The Tennessee House passed a bill Monday to expand school vouchers, despite several Northeast Tennessee representatives voting no.
The bill would expand the Education Freedom Scholarship program to 35,000 scholarships for the 2026-27 school year. The program is currently limited to 25,000 scholarships, which help pay for students to attend private schools.
The bill passed in a 52-43 vote.
State Representative David Hawk of Greeneville voted against it as did Renea Jones of Unicoi, Rebecca Alexander of Jonesborough and Gary Hicks of Rogersville.
Those voting in favor of the bill included Bud Hulsey and John Crawford of Kingsport, Timothy Hill of Blountville, Tim Hicks of Gray and Jeremy Faison of Cosby.
The bill next heads to the Senate for consideration on Wednesday.
