Governor’s School Voucher Program Pronounced Dead For This Year

Governor Bill Lee’s controversial School Voucher bill is now officially dead for this legislative session. Lee made that announcement over the weekend after it became obvious that the Tennessee House and Senate were not going to be able to come to agreement on what that school voucher plan would look like. The main idea behind Lee’s plan was for taxpayer dollars to be used to create a fund where public school students that qualified would be given around $7,000 towards the tuition to attend private school, where they could get better education that at a public school.

Democrats railed against the plan claiming it was a ploy to take money away from public schools. The House and the Senate came up with vastly different versions of a voucher bill. The House version made reforms to public school testing requirements, plus added teacher and principal performance assessments, and increased the state’s contribution to teacher health benefits. The Senate version required students who participate in the voucher program to take achievement testing, and allow out-of-county public school enrollment. Governor Bill Lee’s version contained no student testing.

After last-ditch efforts to come up with an agreement failed over the weekend, the governor expressed his disappointment but conceded the bill was dead for this legislative session. Lee indicated he planned on taking up the issue with a new Congress next year.