The Effects of School Vouchers
You may have seen reporting from the Daily Memphian regarding how many students in the Memphis area are receiving school vouchers, which provide $7,295 to assist with private school tuition. Half of the 20,000 available vouchers statewide went to students from limited income families (those earning less than twice the federal free lunch income level based on their family size), while the remaining 10,000 had no income restrictions. There is also no stipulation that a student who currently attends private school is ineligible to receive a voucher, and all funding is distributed on a first come, first serve basis within the two eligibility pools.
Locally, an additional 3,400 students received vouchers, bringing the county total to approximately 5,500 (2,100 students were receiving vouchers in previous years under an earlier state law that created the program in Memphis and Nashville). But geographic data shows that fewer MSCS students received the scholarship in this expansion phase than in the original pilot, meaning that students from several of the municipalities surrounding Memphis received a large portion of the available funds this year.
More than 650 students in Germantown and 440 students in Collierville received vouchers this year, while the geographic area with the largest population of recipients (476) in Memphis was in the relatively affluent 38117 zip code. By contrast, the 38106 zip code in South Memphis received 10 vouchers, Frayser received 13, and Parkway Village received 11.
Recent data from the TN Department of Education shows that students who were utilizing the vouchers during the pilot phase when it was entirely income-limited slightly outperformed their public school peers in reading, but performed at the same level in math. Statewide, however, even the voucher recipients underperform when compared to the state average.
At Seeding Success, we believe every student should have access to a quality school. We will continue to monitor this program as it plays out across Shelby County.
