Image Credit: capitol.tn.gov
The Tennessee Conservative [By Adelia Kirchner] –
On Wednesday, the Senate version of this year’s school choice legislation was passed out of the Senate Education Committee by a vote of 7-1 with one lawmaker recorded as “present and not voting.”
There are currently two drastically different school choice bills being considered by the Tennessee General Assembly right now.
The 39-page House Bill 1183 (HB1183) has been deemed “The House Public School Omnibus Bill” with only 1 bill section covering school choice and the remaining 48 sections covering a slew of “positive things” to “transform” the public education system.
The 17-page Senate Bill 503 (SB0503) on the other hand, focuses solely on the Governor’s school choice voucher program.
This legislation would allocate 10,000 vouchers for families across Tennessee who maintain an income at or below 300% of the federal poverty level. If passed, each voucher for the upcoming school year would be worth around $7,300.
During this meeting of the Senate Education Committee, SB0503 was amended once again.
According to legislative legal counsel, this amendment simply clarified some of the language regarding public school to public school transfers that will likely occur with out of district students should this legislation become law.
Sen. Jon Lundberg (R-Bristol-District 4) who is sponsoring SB0503 acknowledged the differences between the Senate version of this bill and its companion in the House.
“Our version says if you want to go to a private school, go to a private school. Charter school, go to a [charter] school. Homeschool, go to a homeschool. Public school, go to a public school,” said Sen. Lundberg. “The House says, if you want to go to another public school, forget it. This can only go to private school, it can only go to a charter school, that’s it.”
Sen. Lundberg also made clear that unlike the House version, the Senate version of school choice would be available to homeschool students if they choose to accept a voucher saying, “If you decide to take funds and you want to take funds, there is a testing component but if you don’t want the funds, there is no change to what’s happening right now.”
However, with this legislation the reverse is also true and students currently in public or private schools could use the vouchers to take advantage of homeschooling resources which critics say could significantly impact homeschoolers regardless of whether they accept school vouchers themselves.
Questions about education funding for illegal immigrants were also raised by Sen. Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald-District 28) who asked if school choice vouchers would be made available to illegal aliens in Tennessee.
“This is for information collection, but this does not prohibit anyone,” Sen. Lundberg answered regarding a voucher program requirement for students to provide their social security number.
“In fact,” he continued, “literally it says at the start [of the bill] that anyone eligible to attend a school in Tennessee is eligible for this scholarship.”
“So illegal aliens in the state would be eligible for the program?” asked Sen. Hensley.
“They would be,” was Sen. Lundberg’s response.
Before the committee officially cast their votes, Sen. Hensley also voiced concerns about the major differences between the bill before them and the House’s school choice legislation.
“I really believe this committee is the committee where we set policy,” he said, “and I don’t like voting to send something out of here and it get changed drastically and then we don’t have anymore say on it except just voting on the floor, going to a conference committee that’s three or four people.”
Similar concerns were expressed by Rep. Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill-District 92) in the House Education Administration Committee on Wednesday.
SB0503 was ultimately passed out of the Senate Education Committee by a 7-1 vote.
Republican Senators Crow, Gardenhire, Haile, Pody, Powers, White, and Lundberg voted in favor of the legislation and Democrat Sen. Akbari voted against it.
Sen. Joey Hensley was recorded as present and not voting (PNV).
SB0503 has now been referred to the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee for further consideration.
About the Author: Adelia Kirchner is a Tennessee resident and reporter for the Tennessee Conservative. Currently the host of Subtle Rampage Podcast, she has also worked for the South Dakota State Legislature and interned for Senator Bill Hagerty’s Office in Nashville, Tennessee.
You can reach Adelia at adelia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
