Image: Rep. Kevin Raper, a Cleveland Republican, says he’s being pressured to vote for Gov. Bill Lee’s school voucher plan. Image Credit: John Partipilo
By Sam Stockard [The Tennessee Lookout -CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] –
An East Tennessee Republican admitted Monday to being pressured to vote for the governor’s private school voucher bill as the legislature speeds the measure toward a vote.
“Oh, you wouldn’t believe,” Rep. Kevin Raper, a second-term House Republican member from Cleveland, told the Lookout after lawmakers convened Monday. He declined to identify who was pressuring him to support vouchers but voted against the bill when it passed the House Education Committee on a 17-7 vote Tuesday.
Similarly to other rural Republicans, he is feeling the heat from school and government leaders in his district, as well as from the general public.
The Bradley County School Board, Cleveland City Schools Board of Education and the Bradley County Commission have publicly opposed Gov. Bill Lee’s $450 million private school voucher program. The government bodies, whose districts are at least partially located in Raper’s district, have stated publicly they are worried vouchers will negatively impact public schools.
The state Republican-controlled legislature is expediting the voucher measure through committees in hopes of wrapping the governor’s special session by the end of the week, despite lawmakers considering other measures related to immigration enforcement, hurricane relief funds and the authority over future toll roads.
Rep. Jody Barrett, another House Republican from Dickson, said Monday that if the legislature approves the governor’s voucher plan, the state will create an “entitlement” program and eventually will run off a “fiscal cliff.”
Republican critics of the plan predict the state will take funds from public schools as soon as private school voucher funding runs dry. The measure also includes a “hold harmless” provision to keep school districts from losing state funds when students transfer to private schools.
Lee and supporters say passing the legislation is critical to give parents “school choice.”
***Note from the Tennessee Conservative: Representative Raper was one of only 2 Republicans who voted against the school voucher bill in the House Special Session Education Committee on January 28th, 2025.
Governor gives out rural grants ahead of special session
Democrats fighting to stop the measure said Monday that the governor’s office doled out two sets of grants within the past week that could be considered incentives for rural Republicans to vote for the voucher bill.
Rural lawmakers netted $7.4 million worth of infrastructure grants for utilities last week, and the governor and Economic and Community Development Commissioner Stuart McWhorter announced $17 million for 11 site development grants on Monday. Most of the grants were for rural districts, including $2.9 million for Spring Branch Industrial Park in Bradley County.
Rep. John Ray Clemmons, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said the grants “just happen to pair up with a lot of swing votes in the House.”
On the heels of the legislature’s franchise and excise tax break last year, which totaled $700 million in rebates and $400 million in annual cuts for the next few years, Democrats said the legislature continues to cater to the state’s most affluent people.
“It is a sheer transfer of wealth upward,” said Democratic Sen. Jeff Yarbro of Nashville.
The bill includes $144 million to provide vouchers of more than $7,000 to up to 20,000 students in the program’s first year. The first 10,000 vouchers could go to a family of four with an income of $175,000 or less, and the other 10,000 would have no income limit.
A one-time $2,000 bonus is provided to teachers, and about $77 million of the state’s gambling revenue can be used for local school construction projects.
But a fiscal analysis of the bill shows two-thirds of the vouchers would go to students already enrolled in private schools. The legislation would remove $45 million from the state’s K-12 funding formula, and only $3.3 million is set aside for 12 public school districts that lose students who transfer to private schools.
Dems complain about time of debate. Republicans deny tying hurricane money and voucher vote.
Democrats complained on the House floor Monday that the governor’s bills are being pushed to passage without ample time for debate. For instance, amendments must be filed 24 hours before a bill is to be heard on the House floor, even though the session could last only three days.
House Majority Leader William Lamberth of Portland objected to the notion, saying the legislature can handle seven bills with ease because it considers hundreds of bills during short time frames in regular sessions.
House Republicans also have rebuked the idea that lawmakers are being pressured to vote for the governor’s voucher bill, saying each measure is being handled separately.
But the funding bills, totaling more than $1 billion, are expected to be taken up as one measure.
