As Vouchers Move Toward Reality In Tennessee, Foes Take Aim At Use By Religious Schools

After years of debate, a plan to create Tennessee’s first school voucher program is just steps away from being sent to Gov. Bill Haslam’s desk.

But one final battle may be on the horizon — whether to let religious schools take part in the taxpayer-funded program.

The proposal would cover tuition for as many as 20,000 students who want to attend private schools. Democrat Bo Mitchell sought to highlight just which schools that means. He read off the private schools in his own Bellevue district. All were explicitly religious, except one.

“I’ve got Ensworth. Oh, they’re not going to accept any vouchers.”

The line drew a laugh from voucher opponents who turned out Tuesday for a three-hour hearing of the House Finance Committee.

The meeting was the last hurdle before the voucher proposal,
House Bill 1049, goes to a vote by the full House of Representatives. The state Senate has already approved the voucher program, and Gov. Bill Haslam confirmed Tuesday he intends to sign the bill if it reaches his desk in its present form.

One of the main arguments opponents use is that religious schools have been the most likely to accept vouchers. The Supreme Court has ruled this doesn’t violate the separation of church and state, because parents, not the government, ultimately decide whether to send their kids to the schools.

But opponents have warned darkly that vouchers could lead to the indoctrination of children — by churches, synagogues, even mosques.

House Majority Leader Gerald McCormick said that rhetoric troubles him.

“A couple of lobbyists have come to me. ‘Well, you know this might bring an Islamic school into Tennessee.’ An Islamic school. Now, why would anybody tell me that?”

Still, the question might be the last solid chance at defeating vouchers.

The House Finance Committee approved the measure on an 11-10 vote. But state Rep. David Alexander, R-Winchester, said he plans to offer an amendment on the House floor that would ban vouchers to any school that supports sacred laws, disparate treatment of the sexes or rules against blasphemy.

It’s a clear shot at Muslim schools, Catholic schools and any others with an explicitly religious mission.