Image: Senator Jack Johnson makes closing statements for the passage of SB6001. Image Credit: Tennessee General Assembly
The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
Twenty Republican state senators voted to pass Governor Bill Lee’s “Universal School Choice” bill yesterday.
Senate Bill SB6001 (SB6001) carried by Senator Jack Johnson (R-Franklin-District 27) on behalf of Lee in the senate, was passed with a vote of 20 to 13.
Republican Senators who joined the six Democrats in the senate in voting no were Senators Janice Bowling (R-Tullahoma-District 16), Richard Briggs (R-Knoxville-District 7), Bobby Harshbarger (R-Kingsport-District 4), Tom Hatcher (R-Maryville-District 2), Jessie Seal (R-Tazewell-District 8), Steve Southerland (R-Morristown-District 9), and Page Walley (R-Savannah-District 26).
More than one Democratic Senator called out the bill’s lack of fiscal conservatism.
Senator Charlane Oliver (D-Nashville-District 19) who prefaced her remarks by saying, “I might sound like a Republican right now,” also pointed out that it was bad from a business standpoint, with the Tennessee Business Roundtable heartily in opposition, and from a limited government perspective.
According to Oliver, 51 out of the state’s 95 counties have few or no private schools and in urban areas, private schools are full.
“Where is the courage to stand up for your constituents and your conscience?” asked Oliver while imploring her colleagues to “do the right thing.”
As Representative Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill-District 92) said in a social media post after the bill’s passage, “Conservatism is supposed to be about limited government, fiscal responsibility, and local control. This bill is the opposite of all three. It creates a massive new government program with no guardrails, no accountability, and no limits on costs, bloating the state budget and burdening taxpayers for generations. It expands government overreach, creating a new bureaucracy to oversee voucher distribution and compliance, while doing nothing to empower parents or improve outcomes for students. This isn’t school choice. It’s a scam masquerading as reform.”
Warner, who has been outspoken in his opposition to the bill, said that House leadership stymied open debate by picking and choosing who was allowed to speak. One other Republican lawmaker we spoke to last night and who was also opposed to the bill corroborated that he asked to be placed on the list to speak but was not selected.
After hours of debate, Senator Bo Watson (R-Hixson-District 11) wrapped up the arguments by stating that while the bill was not “perfect” that it provided a “framework” that could be refined and improved on in the future.
To that end, Watson urged his colleagues to support the bill by stating, “We will never have that opportunity if we don’t act today.”
Claiming that the bill was “supported by the majority of Tennesseans,” Watson reiterated the “need to act today” and referred to President Donald Trump’s recent announcement that his administration would be expanding federal funding to states that have taken action to create school choice programs.
“Competition makes everyone better,” he concluded.
This argument, that competition will create and inspire public schools to “innovate,” was heard repeatedly over the last few days in support of the “freedom scholarships” but as Senator Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville-District 21) pointed out earlier in the senate’s discussion, the playing field is not a level one.
Yarbro stated that private schools do not have to adhere to state standards like public schools must. While this gives private schools freedom in how they teach and what they teach, the hands of public schools are tied in terms of how creative they can be.
In other states where school choice has been implemented, the ability of private schools to be “creative” has gone awry with fly-by-night schools popping up to take advantage of voucher money for a few years before folding and forcing students back into public schools where according to Yarbro they may need remediation, which in turn will cost the state even more in education dollars.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
