NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The debate over who controls America’s schools is increasingly defining Republican politics in Tennessee and across the country.
In an Oct. 28 op-ed for The Tennessean, Club for Growth Action president David McIntosh wrote that “school freedom” — the term widely used by conservatives to describe voucher and school-choice programs — has become “the heartbeat of America’s reform movement” and the new test for GOP candidates.
McIntosh cited Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District special election as evidence, arguing that voters rewarded candidates who “trust parents, not bureaucrats.” He pointed to Gov. Bill Lee’s Education Freedom Act as the dividing line in the Oct. 7 Republican primary, crediting Matt Van Epps’ victory over Jody Barrett to support for Lee’s plan and President Trump’s education agenda.
“School freedom wins, and Republicans who oppose school freedom should expect to lose their next primary,” McIntosh wrote.
He connected Tennessee’s results to Texas, where Club for Growth Action supported Gov. Greg Abbott’s school-choice campaign and helped unseat several GOP incumbents who voted against it. McIntosh said the 2026 election cycle will test whether Republican candidates “stand with parents or with the union bosses.”
The column’s timing coincides with new national polling that shows widespread agreement with McIntosh’s message.
According to The Center Square Voters’ Voice Poll, conducted Oct. 2–6 by Noble Predictive Insights, only 11 percent of Americans believe the federal government should control education standards. A plurality, 33 percent, said local school districts should set curriculum, testing and school-choice policy, while 23 percent favored giving that authority directly to parents.
Pollster Mike Noble said the findings reflect a clear shift away from Washington’s influence.
“Voters across the board are clearly signaling ‘less D.C., more local control,’” Noble said.
Among Republicans, 32 percent favored parent-driven control, compared with 13 percent of Democrats. Democrats were most likely, at 41 percent, to support local district control.
The results align with the Trump administration’s effort to decentralize education policy. In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order empowering Education Secretary Linda McMahon to begin dismantling the U.S. Department of Education and return authority to the states.
McMahon told an education-law conference in September that the goal is to “return education to the states” while expanding apprenticeships and trade programs.
Together, McIntosh’s op-ed and the new polling capture how the school-choice movement has evolved from a policy debate into a defining issue for Republicans, linking Tennessee’s state politics to a broader national realignment on education governance.
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