TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Julia Wilburn on Nov 21, 2023

Metro Nashville and Shelby County have withdrawn their lawsuit against the state's private school voucher program law, Gov. Bill Lee's signature legislation during his campaign. Chalkbeat Tennessee reports that the law, which allows the state to give taxpayer money to eligible families to pay toward the cost of private school tuition, was declared unconstitutional by a Nashville judge in 2020 because, at the time, it affected students only in Nashville and Memphis. But after several appeals, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled in favor of the state in 2022 and resurrected the law, allowing the program to launch last year in the two counties. A second lawsuit filed in 2020 by the Education Law Center and the Southern Poverty Law Center on behalf of 11 public school parents and community members in Memphis and Nashville is pending before the state’s appellate court.