Photo: Tennessee Supreme Court building in Nashville, Tennessee Photo Credit: Thomas R Machnitzki / CC
The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –
The Tennessee Supreme Court listened again to arguments concerning Governor Bill Lee’s controversial school voucher program on February 23, just shortly before Lee released his new education funding plan.
The case was heard previously in 2021 but the court decided to postpone further hearings until after a new special justice was elected following the death of Justice Cornelia A. Clark.
The case is a challenge to Governor Lee’s Tennessee Education Savings Account, which allows eligible students to use state education funding to attend private schools.
The pilot program, which was approved by the Tennessee General Assembly in 2019, currently allows students in Metro Nashville and Shelby County Schools to apply the funds to private school tuition. The program would increase the number of participants gradually over a five-year period.
Both county governments for those districts brought the suit against Governor Lee, the state Education Commissioner, and the Tennessee Department of Education, saying it was a violation of the Tennessee Constitution’s home rule provision because it targeted their jurisdictions without their consent.
According to the state, the program does not violate the home rule amendment because it targets the school district separately and not the county government itself. Instead, they argue that it provides students with much-needed options for their education.
“The pilot program is intended as a first step in giving low-income children in Tennessee’s worst-performing schools the same opportunity that more affluent or privileged children have to get an education that is best suited to them,” said Tennessee Solicitor General Andree Blumstein.
Opponents argue that the law will take away funding from schools that are economically disadvantaged. School systems would have to send funding for those students to private schools, forcing them to use their state funding for students who are not attending their schools, according to Former Metro Law Director Bob Cooper.
The counties continue to argue that the program takes away their decision-making abilities on how to spend their money for education. Cooper argued that funding “ghost” students would be a burden on the counties financially.
*** Click Here to Support Conservative Journalism in Tennessee. We can’t cover stories like this without your support! ***
Justice Jeff Bivens questioned Cooper several times as to whether the amount of money that the counties were spending would actually change that much.
Blumstein, along with attorneys Daniel Suhr and Arif Panju, continued to reiterate that the law was a requirement on school districts, not counties, and did not fall under the home rule amendment.
“Metro struggled mightily at the podium to explain why this law applies to them,” Suhr said. “The questions you’ve heard from the justices were worth the understanding that previous times in cases like this have come up, the court has upheld this, essentially.”
It is rare for the court to hear arguments for a second time. Judge Thomas R. Frierson, II, of the Tennessee Court of Appeals was selected to serve as a temporary fifth judge in the case. Shortly after, Governor Lee appointed Justice Sarah Campbell to the Court. She recused herself from this case, however, because she previously worked for the Attorney General’s office.
If this motion for summary judgment is denied for Metro and Shelby County, the case will return to the trial court.
About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career. Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History. Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com
