NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Tennessee lawmakers voted last week to expand the number of Education Freedom Scholarships to 35,000 slots, which is 5,000 less than what Gov. Bill Lee requested. However, last-second maneuvers to further increase the number of vouchers available to Tennessee families have stalled.
The House Amendment
A move to find another way to expand the number of available school vouchers was the talk of the chambers on Wednesday, though the bill technically never was debated the House floor.
House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) criticized the maneuvers in an interview with NewsChannel 5.
"It’s just more 11th hour shenanigans by the Governor Bill Lee’s administration and this Republican Supermajority," Clemmons said.
Tennessee actually has two voucher programs. There is a statewide version called Education Freedom Scholarships and the original voucher program passed in 2019 called Education Savings Accounts. The ESA program only applies to Davidson, Shelby, and Hamilton county students who meet certain income requirements.
The House plan raises those income requirements, increases the number of vouchers available, and allows students rejected from Education Freedom Scholarships to get the chance to use an ESA instead. "I think trying to mirror it to something closer to the Freedom Scholarship," Sexton said.
Sexton explained how the two programs would interact under the proposal. "If they qualified under the ESA, then the freedom scholarship would count as their application for the ESA if they didn’t qualify for the freedom scholarship, or if they were currently on the freedom scholarship, then they could use the ESA program," Sexton said.
House Democrats were irate over the proposal. "They are literally trying to destroy our public schools on the way out the door, when nobody is paying attention," Clemmons said.
The House was scheduled to possibly take up the change Wednesday morning but delayed a vote until the afternoon. When I asked Sexton if he thought he had the votes to pass the measure, he was uncertain. "Well you never know, we’ll find out when we get to the floor," Sexton said.
Defeated in the Senate
Meanwhile, the Senate considered a pared-down version of the bill that would only change testing requirements for ESA students. Senate Majority Leader Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, sponsored the measure. "This is stronger accountability, it’s more accurate accountability and it’ll make our ESA program better," Johnson said on the Senate floor.
The Senate version failed by one vote, receiving 16 ayes and 14 nays. It takes 17 votes to pass a bill in the Tennessee Senate.
Dead or alive?
Under conventional proceedings, the bid to make changes to the ESA program would be dead for the year. Because both the Tennessee House and Senate have to pass identical versions of bills in order for it to become law, the customary practice would be for the House to take the bill off notice after it failed in the Senate. That's not what happened late Wednesday afternoon. Instead, House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland) moved for the measure to be considered Thursday. That could signal the Senate's intention for re-vote.
State Sen. Kerry Roberts (R-Springfield) has previously supported voucher measures in the Senate and was absent during Wednesday's vote.
Lawmakers still have dozens of bills left this session, but Sexton told me they could adjourn as early as Thursday.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at Chris.Davis@NewsChannel5.com.
It's has been a dry spring for us. Nashville is over 6 inches below normal for rainfall for the year with Clarksville over a 9 inches deficit. Kim Rafferty went to a nursery to get a couple of tips that may be useful for you.
- Lelan Statom
