Gov. Lee says Tennessee school voucher bill done for the year

UPDATE:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WDEF) — Throughout the past few months, Gov. Bill Lee has pushed to expand school vouchers across the state of Tennessee.

Dubbed the Education Freedom Act, he has been arguing that this piece of legislation would help expand access to quality education to students across the state.

However, the bill did not pass the test of the Tennessee Legislature.

Gov. Lee announced on Monday that his push to pass a universal education bill has failed for this year’s legislative session.

The governor said he was “extremely disappointed” and claimed their broad universal support for the proposal.

However, J.C. Bowman of the Professional Educators of Tennessee says that’s been anything but the case.

Bowman said, “They’ll go up and ask you the question, the poll question is, “Do you support school choice?” and the answer is, “Yeah, we support school choice.” It’s when you start defining it, “Do you we should be paying for a kid in private school. That we should be $7,000… $7,075 toward that kid’s private school tuition.” Most will tell you they don’t support that.”

Disagreements arose between House and Senate Republicans in Nashville.

Bowman said, “Nobody saw a plan until almost the end of February. When [Gov. Lee] rolled out the plan, it was very poorly done. Recognizing that, the House of Representatives and the Senate took on divergent paths to fix it… Their logic was “we’ll never get another opportunity” because the Governor has been focused almost singularly on vouchers.”

Gov. Lee said he believes the issue of school voucher programs will come up again during next year’s legislative session.

Bowman believes that outside forces will make sure that this will be back on the docket.

He said, “Those groups are going to come in and spend millions of dollars to try to influence upcoming elections to get this back on the floor.”

For now, he believes pressure will continue to mount against this particular school voucher program.

Bowman said, “They use the term school choice, and they’re like, “If you’re not for this universal plan, you’re not for school choice.” I’m for every bit of school choice, everything they talk about rolling out, except for paying for kids that our Constitution does not require us to pay for.”

If this is to come up again, it would not be until early next year.

SEE PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WDEF) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s school voucher bill has come to a halt for the year. He said there is no way to move forward with the bill.

This bill would be an expansion of previous school voucher bills, which Gov. Lee calls “School Choice” programs.

The failure of this bill does not affect the areas where school choice is already in effect. For instance, Hamilton County Schools will not be affected.

One reason it could not move forward is that lawmakers simply couldn’t agree on it.

Read Gov. Lee’s full statement below.

I am extremely disappointed for the families who will have to wait yet another year for the freedom to choose the right education for their child, especially when there is broad agreement that now is the time to bring universal school choice to Tennessee.

While we made tremendous progress, unfortunately it has become clear that there is not a pathway for the bill during this legislative session.

I want to thank the thousands of parents and students who made their voices heard, and I have never been more motivated to provide them with the ability to choose what’s best for their family.

I also want to thank the speakers and leaders of both chambers for their commitment to pursuing education freedom next year.

It’s very simple — this is about every Tennessee student having the opportunity to succeed, regardless of their zip code or income level, and without question, empowering parents is the best way to make sure that happens.