top of page

The Tennessee Education Freedom Scholarship (EFS) Program is a school choice program that was passed by the Tennessee General Assembly on January 30, 2025, and signed into law by Governor Bill Lee on February 12, 2025. This program will allow a resident of Tennessee with a child entitled to attend a public school in grades K-12 to use state funds toward education expenses, including tuition and/or fees at registered non-public schools located in Tennessee.  St. Edward School intends to participate in this program.
 
The EFS Program will offer 20,000 scholarships in the first year of operation—10,000 scholarships are income-based scholarships, and 10,000 scholarships are non-income-based scholarships.  

At this time, the Tennessee Department of Education is working to develop program resources to share with interested schools and families.  Look for the press release on Tuesday, March 11, 2025.

What are the student eligibility requirements for the scholarship?

  • Student is a resident of Tennessee who is entitled to attend a public school in any of the grades kindergarten through twelve (K-12).

  • Student is lawfully present in the United States.
     

How do I apply for my student to participate?

  • The EFS student application for the 2025-26 school year will be available this spring on this webpage.

​

How many EFS scholarships are available for the 2025-26 school year?

  • The department will award 20,000 scholarships as follows, in the order in which the department receives COMPLETED scholarship applications:

    • 10,000 scholarships are available for eligible students who meet one (1) of the following criteria:

      • A student’s annual household income does not exceed three hundred percent (300%) of the amount required for the student to qualify for free or reduced-price lunch as provided in the income eligibility guidelines published by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Services (see chart below); or

      • The student is an eligible student as defined in Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-6-2602 or Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-10-1402.

    • 10,000 scholarships are available for eligible students, regardless of the eligible student’s income.

bottom of page