Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee made school vouchers his top priority but the issue died in the Legislature despite its Republican supermajority. He will bring the issue back next year. He’s hoping for universal vouchers, where every student in the state is eligible for a voucher but opponents call his plan a subsidy for the wealthy who already are attending private schools.
In eastern Tennessee, and very likely across the entire state, parents and educators heaved a huge sigh of relief.
Dustin Park is a parent of kids who go to school in Maryville. He’s opposed to the universal school voucher plan because he said it excludes students with disabilities.
“The only thing that protects kids with disabilities is that federal law,” Parks said. “A bedrock of our public schools is that they accept everybody.”
The school district he sends his children to supports his stance.
“We continue to maintain our belief that public funds should not be diverted to private entities, and taxpayers should not be required to subsidize private schools that are not held to the same standards of accountability and inclusivity as public schools,” said Mike Winstead, Director of Maryville City Schools. “If the Education Freedom Scholarship Act passed, it would have been harmful to the very students and vulnerable populations it maintained to assist.”
Dave Gorman is a teacher at Knox County Schools and also said he’s not sure lawmakers will listen to their constituents.
“We also have seen enough dirty dealings,” Gorman said. “We’ll never forget when Jason Zachary was the deciding vote to bring vouchers to a couple of cities in the state a few years ago — when it looked like it was about to die and he changed his vote.”
Knox County Schools provided the following statement about the proposal failing.
“As we have stated before, our attention has and will continue to stay focused on our students and providing them with a high-quality education. We are confident that our families will continue to choose KCS regardless of what happens at the state level.”
Several school districts across East Tennessee also said they also are pleased a school voucher plan would not pass this session…
Kelly Johnson, Director of Clinton City Schools
“Elected officials are responsible for listening to their constituents, not answering to outside special interest groups. We know Governor Lee plans to bring it back next year. It is my hope that the citizens of TN remain vigilant in celebrating the many successes of public schools.”
The billionaire funded outside special interest groups will be back next year. Parents and educators should vote to replace those who want to undermine public schools.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Re “Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee made school vouchers his top priority but the issue died in the Legislature despite its Republican supermajority. He will bring the issue back next year.”
The problem with issues like this is their asymmetry. It takes a huge effort from many folks to oppose such moves but minimal effort to launch a repeat effort on the part of the voucher advocates. If you oppose and “win” it just means you have to do the same next year. If you lose, you are stuck with the consequences for many, many years.
Think about the Ten Commandments in the schools efforts as another example. These zombie laws never seem to die, or rather they spring back to life over and over.
This is a manifestation of the wealth asymmetry in our country. The wealthy have the resources (money) that is used in place of effort. We have only effort and so need many people, well-coordinated to oppose them.
A “small” bribe to the Governor, aka a “campaign donation” or promise of a “job” after he leaves office and you are up and running.
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you are right. The republicans will come back next and likely win. This is what happened here in Georgia. Last year the House turned it down. This year they won. We have voucher worth $6500 per child if they have spent one year in a “failing” school. There are very few private schools that have tuitions this low- try $25k -$50k.
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Jack, the vouchers will subsidize kids already in private schools. And encourage the growth of low-quality religious schools that discriminate against kids they don’t want.
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Diane,
yes, that is exactly what will happen here. Gov Kemp has been pushing vouchers for years. If they put on the ballot, Georgians would reject it, I believe.
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Sounds like something good is going on in Tennessee, with the VW union vote and the rejection of vouchers.
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The interesting thing about the East Tennessee reaction to Lee is that it highlights the three divisions of our state. Reaching deep into the history of Tennessee, East, Middle, and West Tennessee have been for most of its existence very different from each other. East Tennessee was always reliably Republican due to the Civil War, during which time it was kept a part of Tennessee militarily at first, then due to the early union occupation of most of Tennessee. While they vote Republican, they do not always support Middle or West Tennessee Republicans. Gov Lee is from Williamson County, just south of Nashville, where wealthy suburban areas have grown up since 1980. Many of the Middle and West Tennessee Republicans are supportive of a radical agenda, but their rural and micropolitian nature sets them at odds with Lee, who wants the end of public education.
Meanwhile there is great tension between the urban areas and the rural areas. Nashville is a Democratic Stronghold that has been gerrymandered out of a representative within the last two years, and Memphis is reliable Democrat.
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