Image Credit: Calvary Chapel of Columbia / YouTube & State Representative Scott Cepicky / Facebook
The Tennessee Conservative Staff –
An avid supporter of parental choice and school vouchers in Tennessee called Governor Bill Lee’s proposal of educational scholarships “terrible” while speaking at a Maury County candidate forum.
State Representative Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka-District 64) responded with criticism to a question raised by a public school teacher in the audience regarding the possibility of school vouchers in Tennessee.
“The governor’s bill was never heard in committee,” Cepicky replied. “We said, ‘Absolutely not.’”
Cepicky explained that neither the House nor the Senate chose to act on the legislation proposed by Governor Lee, opting instead to carry their own individual versions of the bill.
The House version of the bill was authored by Cepicky, who has been a key supporter in the fight for school choice.
“There were three bills. The governor’s bill, I’m not afraid to say this, was terrible,” Cepicky said.
Cepicky noted that Lee’s plan would have required an extra billion dollars in the budget and would have put the state in a risky place financially, similar to the state of Arizona which is dealing with a $1.4 billion shortage partly due to the voucher program that was started in 2022.
“We put parameters in place to make sure this would not break the bank in Tennessee,” he stated.
According to Cepicky, one key difference in the House version of the bill was the removal of homeschoolers being allowed to take part in the program because of a possible lack of accountability.
His primary opponent, Maury County Commissioner Ray Jeter, stated that he “fundamentally supports” school choice, but he fears the legislation would take funding away from public schools in excess and also warned against allowing the government to interfere in private education.
Governor Lee continues to stand by his proposal for school choice, going so far as to refer to it as “the civil rights issue of our time” at the Republican National Convention.
