Education Freedom Scholarships

A few years ago, Tennessee began offering Educational Savings Accounts (ESAs) to Hamilton County residents who meet certain eligibility requirements and complete the application process. Several BBS families currently participate in this program.

This blog post introduces a new scholarship opportunity that is available to many of our families. This program has fewer income restrictions than the ESA program. The Educational Freedom Scholarship (EFS), launching for the 2025–26 school year. There will be two scholarship options available:

  • 10,000 scholarships based on financial need (for families earning up to 300% of the poverty level)

  • 10,000 scholarships available to families regardless of income

You can find the most up-to-date information about the Tennessee Education Freedom Scholarship here.

The State of Tennessee will administer the EFS program, including application processing and scholarship awards. The application portal will open on May 15th.

An application must be completed for each eligible student in grades K–12. For each submission, the appropriate application pool must be selected. Scholarships will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis for completed applications. In future years, priority and preference will be given to current scholarship recipients who remain eligible. We are encouraging all interested families to apply this year.

To be eligible, a student must:

  • Be a resident of Tennessee

  • Be entitled to attend a public school in any grade from kindergarten through twelve (K–12)

Brainerd Baptist School is a Category III school and meets all requirements to participate in this program. We also want to our families to know that the legislation for EFS specifies that participating schools are not required to change any of their current policies or practices regarding their creed, mission and values, curriculum, admissions, financial aid, or hiring to take part. If at any time we feel like our independence is impacted, Brainerd Baptist School will no longer participate in the program.
While we are still working to learn all the details of this new program, we are happy to help you in any way we can. You can contact Chris Shields for assistance.

Sean Corcoran