So what exactly does a tiered selection process mean?

1st Priority: Anyone who used the vouchers the year before—they get first priority.
2nd Priority: Families on free and reduced lunch.
3rd Priority: Families whose income does not exceed 3× the amount needed to qualify for free and reduced lunch.

After that, it’s basically whoever applied first.

20,000 students qualified for the voucher distribution this year. Next year there is talk of increasing it by another 20,000 or perhaps as low as 5000 more. The state says approximately 30,000 students applied last year meaning 10,000 were not awarded the voucher payments. However, it is not clear whether some of those 30,000 applicants were duplicates due to some flaws in the application processing system.

Breaking down the new process, let’s start with tier one. The 20,000 students who received the approximately $7300 voucher payment this year get to stay in the program if they reapply. Unless, of course, they graduated. The state has not detailed the grades of students who received the benefit this year, so it’s impossible to determine how many will be rolling out of the plan via graduation.

There are some estimates that as many is 80% of those who received the voucher this year were already in private schools before the plan was implemented. Thus, it’s reasonable to assume that most of those qualifying in tier one were in private schools before they received the taxpayer funds, and will continue to receive the taxpayer funds to remain in their same private schools. It is also reasonable to assume that parents were already able to afford tuition before Bill Lee gifted them over $7000 in taxpayer money to keep their children in private school, subsidized by Tennessee taxpayers. In other words, the vast majority of those receiving the voucher funds were not escaping poorly, performing public schools despite the fact that that was the main argument promoted by those in support of the plan.

Now, on the surface, tier 2 sounds like something supportive of lower-income families in Tennessee who normally can’t afford private school, right? They get priority before the wealthy; except for the wealthy who had already received the taxpayer benefit in year one. Tier 2 is intended to appear equitable and an opportunity for lower income Tennessee families

However, it isn’t equitable at all.

To qualify for free and reduced lunch, a family of four can make no more than $41,000 a year.

Now I bet you’re wondering how much private school even costs. Let’s look at the tuition for Clarksville Academy in Tennessee. Tuition is about $20,000 for the year. Webb School in Knoxville is about $25,000. The average private school tuition across Tennessee is about $14,000. The Muslim schools in Memphis charge around $6,000. Some Christian schools across the state also charge about that same amount. The voucher covers about $7,3,00. What happens when the tuition is LESS than the voucher amount? Or when students are receiving other scholarship funds from their private school?

Can poor families really afford the tuition at premium private schools under this tier system? Or, are we creating a two-tier, no pun intended, private school system where the poor can only afford to go to the lower quality private schools while the wealthy get a taxpayer subsidy to attend the same premium private schools they are already enrolled in.

For the most expensive private schools, a family of four who qualifies for free and reduced lunch would need to spend at least 25% of their yearly salary to send ONE child to private school—likely more. Let’s be real here: they cannot afford that. So now all of that 2d tier priority becomes meaningless.

The second tier is purely for show. It’s a pretty picture being painted that the state is going the extra mile to support low-income families who normally wouldn’t be able to afford private education. But let’s be honest: most all of the families on free and reduced lunch cannot afford private school tuition, even with that $7,300 voucher. A family of four making $41,000 a year can barely survive as is. One-third of their yearly income likely goes to rent alone.

Do we really think they can afford to spend another third of their income on private school tuition for one child—and then cover all other expenses (water, electricity, food, car, phone, etc.) with the remaining $13,000 a year?

Tennessee’s voucher plan is not about “choice”. It is a taxpayer funded coupon for the rich. This is just another way to put money back into the pockets of wealthy families while keeping the poor… poor. And attending the poorest public schools in Tennessee that will be even less funded thanks to the Bill Lee voucher plan, with or without bogus tiers.

Steve Gill is Editor and publisher of TriStar Daily.