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HB2286 would eliminate all three of Tennessee's major school choice programs, stripping families of publicly supported alternatives to government-assigned schools.
OUR POSITIONHB2286 proposes the outright repeal of the Tennessee Education Savings Account Pilot Program, the Education Freedom Scholarship Act, and the Individualized Education Act. Rather than refining or reforming these programs, the bill eliminates them entirely, removing every state-supported pathway that currently allows families to choose an educational setting outside the traditional public school system.
Scripture is clear that the primary responsibility for a child's upbringing and instruction rests with parents, not civil government. Proverbs 22:6 and Deuteronomy 6:6-7 together establish that parents bear the foundational duty to direct their children's formation. Tennessee's school choice programs reflect this principle in law by giving families real authority over where and how their children are educated. This bill moves in the opposite direction, consolidating that authority back into a single government-assigned system.
The practical burden of this repeal falls most heavily on lower-income families. Families with sufficient financial resources can already access private and faith-based schooling regardless of state policy. These programs exist precisely to extend that same freedom to families who could not otherwise afford it. Repealing them does not create neutrality; it creates a two-tiered system where educational choice becomes a privilege of wealth rather than a right of parenthood.
The breadth of this legislation is also worth noting. Eliminating three distinct programs in a single bill is not a targeted correction of documented problems. It is a wholesale dismantling of educational pluralism in Tennessee. No evidence is offered that these programs have failed families; the bill simply removes the options they provide.
The American Council opposes HB2286. Legislation that narrows parental authority over children's education, restricts access to faith-based schooling, and concentrates educational decision-making in government institutions runs contrary to both sound public policy and the foundational convictions we hold about the family's God-given role in the formation of children.
HB2286 is a Tennessee House bill amending Title 49 on school choice that currently sits within the House Education Committee's K-12 Subcommittee, where it was most recently taken off notice for calendar on March 24, 2026, meaning it was pulled from the subcommittee's scheduled agenda. Being taken off notice indicates the bill is in a holding pattern with no active calendar date, which in Tennessee legislative practice often signals the bill is stalled or being reassessed during the session. The Tennessee General Assembly's 2026 session has finite committee deadlines, so the period immediately before any new subcommittee calendar date is when constituent contact with K-12 Subcommittee members and the bill's sponsor is most consequential.