, supported, challenged, and prepared for the future regardless of background, ZIP code, or circumstance. They are also the schools that public school parents invest in every day through their tax dollars, expecting those funds to strengthen their neighborhood schools. Using those same tax dollars to subsidize private school tuition for others is not choice; it is a bad-faith diversion of public investment.

Any proposal to expand vouchers must also confront a basic reality: public schools operate under strict standards of transparency and accountability, while voucher programs do not. Public schools account for every dollar spent and are subject to audits, reporting requirements, and public oversight. Voucher programs lack those same guardrails. Expanding an unaccountable program, particularly at the expense of proven public investments, asks taxpayers to trust a system that has not earned that trust.

That concern is heightened by the state’s continued failure to provide clear public data showing whether voucher recipients previously attended public schools or were already enrolled in private institutions. Available reporting suggests voucher use has been concentrated in the most affluent areas of the state, raising serious questions about who this program is actually serving. Transparency is not a barrier to opportunity; it is a prerequisite for public trust.

This moment is not about ideology. Parents can and should make decisions about what is best for their own children. But public dollars carry public obligations. Tennessee’s Constitution is clear about the state’s responsibility to provide a free system of public education, and those obligations cannot be met by steadily diverting resources away from public schools.

The governor’s budget reflects his priorities. Now the choice belongs to the General Assembly.

Tennessee can choose to invest in strong, accountable public schools that serve all students and anchor our communities, or it can continue expanding a voucher program that lacks transparency while draining resources from the schools most families rely on. Tennesseans deserve a clear choice—and a responsible one.