Marsha Blackburn. She has repeatedly said she would expand the EFS program (currently 35,000 seats after expanding from 20,000) so “no parent has to win the lottery” for access, emphasizing parental choice. She has not specified an exact cap or number. She has also discussed easing charter-school regulations/“senseless red tape” and supports public charters as potential innovation centers, along with open enrollment ideas. Literacy, retention and licensing: She has praised the third-grade reading-retention law as working (citing improved scores) while supporting earlier literacy interventions before third grade. She has pledged to review teacher-licensing rules to avoid missing potential educators while maintaining standards.
Jerri Green. She has said she would defund the “voucher scheme” in her first budget and redirect funds to public schools. Her platform and statements emphasize fully funding K-12, raising teacher pay, adding counselors/nurses/support staff, investing in universal pre-K, special education, and rural schools. Green has proposed waiving GED testing fees statewide and launching a Public Service Year program for high school graduates. Retention: She has criticized single-test high-stakes retention under the third-grade reading law (citing pressure, teaching to the test, and examples like retakes) and called for reform to eliminate it, relying more on teacher judgment and early interventions.
David Hatley. He said he would pause/freeze expansion of the current program, keep it at its current size (keeping current recipients), publish data on recipients, where the money goes, and student performance, and review results (and has referenced the school-funding formula/TISA in broader education discussions). He supports school choice concepts (e.g., better districts, homeschool) but criticizes the voucher program as not delivering as promised, subsidizing private school for some already enrolled, and diverting from underfunded public education; public schools should remain the focus. His published agenda is less detailed than the major-party nominees’.
Lauren Pinkston. She is “emphatically against” the universal 2025 EFS expansion, calling it divisive and poorly targeted (benefiting families who could already afford private school, while many rural areas lack private options). She would redirect that funding toward public schools/early childhood education, expand daycare/preschool (citing a goal of ~50,000 new slots), improve teacher pay/support, reduce excessive benchmark testing, diversify public options (e.g., Montessori, nature, STEAM within districts), and expand trade/technical pathways. Targeted exception: Her statements support retaining pre-2025/older targeted programs (such as the Individualized Education Account/IEA for certain students with disabilities and related supports like Katie Beckett funding) while opposing the broad universal expansion. This matches the “targeted voucher options for some students with disabilities” description.
Summary: Blackburn favors expanding EFS; Green would end/redirect to public schools; Hatley would freeze and review; Pinkston would end the broad program, prioritize early childhood and public options, with support for retaining certain targeted disability-related programs. The legislature and budget process remain key constraints for any of these approaches.
Positions are drawn from our own and other candidate questionnaires, Chalkbeat surveys, Nashville Banner reporting, campaign sites, and recent forums; they reflect stated policies as of early November 2026 and could evolve. We never tell our members how to vote. We encourage you to research all candidates for yourself and vote for the candidate of your choice.
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