NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Data obtained by News 2 from the Tennessee Dept. of Education shows the majority of the new “Education Freedom Scholarships,” or school vouchers, were awarded to students who live in the metro/urban areas and some of the wealthiest suburbs in the state.

The vouchers use public money to pay to send students to private schools or other options if their parents choose. The controversial program was passed during a special legislative session this January.

News 2 filed a public records request for the zip codes of students who were awarded a voucher. Through our analysis of the data received, we found that the majority of students who received one lived in Knoxville, Memphis, Nashville, and Chattanooga.

The city with the highest voucher uptake was Knoxville, with 2,557 students receiving a voucher. Next was Memphis, with 1,888 students receiving a voucher. Nashville came in third, with 1,267 students receiving a voucher.

News 2 also discovered more students living in some of the wealthiest areas in the state were awarded vouchers, compared to students in areas with a higher poverty rate.

For example, vouchers were awarded to 439 students from Franklin, 126 in Brentwood, and 168 in Belle Meade. Meanwhile, 20 students in Lawrenceburg, fewer than 10 in Smithville, and 13 in Newport received a voucher.

Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN) defended the program Friday. He told News 2 10,000 of the education freedom scholarships were awarded to income-limited families, or those making less than $173,000 a year, and 10,000 were awarded to families making any amount of money.

“It’s very widespread, it’s evenly divided between those that have income limits and those who don’t; the program is working like it should,” Gov. Lee said.

He also pointed out that the nearly 42,000 applications the state received for the 20,000 scholarships are a sign that the program is desired across TN.

Gov. Lee hopes the fact the high demand will encourage lawmakers to expand the program next year.

“So you’re happy with the results?” News 2 asked.

“The only thing I’m not happy with is that we don’t have more scholarships to give to more income-limited, low-income families and families that aren’t limited in their income,” Gov. Lee said. “I just hope that the recognition that so many Tennesseans wanted this, the applications, there were so many that outnumbered the number available, I’m hoping that we’ll be able to, through the General Assembly, provide more scholarships for Tennessee families.”

Gov. Lee told reporters he plans to include additional funding to expand the Education Freedom Scholarship Act in his next proposed budget.