Fiscal Summary

Increase State Expenditures - Exceeds $48,000,000 (First Three Years From the Rainy Day Fund) Decrease State Expenditures - Exceeds $16,378,000 FY 07-08 and thereafter Decrease Local Govt. Expenditures - $11,320,000 Decrease Local Govt. Revenues - Exceeds $16,378,000 FY 07-08 and thereafter

Bill Summary

This bill requires the commissioner of education to provide scholarship funds to eligible elementary and secondary school students to pay tuition, fees, and transportation expenses to enable them to attend the elementary or secondary school of their choice.

PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT AND STUDENT ELIGIBILITY

In awarding these scholarships, the commissioner will provide Tennessee students who come from households with adjusted gross incomes of less than $35,000 and who previously attended elementary or secondary schools identified for improvement, corrective action, or restructuring with scholarship funds.

The commissioner is authorized to award scholarships in larger amounts to those eligible students demonstrating the greatest need, but no scholarship may exceed $7,500 for any academic year.

Scholarships awarded under this bill will be considered assistance to the student, not assistance to the enrolling school. The amount of any scholarship or other support provided under this bill will not be treated as income of the parents for purposes of taxation and determining eligibility for other programs.

Any scholarship funds made available to eligible students that are received by a participating school will not necessitate any change in the participating school's teaching mission; require any removal of religious symbols; or preclude any participating school from retaining religious terms in its name, selecting board members on a religious basis, or including religious references in its mission statements and other documents. Also, the receipt of scholarship funds will not require a single-sex school to become co-educational.

EVALUATION OF PROGRAM PERFORMANCE

The commissioner of education will annually select an independent entity to evaluate the performance of students who received scholarships under this bill. This entity will measure the academic achievement of all participating students. The commissioner, via grant, contract, or cooperative agreement, will disseminate information on the impact of the programs on students and schools in Tennessee. The cost of the evaluations may not exceed 3 percent of the total amount appropriated for the fiscal year for the program.

The evaluations will compare the academic achievement of participating students to the students in the same grades in the Tennessee public schools and to the eligible students in the same grades who sought to participate but were not selected. The evaluation will also:

(1) Measure the success of the programs in expanding parental choice;
(2) Document the reasons parents choose for their children to participate in the programs;
(3) Compare the retention rates, dropout rates, and graduation and college admission rates of participating students with non-participating students;
(4) Measure the impact of the program on public elementary and secondary schools and students in Tennessee;
(5) Compare the safety of the schools attended by participating students with the safety of the schools attended by non-participating students; and
(6) Measure such other issues the commissioner considers appropriate.

All reports and underlying data gathered will be made public upon request. However, personally identifiable information may only be disclosed to the parents of the student to whom the information relates.

The commissioner will report annually on the effectiveness of the programs to the education committees of the house and senate. Also, each year for which a grant is made under this bill, the commissioner must submit annual interim reports to the education committees of the house and senate on the programs.

The commissioner must also ensure that each participating school report at least once annually to the parents of each participating student regarding each student's progress compared with other students and school safety.