A Tennessee judicial panel has upheld the state’s school voucher law, which allows public tax dollars to be given to families to pay for private schooling.
Critics of vouchers argue that the law will weaken the state’s public education system. But the three-judge panel said counties and families who sued couldn’t prove how students would be immediately harmed by the program.
The ruling comes after a yearslong legal battle over education savings accounts. Under the law, eligible families are given around $8,100 in public tax dollars to help pay for private school tuition and other expenses.
The Republican-controlled Legislature approved the program in 2019, but the state has only been recently allowed to begin implementing the law.