In one of the most enthusiastic questions in modern Tennessee’s political history, Congress has put a $430 million private voucher program that critics will grow rapidly to $1 billion and put the state’s budget at risk. I narrowly approved it.
The House voted 54-44 to support Bill Lee’s voucher initiative, with 20 Republicans opposed the measure, with only four needed to pass.
Rep. Justin Pearson of Memphis was the only Democrat recorded as a vote on the bill, but he accidentally did it and filed an immediate request to change the vote.
The Senate won 20-13 votes, closing the special session within a week after the governor’s six years of effort to create a voucher program for private schools throughout the state.
“We are making a critical charge without proving that these students will be successful,” said Raumesh Akbari, Senate Minority Leader in Memphis.
In contrast, Sen. Brent Taylor, a Republican Sen. from Shelby County, said he hopes that “all families” will have the same opportunity to get the same private education that his children received. I stated.
Republican Sen. Todd Gardenhire of Chattanooga was expected to vote against the bill, but said his concerns about the finances have been resolved.
Tennessee Republican: Voucher sets state for “fiscal cliff”
Yet another Republican Sen. John Stevens of Huntingdon, said the measure would allow parents to register their children in schools that “align with their values” by referring to schools that have religious affiliations. He said he would do so.
Lee’s plan is expected to send two-thirds of the scholarship to students who are already enrolled in private schools, based on state financial analysis, but offers more than $7,000 each across the state. , and is seeking to increase to approximately 5,000 people a year.
Half of first year students may come from families with 300% of federal poverty levels and an estimated $175,000 in a family of four, while the rest have no income limits. From the first year onwards, the program will not be subject to maximum income. The bill also allows students to attend private online schools.
“We steal from poor city schools and give it to the rich,” said Democrat Beau Mitchell of Nashville.
Congress has put $144 million in the budget for this year’s program, despite the Governor’s private voucher bill failing in 2024. That same amount will be the following budget:
However, for the 2026-27 fiscal year, the state’s financial analysis shows that the voucher would cost $188 million and exceed that amount in the following years.
Approximately $63 million from the state’s sports betting revenues will head towards school construction projects across the state. That section raised concerns that the Tennessee Hope Scholarship Fund, which students use to pay to universities, would suffer.
Additionally, the state will spend $2.6 million to hire 11 people to run the private school voucher program.
“School choice” was a top priority debate for supporters.
But Greenville Republican Rep. David Hawk said he voted against the measure because people in his district are opposed to it.
Another Republican Rep. Lowell Russell of Vonore, East Tennessee, said the bill was against his principles and “simply does not sum it up.”
“I’m going to vote for less spending and smaller government,” Russell said.
However, most House Republicans defended the plan, saying that test results in Florida and Wisconsin showed students receiving the voucher were performing better. Their claims clashed with the claims of Democratic opponents who said students in the voucher program have historically been worse than their peers.
The Republican-controlled House has broken more than 20 amendments raised by Democrats, but Republican Rep. Chris Health has made its way to provide more protection for special needs students who don’t need to be accepted by private schools. I hurt it. Ultimately, House Republicans raised concerns that could derail the bill, which failed 37-54 after an extended debate.
“I can’t sit blankly,” Hart said.
Rep. William Slater, former principal of the Hendersonville Christian Academy, opposed Hart’s revision and called it an “unacceptable situation” as many private schools are unable to handle the needs of special education students.
House majority leader William Lambers worried that the amendment will become a “poison” for the bill as a whole and unaware of the “legal impact” that requires private schools to accept special needs students. Was stated.
The House adopted an amendment by Rep. Scott Sepicky, and the local school board requested that the teachers be approved for a one-time $2,000 bonus for teachers offered in the bill. That provision would cost $189 million in the first year.
Lamberth has pledged that council will raise wages to teachers when regular sessions are convened.
Democrats tried to withdraw the required school board vote and automatically get bonuses, but they couldn’t push them into the Chamber of Commerce.
“Our teachers deserve a bonus because they do a lot of work in our classrooms every day,” Pearson said.
Some Republicans who supported the bill said that if a student loses a student, they have made them more comfortable because of regulations designed to make the entire district “all.”
But Democrat John Ray Clemons of Nashville called the provision “fiction.”
Educational committee members say voucher students didn’t do very well on the state tests.
A financial analysis by the state’s Financial Review Board found that K-12 schools would lose $45 million, bringing just $3.3 million to the 12 districts most likely to lose students in the first year of the program. It was decided that it would become.
Nashville Democrat Bob Freeman predicted that lawmakers will have to reset their “non-reserved” clause within a few years.
Democrats argued that they were “fiscal conservatives” by opposing it.
Clarksville Democrat Ronnie Glynn told the House how he grew up poor and how he went through public schools with the help of his teachers and coaches.
“When we start robbing public schools, we are hurting our kids, low-income children. They won’t thrive from this law,” Glynn said. “Sometimes, artificial laws can contradict moral law.”
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