Tagged: school voucher program

Tennessee Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris says that lawmakers will either have to approve Gov. Bill Haslam’s approach to a school voucher program or face the measure being withdrawn entirely.

The Collierville Republican told reporters Tuesday that he perceives a growing level of comfort with Haslam’s more measured approach to the bill that would supply a limited number of parents of children in the state’s worst schools with public money to pay for a private education.

The state Senator shepherding Gov. Bill Haslam’s school voucher bill through the legislature says it doesn’t go nearly far enough. He says he will offer an amendment making many more students eligible to have their private school tuition paid with public money.

With proposed restrictions limiting vouchers to poor students attending struggling schools, Sen. Brian Kelsey says just 3.5 percent of Tennessee students would qualify. And only a fraction of those would take the offer.

 “After we do all this heavy lifting to work on this bill this year, if we end up with only two-thousandths of one percent of students being helped by it, I will be sorely disappointed,” Kelsey said.

State lawmakers raised several reservations but ultimately passed Gov. Bill Haslam’s school voucher program in its first test.

Two members of the House Education Subcommittee voted no, including one Republican. The former school superintendent says he doesn’t believe public money should be diverted to private schools. Democrat Joe Pitts of Clarksville voted no after asking if private schools would be forced to still provide a free lunch. Only poor students could qualify for vouchers under the plan.

“I’m just really concerned that we’re targeting that at-risk population, but we’re really not doing anything else to supply that basic human need, which is food,” Pitts said.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam's proposal to create a school voucher program is drawing mixed response from lawmakers and educators.

Proponents say it’s another option for parents seeking to provide a better education for their children. Those opposed say voucher programs are unproven, and they don't like the idea of taking funds from public schools and giving them to private institutions. 

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam says he will introduce his own proposal to create a school voucher program in the state, though he declined to elaborate about which parents he wants to make eligible to use public money to send their children to private schools.