Image Credit: Gov. Bill Lee / Facebook & Jefferson County Schools
The Tennessee Conservative [By David Seal] –
Few issues can inspire both sides of the political spectrum to unite and fight for a common cause. The proposed school voucher bill HB1/SB1 is one such issue.
Note: the voucher bill has been refilled for the Special Session as HB6004/SB6001.
Conservatives fear state control of private school curriculum, wasteful spending and double-dipping, bureaucratic control of private schools, and expansion of government.
Liberals, along with teachers’ unions, universally oppose any state-funded alternative to the current public education system.
Some estimates on the cost of the voucher bill have approached 400 million dollars with 278 million as a minimum first-year cost to taxpayers, notwithstanding the proposal of spending 80% of the Sports Betting sin tax on school building repairs.
Most agree that the cost will likely exceed estimates when the voucher system is fully implemented. As of the date of publication, the proposed voucher bill HB1/SB1 is absent a Fiscal Review Note, leaving to the imagination how high the final cost will be.
Skeptics are asking why the Fiscal Review Committee has not formulated a cost analysis of the bill, given the fact that the bill was filed on November 6th, 2024. Another cost of the voucher bill is administrative costs, which are currently unaccounted for in various media reports.
Parents in remote rural counties with no access to private schools note that they will be paying state taxes for children to attend private schools in urban areas, an issue of tax fairness to that demographic.
Many public school systems are opposing HB1/SB1 on the grounds that new state funding for the voucher system would be better spent to improve existing public schools.
With a vote scheduled for January 27th in a special called meeting, the Jefferson County School Board is likely to join a long list of other counties across the state in opposing the voucher bill. Hamblen and Sullivan County School Boards recently enacted their own resolutions in opposition.
A copy of Jefferson County School Board’s proposed resolution is pictured below.
As one private school parent stated,
“Please read all about this voucher bill. It is not what most think it is. It does the opposite of what you think it would do. Please reach out to your legislators and let them know that you are NOT for the school voucher bill. A parent like me that already has their children in private school will not have access to vouchers because the bill requires applicants to be enrolled in public school to be eligible.” – said Janet Norton, Jefferson County Private School Parent
A homeschool parent expressed another concern,
“If homeschoolers are included in the voucher program during a future legislative session, it may affect the way we teach our children if we must yield to government control of curriculum and teaching methods. The very reason we homeschool is to avoid government controls. You keep your funding, we keep our freedom” – said Shonda Griffin, Jefferson County Homeschool Parent
If you wish to express your views about the voucher bill, you can locate your legislator and their contact information at the following link. Tennessee General Assembly
This handy link will help you find your state legislators by your home address.
Find My Legislator – TN General Assembly
About the Author: David Seal is a retired Jefferson County educator, recognized artist, local businessman, 917 Society Volunteer, and current Chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party. He has also served Jefferson County as a County Commissioner and is a citizen lobbyist for the people on issues such as eminent domain, property rights, education, and broadband accessibility on the state level. David is also a 2024 winner of The Tennessee Conservative Flame Award & has received an accolade from the Institute For Justice for successfully lobbing the TN legislature to protect property rights. David can be reached at david@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
2 Responses
THANX!!
Why can’t the Tennessee legislature craft a bill that will satisfy the educational needs of most of the state and craft another bill that addresses the special needs of the very rural areas that lack the alternatives and/or private schools??
I think it’s because the Tennessee House and Senate along with the Governer are either too distracted with playing politics sticking to the other party or they are too stupid to come up with a solution. Every governor, representative and senator play politics more than being “The Peoples” representative to government to lead and make laws and solutions to problems for the Tennessee people who elected them. I believe many others are sick and tired of them playing their childish games. As Thomas Jefferson questioned…”And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?” Do we need to give them a warning??