The Tennessee House narrowly passed a bill on Monday that nearly doubles the number of vouchers available for the upcoming school year. The move garnered pushback from lawmakers who argue that the expansion is a bad financial move that could eventually bankrupt the state.
House members voted 52-43 to raise the number of school vouchers to 35,000. The statewide voucher program – also known as the Education Freedom Scholarships – debuted last year with a total of 20,000 slots. Families from all income levels can apply for a voucher which includes a little more than $7,000 in taxpayer funds that defray the costs of attending private school.
Current state law allows a yearly increase of 5,000 vouchers as long as there’s enough demand. Backers of HB2532 highlight the vouchers’ popularity as a reason for the rapid expansion. Over 56,000 families applied for a spot when applications opened this spring.
However, several Democratic lawmakers refer to vouchers as welfare for the wealthy – referencing a state review that found that most voucher recipients are likely to have already been enrolled in private school.
Rep. Caleb Hemmer, D – Nashville, said the voucher program is one of the state’s worst public policy decisions.
“We’re giving out free money like it’s a broken ATM out here,” he said. “We don’t have infinite resources especially when we’re not doing what we’re supposed to be doing in the first place, which is to fund our public schools.”
On the House floor, lawmakers clashed over a slew of amendments that called for transparency, accountability and promises to ensure that public schools won’t lose funding as the voucher program expands.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. William Lamberth, R – Portland, dismissed those concerns – stating that money for vouchers doesn’t come from public school funding.
“Not one red cent comes from a public school,” he said. “No school will lose any money based on this particular program.”
Still, other lawmakers noted that money for vouchers would be better used to fix the state’s infrastructure needs. Even some Republican lawmakers, like Rep. Monty Fritts, R-Kingston, voted against the measure saying that rural counties are in desperate need of funding that is now going to private schools.
One of amendments to the measure changes the hold harmless provision enacted last year that guarantees school districts won’t lose funding based on disenrollment for any reason. Under the amendment, however, districts will only receive continued funds for students that leave after getting a voucher.
The House measure originally sought to increase the number of vouchers to 40,000 but scaled down to 35,000. This amendment means that the House proposal is now slightly at odds with the Senate version of the bill, SB2247, which still pushes for 40,000 available vouchers next school year.
Gov. Bill Lee is urging lawmakers to stick with the original increase.
“This particular piece of legislation is really important to me,” he said. “We’ve got tens of thousands of families on a waiting list for education freedom scholarships.”
The measure goes to the Senate floor for a vote on Wednesday.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM