In striking down the law, the judge also put its implementation on hold as the appeal process plays out.

The law was designed to give parents of students at low-performing schools a spending account to pay for their child to attend a private school.

But the judge, Nashville Chancellor Anne C. Martin, struck down the law, calling it “unconstitutional, unlawful, and unenforceable.”

State senator and attorney Brian Kelsey, who voted in favor of the law, defended it in court on behalf of the Liberty Justice Center.

“The state constitution says the legislature cannot file a bill affecting ‘a particular county,’ and ‘a particular county’ clearly means one county. This bill affected two counties: Shelby and Davidson,” said Kelsey.

Martin didn’t buy that argument. In her ruling, she said the law violated the state constitution’s 1953 Home Rule Amendment, which prohibits state lawmakers from targeting one or two counties without approval of the local government or citizens of those counties.

Lee’s office says they “strongly disagree” with the judge and “will swiftly appeal.”

“This ruling is not the end of the case,” said Kelsey.

He said they will appeal to the court of appeals and, if necessary, the state supreme court.

“Don’t lose heart, this is just round one. We’ve got two rounds to go and we fully plan to do everything we can to ensure that these parents and students in schools can start to enroll in the program this August,” said Kelsey.

One of the biggest criticisms of the law is that it only impacts Shelby County Schools and Metro Nashville Schools.

“No other school districts, have a huge number of failing schools like Nashville and like Shelby County have,” said Kelsey. “I know many families, for whom the public school system is working out great for one child, but the other child might have different needs and that’s why they need an education savings account to give them those opportunities.”