Main article photo: Rep. Scott Cepicky argues in favor of Gov. Lee’s school voucher bill Credit for all photos: Adelia Kirchner / The Tennessee Conservative
The Tennessee Conservative [By Adelia Kirchner] –
After four grueling hours of discussion on the chamber floor yesterday, Gov. Bill Lee’s (R-TN) voucher bill passed in the House of Representatives by a 54-44 vote.
27 different amendments to the legislation were filed for consideration on the House floor, only one of which was added to the bill.
House Amendment 6001 (HA6001) was brought by Rep. Scott Cepicky in order to make the House version of the legislation match the Senate version of the legislation as amended by the Senate in committee.
All the other amendments were filed by Democrat lawmakers except for House Amendment 6029 (HA6029), which was filed by Rep. Chris Hurt (R-Halls-District 82).
This amendment would have added new language to House Bill 6004 (HB6004) dictating that “a private school shall not discriminate against a student participating in the program based on the student’s disability.”
“I’ve got a lot of concerns with this bill, but the one I look to address in this amendment is to offer, strengthen, an equal opportunity for our students with special needs,” said Rep. Hurt.
Bill sponsor Rep. William Lamberth (R-Portland-District 44) responded to the amendment saying that, “If a child takes advantage of a scholarship and they move from a public school to a private school, they are waiving that public school having responsibility to continue with their IDEA program.”
He explained that the student would be waiving that responsibility specifically for the public school which the student would no longer be attending, and that the responsibility of upholding federal law would be on the private school.
The motion to table this amendment failed with 33 ayes and 64 nays, meaning discussion and a vote on the amendment was allowed.
Rep. Clay Doggett (R-Pulaski-District 70) and Rep. William Slater (R-Gallatin-District 35) expressed that they voted against tabling the amendment because they felt it was a good discussion to have.
“If we’ve got a school in our state that may specialize in autism, with this amendment, if an individual applies to that school that may not have autism but has down syndrome, they’re not going to be able to properly accommodate and educate that child,” said Rep. Doggett. “Which could in return, have that school being sued into oblivion, because those specific needs cannot be met for this child. And so that’s something that we need to consider.”
“We want to make sure that we are ensuring the best possible avenue of success for every child in this state,” he concluded.
Rep. Hurt’s amendment was voted down by a 54-37 vote.
An amendment that would have required private schools in Tennessee to run criminal background checks on staff or contracted persons who hold positions requiring proximity to children, direct contact with children or access to grounds of the school was brought by Rep. Gabby Salinas (D-Memphis-District 96).
House Amendment 6020 (HA6020) was tabled by a 75-24 vote.
This was likely because HA6020 would have resulted in the government dictating private school operations.
The current House Rules of Order only allow a certain amount of time for each party to debate on the House floor.
Democrat leadership chooses how their party’s time is divided out amongst Democrat members and the same goes for Republican leadership and their members.
On Thursday, Tennesseans only got to hear from two Republican representatives who voted against the school voucher bill.
Rep. Lowell Russell (R-Vonore-District 21) and Rep. David Hawk (R-Greeneville-District 5) were each allowed 2 minutes to discuss their reasoning on the House floor.
“I remember when I heard, they wanted to do two things,” said Rep. Russell. “They wanted to help the children, help the teachers, both the public-school teachers and the private school teachers. But the concerns we got is it seems that we’re paying double and the money is not following the child.”
Rep. Russell explained that he did not see the principles he grew up with, cutting spending and smaller government, in this legislation “because the math just simply does not add up.”
“At the end of the day we want the best for our students,” he stated. “However, I just don’t think we do that with this bill. I got a lot of respect for the sponsor, but I’ll be voting for less spending and smaller government.”
Rep. Hawk took a different approach to his comments, taking part of his two minutes to defend his colleagues.
“I don’t begrudge how anyone votes on this bill,” started Rep. Hawk, “but I do find incredible frustration on the antics and the comments that I’ve seen over the last few days that question the integrity of anyone in this room, or question the integrity of anyone down on the first floor. That’s wrong.”
“Everyone in this room has the same equal vote to do what we’re trying to do. I am a no on this bill, but I’m not opposed to it because of any of the comments that anybody has made. I’m not opposed to the bill because of any of the antics that we’ve seen over the last two days,” he continued. “I’m opposed to the bill because the people in my district have asked me to oppose the bill.”
There were other Republican lawmakers who voted against HB6004 that did want to speak during the floor debate but were not acknowledged due to a pre-established distribution of time amongst a “list” of members.
The official House floor vote on record for HB6004 was 54-44.
However, it was reported that Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis-District 86) pressed the wrong button, accidentally casting a vote in favor of the bill.
So the intended vote on the governor’s “Education Freedom Scholarship Act” was 53-45. However, the Official vote will stay 54-44. The court clerk stated that Rep. Pearson can have his NO vote reflected in the journal, but it will not be reflected in the official vote record.
The total “yes” vote count needed for this legislation to pass in the House was 51.
Republican Representatives voting no were:
Rebecca Alexander, Fred Atchley, Jody Barrett, Rush Bricken, Jeff Burkhart, Tandy Darby, Monty Fritts, David Hawk, Gary Hicks, Dan Howell, Chris Hurt, Kelly Keisling, Kevin Raper, Michele Reneau, Lowell Russell, Rick Scarbrough, Paul Sherrell, Tom Stinnett, Ron Travis and Todd Warner.
Representative Jerome Moon was present but did not vote.
HB6004/SB6001 went on to pass the Tennessee Senate by a 20-13 vote.
As of Thursday afternoon, Tennessee’s special session on disaster relief, immigration, and the “Education Freedom Scholarship Act” has officially come to a close.
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. Adelia is The Tennessee Conservative’s on-site reporter for the Tennessee General Assembly. You can reach Adelia at adelia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
