Tennessee 114th General Assembly Status: Passed Senate 1 D cosponsors

SB 1978 — AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4, Chapter 29; Title 8, Chapter 44; Title 10, Chapter 7 and Title 49, Chapter 6, relative to education freedom scholarships.

Last action — Assigned to General Subcommittee of Senate Education Committee

  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. ✓
    In Committee
  3. 3
    Passed Senate
  4. 4
    Passed House
  5. 5
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill has passed the Senate. Introduced January 22, 2026. It now moves to the second chamber.

Next likely step: consideration and a floor vote in the House.

Odds of enactment

High chance

Based on the sponsor, cosponsors, and committee posture, this bill has a high chance of becoming law.

Upgrade to see the exact probability and what's driving it.

A statistical estimate from our own model of past outcomes — an insight, not a guarantee. Policymaking is volatile.

Prognosis

Stalled 28% · moderate confidence

  • Passed Senate

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 1 sponsor

    1 primary, 0 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Single-party support

    Sponsorship is currently within one party (1 D).

Based on stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes, and cross-state momentum — a description of the observable signals, not a prediction.

Summary

School Vouchers - As introduced, establishes various audit and reporting requirements for the department of education and private schools that enroll recipients of an education freedom scholarship; limits eligibility for the scholarship program to students who are members of a family with an annual household income that does not exceed 300 percent of the amount required for a student to qualify for free or reduced lunch; requires scholarship recipients to be administered the same TCAP tests administered to public school students enrolled in the same grade level or course subject. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 29; Title 8, Chapter 44; Title 10, Chapter 7 and Title 49, Chapter 6.

Bill Text

Action History

  1. Filed for introduction

  2. Intro., P1C.

  3. P2C, ref. to Education Committee

  4. Assigned to s/c K-12 Subcommittee

  5. Placed on s/c cal K-12 Subcommittee for 3/10/2026

  6. Action Def. in s/c K-12 Subcommittee to 3/17/2026

  7. Placed on s/c cal K-12 Subcommittee for 3/17/2026

  8. Failed in s/c K-12 Subcommittee of Education Committee

  9. Filed for introduction

  10. Introduced, Passed on First Consideration

  11. Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Education Committee

  12. Placed on Senate Education Committee calendar for 3/11/2026

  13. Action deferred in Senate Education Committee to 3/18/2026

  14. Placed on Senate Education Committee calendar for 3/18/2026

  15. Assigned to General Subcommittee of Senate Education Committee

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

Export CSV (upgrade) →

1 sponsors · 0 co-sponsors · 132 not signed on

Sponsors (1)

Co-sponsors (0)

None.

Not signed on (132)

132 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 132 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Subjects

education
Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

What does SB 1978 do?
School Vouchers - As introduced, establishes various audit and reporting requirements for the department of education and private schools that enroll recipients of an education freedom scholarship; limits eligibility for the scholarship program to students who are members of a family with an annual household income that does not exceed 300 percent of the amount required for a student to qualify for free or reduced lunch; requires scholarship recipients to be administered the same TCAP tests administered to public school students enrolled in the same grade level or course subject. - Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 29; Title 8, Chapter 44; Title 10, Chapter 7 and Title 49, Chapter 6.
Who sponsors SB 1978?
SB 1978 is sponsored by Akbari, Raumesh (Democrat).
What is the current status of SB 1978?
This bill has passed the Senate. Introduced January 22, 2026. It now moves to the second chamber.
Where can I track SB 1978?
Track SB 1978 free on One Click Politics — get push/email alerts when it moves.

Make your voice heard on SB 1978

Find the representatives who decide this bill and tell them where you stand — for yourself, or mobilize your whole list in one click with One Click Politics advocacy software.

Find my representatives → Run a campaign

Stay ahead of SB 1978

Last checked for changes 3 months ago · updated continuously

One Click Politics tracks every bill in Congress and all 50 states.

Track this bill →