On February 10th, 2025, Governor Bill Lee gave his annual State of the State Address in front of a joint session of the Tennessee General Assembly. This year’s theme, “Innovation”, argues that Tennessee should lead the way in the next frontier of the American story. Highlighting current and future outside investment in doing business in the state, as well as investments in conservation efforts, relief grants to farmers and additional funding for the state’s public school funding formula (TISA), the tone of the night was decidedly forward-facing.
Which is why it is somewhat of a disappointment that Tennesseans with disabilities were largely left out of the evening. Last year, the Governor announced the formation of the new Department of Disability and Aging (DDA). In previous years, he announced large investments in raising the wages of Direct Support Professionals, modernizing state parks to make them more accessible and the creation of a more equitable public school funding with dedicated funding weights for special education students. There was no comparable announcement tonight.
Governor Lee began his speech by lauding the work of the Tennessee General Assembly during the recently concluded special session. In the course of the proceedings, the legislature passed a funding bill for Hurricane Helene relief and a suite of immigration bills, as well as the long-sought legislative approval of a universal school voucher program. Passage of the latter legislation was especially disappointing, because it explicitly excluded students with disabilities. A debate on a measure that would have forbidden private schools from discriminating against students on the basis of disability resulted failed to garner enough votes on the House floor. Ultimately, vast amounts of state resources were spent on the special session, with little to none of it going to directly benefit Tennesseans with disabilities.
The Governor then announced $1 billion for the Tennessee Department of Transportation to build and maintain roads and bridges. Tennessee Disability Coalition gave the state a C- for transportation in our most recent Tennessee Disability Scorecard, noting the need for more public options and anti-discrimination measures.
The speech also highlighted the state’s novel “TennCare III” Medicaid waiver, which allows the state to split cost savings with the federal government and repurpose those funds for new programs or new eligibility. Governor Lee lauded the $1 billion saved since the waiver’s inception. These savings have paid for maternal health coverage, diapers and our Medicaid Buy-In bill last year, but it’s also been used for non-Medicaid purposes, like $100 million in funds for hurricane relief. Ultimately, “savings” comes at the expense of spending desperately needed and limited funds on those already in the Medicaid waivers. Tennessee spends, by far, the least amount of its Medicaid funding on its Medicaid population, ranking 51st in the country. This severely limits access to timely and high-quality care and services, to the detriment of Tennesseans with disabilities and their families.
To address the state’s childcare crisis, Governor Lee announced an $11 million investment in Boys and Girls Club to expand their reach, higher pay for childcare workers, streamlining regulatory processes and a new approach to avoiding the benefits cliff in the Smart Steps Child Care Program. Increased access to quality, affordable childcare is vital to ensuring the health of the state and supporting the well-being of our children. It is important that the state also look at their funding for TEIS and pre-k special education to ensure that ALL children have access to a bright start. Pre-K special education is in particular need of attention and an influx of resources, with districts across the state struggling to offer the types of quality services that families need.
In our 2024 Tennessee Disability Scorecard, we gave the state of Tennessee an “F” in housing, highlighting the fact that zero counties in the state are affordable for a household with a disability to purchase a home. Governor Lee announced $60 million for a “Starter Home Revolving Loan Fund” to provide 0% interest loans to build new single-family homes. He also announced full funding for the Rural and Workforce Housing Tax Credit, which makes it easier for developers to build affordable housing. The latter is a great tool available to the state to leverage developers to build affordable AND accessible homes. It will be up to the state’s Tennessee Housing Development Agency to effectively use that tool to ensure that Tennesseans with disabilities have access to high quality, affordable and accessible housing.
Finally, Governor Lee announced an injection of $580 million to the TISA formula for funding the state’s public schools. It is unclear if this is encompassing of funding passed during the special session, but increasing the size of the pot for public schools is welcome and necessary regardless. As the state continues to build upon passage of TISA two years ago, we hope that they will look at special education funding on its own to determine its adequacy.
With the Governor’s State of the State Address, we also get our first view at his administration’s proposed budget. Here are a few highlights from the 598-page administration budget proposal:
- $11 million for additional behavioral health liaisons in Tennessee schools
- $36 million to reduce the ECF CHOICES wait list by 2,500
- $13 million for LTSS workforce development
- $11 million to reduce the OPTIONS and Senior Nutrition Assistance program wait list
- $6.5 million to raise DSP wages to $15.68/hour
- $20 million to reduce the CHOICES Group 3 waitlist by 2,000
Over the past two years, the state has found itself without a substantial budget surplus to fund new initiatives, as the state had seen prior. In the previous several years, the state was able to use that surplus to fund incentives for Ford to build a new factory at “Blue Oval City”, the elimination of the “Hall Tax” on personal investment gains, a new Titans stadium, Grizzlies arena upgrades and business “franchise and excise” tax cuts. In 2024, the state faced a budget shortfall, and is on pace to see another this year (not by much). As we continue to see the state cut sources of revenue, it is a fair question to ask: “how far?” And for the Tennessee disability community: “at what expense?”
A budget, as well as the legislative priorities of the Governor, represent the values of our elected officials and state as a whole; what is worthy of spending our collective prosperity towards? Who needs the support of our neighbors and elected officials? How do we ensure that all Tennesseans are thriving? While we answer these questions, many Tennessee families and individuals with disabilities wait to see ourselves the object of value for state lawmakers. We continue to wait to see the state expand Medicaid, to increase reimbursement rates so that we can see health care providers and receive services, to eliminate waiting lists for waiver programs, to ensure that all Tennesseans have a safe and supportive place to live. As we consider the remainder of the Tennessee General Assembly session and the subsequent budget, we are well within our rights to ask, “when is it our turn?”
As such, it becomes incumbent upon our community to ask that question, “when is it our turn?” We have the right, as taxpayers, voters and citizens, to demand that our state do better by our community. We represent a third of our state’s population, we contribute greatly to our communities and we have inherent value that deserves the same respect, attention and investment that our neighbors without disabilities receive.
I encourage you to join us on March 11th to celebrate Disability Advocacy Day, and to demonstrate or worth and our power at the state Capitol for Disability Day on the Hill on March 12th to demand our liberty, and to decry our limits.
You can RSVP for DDH 2025 events at this link.
You can find a full transcript of the address at this link.
You can watch a replay of the address at this link.
You can find a copy of the Governor’s proposed budget at this link.