Photo Credit: State Representative John Ragan / Facebook
The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –
Tennessee legislators worked to advance proposed legislation on Thursday that would restore personal freedoms and place limitations on the power of school officials, the health department, and businesses to force COVID restrictions.
The move to protect personal liberties was present in a number of proposals which would do everything from prohibiting mask and vaccine mandates to lessening the required quarantines for individuals who may have been exposed to COVID-19.
Representative John Ragan of Oak Ridge asked the legislation to “draw your attention to ‘ensure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity,’” referring to the opening lines of the U.S. Constitution, as he reminded the legislative body that it was their responsibility to work together to protect those liberties.
The session also included the advancement of a bill that would turn school board positions into a partisan election. The bills advanced in both the House and the Senate.
The bill, sponsored in the house by Speaker Cameron Sexton and Lt. Governor Randy McNally, would make the partisan election a requirement. The Senate version of the bill was amended to allow local parties to decide if they wanted to move forward with the partisan election.
The move to amend and allow local officials to make that determination was proposed by Representative Scott Cepicky and Senator Joey Hensley.
Cepicky stated, “Voters right now have a huge lack of transparency from school board members because they’re able to run as nonpartisan. What this bill does is require individuals to declare Democrat, Republican, or Independent.”
GOP leaders believe partisan school board would help protect individual liberties and make school systems more responsive to policies.
Opponents believe this would make education more political and create more division within school systems and communities.
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As Tennessee’s number of COVID cases continues to drop, legislators are ready to move forward towards a return to normalcy.
Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson noted that, saying, “I wish we could pass a law and say that COVID no longer exists; it does still exist.”
Johnson introduced a bill that would restrict mask mandates in schools, only allowing them if the governor has issued a COVID-19 specific state of emergency. Additionally, the school system would have to have an infection rate of 1,000 cases for every 100,000 residents, and the mandate would have to be approved on a school-by-school basis.
The legislation would also restrict schools and businesses from penalizing individuals for choosing not to be vaccinated.
“We have to get to a place in this state where we recognize and respect people’s decisions about whether or not they receive the vaccine,” Johnson stated.
Tennessee Education Association President Beth Brown is critical of the moves by the legislation.
“These are sweeping decisions, but doing it without stakeholder involvement is creating a lot of anxiety. If it wasn’t so serious, it would be comical,” Brown stated.
The session could end today but is likely to extend into next week before final decisions are made.
Click HERE to view all the bills currently up for consideration in this week’s Special Session.
Find your State Representative HERE.
Find your State Senator HERE.
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 Directory 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
One Response
We as parents need more transparency on what is being taught in schools and a voice in what should be taught. History good and bad. Math, English, writing , economics and More focus on Trade Schools. Prepare students for the work force and money management. You don’t have to have a college education to make good money. Parents should be elected to the board. We should also know their political Get this filth out of our schools