School voucher supporters, hired by Americans for Prosperity, outside a committee room in March. The group has spent more than $416,000 in the 2024 Republic primary. (Photo: John Partipilo)
With one day left until Tennessee’s Republican primary, groups pushing for the adoption of a universal private school voucher program have poured record money into the state’s election.
Two years ago, three pro-voucher groups set a then-record by spending around $1 million on independent advertisements to support or oppose candidates based on whether they favored charter schools and state-funded scholarships for private schools.
This year, the amount has quadrupled as groups have spent nearly $4.5 million across 16 Republican state House and Senate primaries, and one Democratic primary mainly due to one group, the School Freedom Fund.
The Freedom Fund, backed by Club for Growth and billionaires Jeff Yass and Richard Uihlein, has spent $3.1 million on five Tennessee Republican primaries. The group similarly spent almost $8 million earlier this year to defeat anti-voucher state House members in Texas.
The other groups dropping money that favor vouchers are Americans for Prosperity, the Tennessee Federation for Children, Tennesseans for Student Success and TennesseeCan.
Americans for Prosperity is a libertarian and conservative political advocacy group affiliated with Kansas billionaire Charles Koch.
Tennessee Federation for Children is affiliated with former Republican Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
TennesseeCan is part of the 50can Action Fund, whose donors include several foundations tied to the Walmart heirs, New York billionaire Mike Bloomberg, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates, among many others.
Tennesseans for Student Success has virtually no public donors despite having raised almost $16 million since its founding in 2014. The group was the largest spender in 2022, helping defeat two state House Republican incumbents who opposed vouchers and charter schools, as well as supporting Gov. Bill Lee in his reelection.
Student Success’s largest expense this year has been trying to help Ray Jeter unseat Republican state Rep. Scott Cepicky in Columbia. The group has spent $100,000 on the race in opposition to Americans for Prosperity and the Federation for Children, who support Cepicky.
A spokesperson for Student Success’s has previously told the Lookout they don’t have a position on school vouchers. But in the past their spending has been to support similar candidates to other pro-voucher groups. The Cepicky and Jeter race is a significant break although Jeter told the Columbia Daily Herald he supports “school choice.”
Federation for Children and Americans for Prosperity supported Lee’s failed push for a universal school voucher program earlier this year. Lee’s program, already existing in Nashville, Memphis, and Chattanooga, would eventually have given any student who wanted $7,200 to pay toward private school tuition.
Those two groups have spent the most money on Senate Education Committee chairman Jon Lundberg, a Bristol Republican, who faces a highly competitive primary from Bobby Harshbarger, the son of Republican U.S. Rep. Diana Harshbarger of Kingsport.
The only Democratic race to draw voucher money is for Dasha Lundy who is challenging Knoxville Rep. Sam McKenzie. Lundy has received around $40,000 in support from TennesseeCan and Student Success.
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