Tennessee residents support statewide ESA proposal

(The Center Square) – More than 68% of Tennessee voters support statewide Education Savings Accounts, according to a new poll of Tennessee voters from Beacon Center.

The poll asked more than 1,300 Tennesseans between if they supported statewide ESAs that allowed “families of eligible K-12 students can use a portion of their per-pupil funding on certain educational expenses such as private school tuition, tutoring, educational therapy, or other educational purposes.”

Of the respondents, 35% strongly support, 34% somewhat support, 12% somewhat oppose, 7% strongly oppose and 13% were unsure.

In November, Gov. Bill Lee announced a plan with 20,000 ESAs worth an estimated $7,075 each for the 2024-25 school year and an unlimited number of ESAs after that.

The ESA proposal had 85% support from Republicans, 56% from Democrats and 56% from independents.

The poll also asked if the residents would be more or less likely to support politicians who support expanding ESAs with 51% saying they would be more likely to support ESA-supporting politicians.

Another 11% said they would be less likely to support those politicians and 11% said they were unsure and 27% said they would not change their opinion based on ESAs.