Vouchers Still Not a Done Deal, Insists Haslam

Governor Bill Haslam says there will be a time to debate whether Tennessee should set up a school voucher program. Haslam’s education commissioner is leading a task force on diverting public school funding to pay for private educations; the group is not talking about whether to do so, but how.

A meeting this week saw task force members tussle over whether a voucher program could be underway by next school year, but Haslam insists it’s not a done deal.

“There will be a time to discuss if it should happen. Our discussion has been about if it does happen, what should it look like? I want to be real clear: there will be a full discussion in the General Assembly about whether or not vouchers are the right thing.”

Fans of vouchers have waited awhile for consideration, Haslam says, and he doesn’t want to keep putting the matter off. At the same time, he says it’s too soon to know whether he’ll offer specific legislation.