Senator Marsha Blackburn Supports School Choice Amidst Gubernatorial Campaign in Tennessee
U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Republican gubernatorial candidate in Tennessee, is advocating for school 'choice,' though she has not explicitly stated an intention to expand the current program beyond its annual limit of 5,000 students. This stance comes as Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerri Green, a Memphis City Council member, has pledged to defund school vouchers if elected. The debate over private school vouchers is ongoing in Tennessee, with an Indianapolis-based school 'choice' group, EdChoice Legal Advocates, filing a motion to end an ACLU-backed challenge to the state's newest private-school voucher program. This program, which initially provided vouchers worth $7,300 to 20,000 students at a cost of $144 million, was expanded this year to 35,000 students, pushing the total cost above $260 million. The state's total expense for private-school vouchers, including an earlier program for low-income students, now exceeds $300 million. 
