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Good morning! It’s Melissa with Chalkbeat Tennessee. I’m working on several cups of coffee this morning after following midterm election results last night.

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn declared victory in the extremely close governor’s race last night. Her campaign education platform offers clues about where her education policy might focus in the coming months. She appears poised to push further expansion of the Education Freedom Scholarship program next year, even though the state has released limited data about how it is performing.

ICYMI, I obtained data this fall illustrating where exactly Tennessee’s Education Freedom Scholarship dollars are flowing. We published exclusive reporting last week on which Tennessee ZIP codes are receiving the most vouchers — there’s more to come on which students and schools are benefiting from the expanded voucher program.

This week, we're launching our end-of-year campaign to raise $55,000 to support our reporting in 2027. I'm asking you to become a Chalkbeat member today.

If you're able, please consider making a monthly donation. Even $5 or $10 a month helps us keep our reporters on the stories that matter, like digging up and analyzing the Tennessee data we’re reporting on this fall. And thanks to generous matching funds, your donation will go twice as far.

Local education coverage is disappearing. Chalkbeat helps families and educators understand what’s changing. We can’t do it without you.

Knox County Schools starts warning employees of layoffs in their departments, Knox News (Paywall)

These schools could face closure as Knox County Schools tries to cut $4 million from budget, WATE

Middle Tennessee substitute removed after reportedly putting student in classroom closet. Here’s what the district says happened, WSMV

After a study found gambling addictions in students, Tennessee has a plan to fight it, WBIR