Governor’s Voucher Program Moves Ahead with Bipartisan Support

Rep. Joe Pitts of Clarksville was the only Democrat on the committee to vote no. The other two voted in favor of school vouchers.

State lawmakers raised several reservations but ultimately passed Governor 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.”

Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman says it would be up to the private school whether to feed voucher students at no charge.

The legislation passed easily with the help of two Democrats voting yes.

Some lawmakers would like to broaden the voucher bill to make it more widely available. The measure could still be amended in several committees. But Governor Bill Haslam says he included initial limits for a reason.

“We didn’t just decide to a point where we thought ‘oh, this can get passed.’ We really did go through, pull a lot of people in and went through a thoughtful process of ‘what do we think is right for Tennessee right now?’ So this wasn’t just a ‘huh, I think we’ll pick a nice place in the middle on vouchers.’”

Haslam was reluctant to give lawmakers an ultimatum, but says he’ll make clear he likes his proposal the way it is.

Daniel Potter and Chelsea Mihelich contributed to this story