TBA Law Blog

TBA Law Blog

Nashville Asks Supreme Court to Reconsider Education Act Decision

Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jun 1, 2022

Metro Nashville government has filed a petition asking the Tennessee Supreme Court to review its recent decision that the state’s school voucher program, known as the Education Savings Account (ESA) Act, does not violate the “Home Rule Amendment” of the state constitution. Davidson and Shelby counties had challenged the law, but the court found that the amendment applies only to local education agencies. Nashville Mayor John Cooper now says the court did not properly account for the fact that Nashville and Davidson County included their combined school system in the new metropolitan government when the entities merged in 1962. The filing argues that because Nashville’s public schools are part of Metro, the ESA Act applies directly to Metro, and the state constitution’s Home Rule Amendment also applies. Nashville is also questioning the court’s wisdom in finding that the ESA Act does not impose obligations on counties, arguing that the act “triggers existing county funding obligations by forcing school districts to include students participating in the ESA program." Read more from WSMV.

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