NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee wants to double his Education Freedom Scholarship Program to 40,000 slots this year, but lawmakers from both parties are now demanding more transparency about how the current voucher system is working before they'll consider the $300 million expansion.
"This program has been incredibly successful," Lee said Monday. "If they want a scholarship, they should get one."
The Republican governor has made expanding the voucher program his top priority, citing demand from families.
"We have tens of thousands of families that want the ability to decide where their kids go," Lee said.
But State Rep. Sam McKenzie, a Democrat from Knoxville, said lawmakers need more information before discussing expansion.
"We're going to double the number of vouchers given, and we don't understand what the first 20,000 were for," McKenzie said.
Currently, the Tennessee Department of Education does not make public any data on how many program participants left public schools to join private schools. McKenzie sponsored a bill to obtain that information, but it has already been defeated for the year. "We don't even know where these students are coming from, so why are you going to double a program that you don't even understand?" McKenzie said.
McKenzie's bill failed in committee earlier this week.
State Rep. Jody Barrett, a Republican from Dickson, has his own version of a transparency bill that asks for even more detailed information.
"That is a significant ask to expand this program," Barrett said. "We need to make sure we're making informed decisions."
Barrett's bill requests data on where students were enrolled before and after entering the program, annual household income of recipients, and the total cost of the initiative including administrative expenses.
"It's really important, I think, for us to find out if that money's getting to the people we want it to get to," Barrett said.
Lee has consistently said parent satisfaction is his primary metric for success. But on Monday, he suggested he might be open to additional accountability measures.
"We need to look to ways to improve it, and if that happens to be accountability measures that aren't currently in there, then they ought to be considered," Lee said.
McKenzie challenged the governor to act on that statement. "To the Governor, I challenge him to say -- do it. You're the Governor, you can make it happen. You can make it happen today," McKenzie said.
While McKenzie opposes voucher expansion even with added transparency, he believes Lee may need those provisions to gain legislative support for doubling the program's size. "What's amazing is the number of my colleagues that came to me after my bill failed, telling me, hey, this was a good bill. I struggled with voting for the vouchers last year, and this doesn't help me support this expanded voucher program," McKenzie said.
McKenzie said if the requested data showed the voucher program was wildly successful, he would be happy to support an expansion. "If in 3-5 years, we’re seeing that these students that were in public schools are scoring higher on their ACTs or scoring higher on their achievement tests, then yes, I have no choice but to say, hey, this is working," he said.
Rep. Barrett voted against the Governor's voucher plan last year, but says he's currently neutral on the expansion idea. "At this point, I am neutral, waiting to see what the budget looks like," said Barrett.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at Chris.Davis@NewsChannel5.com.
During a week when it seems that frustration is the prevailing sentiment felt across middle Tennessee amid ongoing power outages, Forrest Sanders brings us a story of love, faithfulness and a remarkable family... plus, a little humor on the side. Enjoy!
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