Skip to content
ChoicePaid
Menu

Tennessee programs that pay providers

Tennessee runs the Tennessee Education Freedom Scholarship and ESA. Here's who runs it, how you get paid, and where to start, with the full cited guide one click away.

Programs

Tennessee Department of Education

Tennessee Education Freedom Scholarship and ESA

Tennessee runs two programs providers should know: the statewide Education Freedom Scholarship (EFS), whose marketplace is opening this school year, and the Education Savings Account (ESA) for students in Memphis-Shelby, Nashville, Hamilton County and former Achievement School District zones, which contracts directly with up to 200 service providers.

ESA provider deadline
March 31, 2027 (first 200 approved)1
EFS marketplace
Projected to open Oct 19, 20262
Award
$7,5302

Programs in nearby states

Each program approves providers separately, so serving families across a state line means applying there too.

The federal scholarship tax credit in Tennessee

  • Beginning January 1, 2027, individual taxpayers may be able to claim a Federal Scholarship Tax Credit for cash contributions of up to $1,700 to Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs). A state must choose to participate and give the IRS its list of SGOs before taxpayers can donate to an SGO in that state and claim the credit.3
  • Tennessee is on the IRS list of states that have made an advance election to participate in the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit for 2027 (list as of September 14, 2026).3

What this means for providers will depend on how Tennessee's scholarship granting organizations set up their scholarships. We'll add those rules as they're published.

Where Tennessee sits

Provider guide publishedNo program we cover yetOpted in to the 2027 federal scholarship tax credit

Sources

  1. 1.ESA Service Providers Request for Applications (FY2027), Tennessee Dept. of Education, p. 3, updated Jul 27, 2026
  2. 2.Education Freedom Scholarship program page, Tennessee Dept. of Education, updated Oct 8, 2026
  3. 3.Federal Scholarship Tax Credit (FSTC), Internal Revenue Service, updated Sep 16, 2026

Spot something out of date? Tell us and we'll check it against official sources. Neighboring states: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Virginia.