Tennessee Public School Omnibus Bill Narrowly Passes House Subcommittee, Moves Forward To Full Education Committee

Image: Representative Mark White (R-Memphis-District 83) presented HB1183 to the House K-12 Subcommittee. Image Credit: capitol.tn.gov

The Tennessee Conservative [By Kelly M. Jackson] –

After over 2 hours and much discussion, HB1183 – the school voucher legislation that has been called “The House Public School Omnibus Bill,” passed out of the House K-12 subcommittee with a roll call vote of 6 yes, 2 no’s and 2 Present Not voting. 

The bill will move forward to the full House Education Administration Committee.

The Tennessee conservative reached out to several members of the committee who voted in different ways, and received a response from Representative Bryan Richey (R-D20-Blount County) who voted “present, not voting”.

Representative Richey said, “Since the sponsor of the bill decided to introduce the amendment a little more than 24 hours from a vote it did not provide enough time to review and communicate with my district. The amendment mentioned by the sponsor is one of multiple concerns that could have been addressed if this bill had been released last week.”

We also received a response from Representative Gino Bulso (R-D61-Brentwood) who voted “Yes.”

Representative Bulso said, “I voted in favor of the bill because it benefits both public and private education. It expands school choice, which provides parents more options in directing the education of their children. The bill reduces unnecessary testing in public schools, and increases teacher compensation and benefits. The bill has a long way to go in the House, because it must pass in three separate committees: education, government operations, and finance. Before the process is over, all constituencies will have had an opportunity to make their views known.”

Prior to the vote on the bill being taken, Representative Sam McKenzie (D-Knoxville-District 15) requested a roll call vote instead of the standard voice vote. The request was granted by Chair Kirk Haston (R-Lobelville-District 72).

The votes on the bill were as follows: 

Representative McKenzie- No

Representative Bulso- Yes

Representative Hurt- Present Not Voting

Representative Richey- Present Not Voting

Representative Warner- No

Representative Marsh- Yes 

Representative Haston- Yes

Representative Slater- Yes

Representative Stevens- Yes

Representative White- Yes

During the meeting of the House K-12 Subcommittee, the room was full, and there were several in attendance who testified in opposition of the bill due to the possible implications to the state of Tennessee’s education system should it become law.

Some of the questions that were posed by those in opposition were due to concerns about funding and the possibility that the budget projections that have been allocated for the program will be overwhelmed by potential participation numbers. 

Tennessee Education Association representative Drew Sutton quoted budget projections from two other states with a similar program, Arizona and Florida, who according to Mr. Sutton, had an over 1300% overrun in projected costs (AZ) and an over run that amounted to over 2 billion dollars (FL). 

Sutton started his comments by saying, “This proposal creates two parallel systems of education in Tennessee, both equally funded through the same funding source.” 

In other words, he was saying that when private schools take public money, they then become by virtue of this fact, public schools. 

Public schools and the element of government control was next on the agenda, with testimony from Tiffany Boyd, homeschool advocate and director of the Free Your Children Ministry that advocates for education options outside the reach of government intrusion. 

Boyd said, “We already have school choice in Tennessee, we have the choice to send our children to public school, we have the choice to send them to private school, and we have the choice to home school.” 

She continued, “we know and understand what the government funds, it runs, we know and understand school choice initiatives increase government overreach as witnessed in other states. We know that the state of Tennessee is not adequately educating public school students, since you have not been successful at educating our state’s public-school students, why then would taxpayers want the state controlling private education?” 

Finally, Amy Briggs, a public-school teacher from Clay County, who teaches 4^th and 5^th grades ELA and science, expressed her opposition to the bill, having to do with again, government control over material taught in Tennessee public schools. 

Briggs stated, “School choice is a myth, it removes choice and freedom for parents. As a teacher I am bombarded daily with garbage curriculum that comes with government strings attached….we do not need more government control such as is camouflaged in this bill about ‘choice’ “. 

Also requested to testify before the committee, because she happened to be in the hearing room, was State Commissioner of Education, Lizzette Reynolds who was asked a series of questions regarding her opinion of the potential success of the program. 

Reynolds stated that she had been running the limited current ESA program, and that the differences between the two programs would make it difficult to use it as a measuring stick for potential success of the new proposed legislation. 

She did explain that in the current ESA program over half of the children in the program had not yet been in a public-school setting. 

Some of the livelier debate that was had, was due to the fact that the bill had only been available to the majority of the committee for not even 24 hours, and so there was an attempt to roll the bill for one week, initiated by Representative Todd Warner (R-D92-Chapel Hill) in an effort to give the members of the committee a better opportunity to read and absorb the legislation before having to cast a vote. 

The motion was seconded and then promptly defeated by a roll call vote of 6-4. 

The bill will be heard in full House Education Administration Committee at a date to be determined. 

About the Author: Kelly Jackson is a recent escapee from corporate America, and a California refugee to Tennessee. Christ follower, Wife and Mom of three amazing teenagers. She has a BA in Comm from Point Loma Nazarene University, and has a background in law enforcement and human resources. Since the summer of 2020, she has spent any and all free time in the trenches with local grassroots orgs, including Mom’s for Liberty Williamson County and Tennessee Stands as a core member.  Outspoken advocate for parents rights, medical freedom, and individual liberty. Kelly can be reached at kelly@tennesseeconservativenews.com.