Tag: school vouchers

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School Voucher Bill Poised for Passage as Special Session Set to Wrap

Chairman Bo Watson and Vice Chairman John Stevens lead the Tennessee Senate Finance Committee, which voted 8-3 to advance Gov. Bill Lee's universal school voucher bill during its meeting on Wednesday. (Larry McCormack for Chalkbeat)

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Gov. Bill Lee’s private school voucher bill on Wednesday cleared the committee level in a special legislative session, setting the stage for votes this week by the full House and Senate.

As expected, the bill sailed Tuesday through education panels stacked with lawmakers who support policies that provide taxpayer funding to families to pay toward private education services.

The bigger test came later in finance committees, where a similar voucher bill bogged down last spring over disagreements within the Republican supermajority. It passed easily there too, with only a few GOP members from rural areas in opposition.

Lee’s Education Freedom Act, his signature education proposal, is scheduled to be debated Thursday by both full chambers, where the votes are expected to be tighter.

If it passes, the initiative would mark a major change in K-12 education in Tennessee. It would create a new statewide schooling track, starting with 20,000 “scholarships” of $7,075 each.

To draw support from lawmakers worried about the impact to their public schools, the measure also would give one-time bonuses of $2,000 to the state’s public school teachers; establish a public school infrastructure fund using tax revenues from the sports betting industry that currently contribute to college scholarships; and reimburse public school systems for any state funding lost if a student dis-enrolls to accept the new voucher.

Only 15 of the state’s 144 districts are expected to receive such reimbursements, according to the legislature’s latest fiscal analysis of the bill.

An amendment added on Tuesday requires that, for public school teachers to receive the bonus, their school boards must adopt a resolution saying that they want to participate in the bonus plan. Sponsors said the change was intended to give local boards more autonomy over the funds.

The action on Lee’s proposal came as President Donald Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that frees up federal funding and prioritizes spending on school choice programs.

A day earlier, Trump applauded Tennessee’s Education Freedom Act.

“Congratulations to Tennessee Legislators who are working hard to pass School Choice this week, which I totally support,” the president said in his post.

A subsidy or a civil right: Senators debate the bill’s purpose

The governor, who has framed school choice as “the civil rights issue of our time,” called lawmakers into the special session to take up vouchers, disaster relief, and immigration.

Republican leaders who control the General Assembly have signaled that they intend to wrap up that business in one week and pass three different legislative packages, as well as about $1 billion to pay for them.

The statewide voucher bill is the session’s most contentious issue, prompting philosophical debates Wednesday among members of the Senate Finance Committee about whom the proposed program is intended to help.

According to the state’s own analysis, about 65 percent of the new voucher recipients are expected to be students who are already in private schools, with the rest coming from public schools.

That projection may be low. In Arkansas, which approved universal vouchers in 2023 under Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, more than 80 percent of last year’s enrollees had not attended public schools the previous year.

Tennessee’s bill would remove any family income restrictions for eligibility in the program’s second year. For the upcoming 2025-26 academic year, half of the vouchers would be available to students whose family income is no more than three times the federal threshold for receiving a reduced-price lunch, or about $175,000 annually for a family of four.

“It’s essentially giving a scholarship to people who can already afford to go to private school anyway,” said Sen. London Lamar (D-Memphis).

By contrast, the state’s smaller existing school voucher program, approved by the legislature in 2019, restricts eligibility to public school students living in Memphis, Nashville, and Chattanooga, and whose families have significantly lower incomes.

Defending the governor’s universal voucher plan, Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) challenged the suggestion that the measure amounts to a government-funded subsidy for affluent families.

“We’re not going to penalize people who’ve been successful,” said Johnson, the bill’s Senate sponsor. “We’re not going to penalize people who work hard and might do a little better than someone else. We want these to be universal, and that’s the ultimate goal.”

Johnson added that he “has a problem with deciding who’s rich and who’s not.” It depends, he said, on their family’s location and circumstances.

“This program is going to help families across Tennessee — 20,000 kids — get into a school that their parents think is a better option,” he said. “And it shouldn’t be based on income. It should be universal.”

Early research shows that small voucher programs limited to low-income students are more likely to have positive outcomes, while recent national studies indicate that vouchers have mostly negative or insignificant impacts on academic outcomes.

Long-term costs worry critics

Sen. Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) sought to pin down the proposed program’s cost as it grows, especially since the 74,000 students who attend private schools in Tennessee would be eligible to apply for a state-funded scholarship.

State analysts expect all 20,000 vouchers will be awarded in the first year, allowing the state to expand the program by 5,000 participants each year, potentially doubling the program’s size by the 2029-30 school year. In the first five years, the program could cost taxpayers at least $1.1 billion, the state’s analysts say.

“This is a long-term program, and we should think about the long-term costs,” Yarbro said.

He called out the explosive growth of Arizona’s voucher program, which became available to all students in 2022. The initiative has contributed to a $400 million shortfall in the state’s current budget.

Johnson said Yarbro’s concerns amounted to “scare tactics.”

Any growth in the program is “subject to appropriation” by the legislature, he said. “We’ll be back next year, and we’ll have a conversation about it.”

Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

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Lee’s Special Session Wish List Could Cost $917M

State Capitol (Photo: Tennessee State Government)

The items proposed for Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s special session, scheduled to start next week, carry a price tag of nearly $917 million, with his school voucher plan alone costing $424 million in its first year. 

The session is set to only cover three major issues: Lee’s school vouchers, relief for Hurricane Helene victims in East Tennessee, and readying the state to conform to President Donald Trump’s immigration plan, which could include mass deportations. 

A proposed law to pay for all of it (called an appropriations bill) has been filed in the Tennessee General Assembly ahead of the session to start Monday. Check it out here: 

Apporpiations-BIll-Download

Here’s a basic breakdown of the costs from the bill: 

Education Freedom Scholarships (aka the school voucher plan)

•  $225.8 million every year

• $198.4 million just this year

• Total: $424.2 million 

Hurricane Helene response: 

• $210 million for the Hurricane Helene fund and the Governor’s Response and Recovery Fund

• $240 million for TEMA disaster relief grants

• $20 million to rebuild Hampton High School in Carter County

• $6.2 million for affected schools in Tourism Development Zones

• $17 million for incentives for school systems to get more than half of their schools to get an “A” letter grade

The spending bill does not propose spending any money (yet) on Trump’s immigration enforcement plan. 

Also interesting is that the bill pays for the special session itself. But no price tag was flashed on that one. Instead, it vaguely covers the whole thing. 

“In addition to any other funds appropriated by the provisions of this act, there is appropriated a sum sufficient to the General Assembly for the sole purpose of payment of any lawful expenses, including, but not limited to, staffing, per diem, travel, and other expenses, of the First Extraordinary Session of the One Hundred Fourteenth General Assembly,” reads the bill. 

So, Tennesseans are footing the bill for legislators to return to Nashville (travel), eat and drink while they are there (per diem), pay their staff members to help them, and pay for any other “lawful” expense lawmakers may have while conducting Lee’s business.  

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Lee Calls Special Session; Foes Slam “Voucher Scam”

State Capitol (Photo: Tennessee State Government)

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee called a special session of the Tennessee General Assembly on Monday, January 27th to pass his school voucher plan, though one Democrat called the move an attempt “to use an unspeakable tragedy as a public relations stunt and political leverage.”

Lee announced the move Wednesday morning, after much speculation that he would call the session. The session will focus on his signature Education Reform Act. But the governor will also introduce a “disaster relief legislative package addressing recovery needs for Hurricane Helene, as well as future natural disasters. The session will also address public safety measures regarding immigration, as the incoming Trump Administration has called on states to prepare for policy implementation.” Lee promised details of all of these in the coming days and an official call. 

The announcement of the session Wednesday came with a joint statement from Lee, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge), House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville), Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin), and House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland). 

“We believe the state has a responsibility to act quickly on issues that matter most to Tennesseans, and there is widespread support in the General Assembly and across Tennessee for a special session on the most pressing legislative priorities: the unified Education Freedom Act and a comprehensive relief package for Hurricane Helene and other disaster recovery efforts. 

“The majority of Tennesseans, regardless of political affiliation, have made it clear that they support empowering parents with school choice, and the best thing we can do for Tennessee students is deliver choices and public school resources without delay. 

“Additionally, Hurricane Helene was an unprecedented disaster across rural, at-risk, and distressed communities that cannot shoulder the local cost share of federal relief funds on their own. The state has an opportunity and obligation to partner with these impacted counties and develop innovative solutions for natural disasters going forward. 

“Finally, the American people elected President Trump with a mandate to enforce immigration laws and protect our communities, and Tennessee must have the resources ready to support the Administration on day one.”

Last week, House Democratic Caucus chairman Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) and Senate Democratic Caucus Chairwoman Sen. London Lamar (D-Memphis) condemned the idea of Lee’s special session. Here are their statements: 

Clemmons:

“It is inappropriate and highly offensive for Gov. Bill Lee to pair his voucher scam with much-needed relief for northeast Tennessee families. It gives one the impression that he is attempting to use an unspeakable tragedy as a public relations stunt and political leverage with several members of our body who have opposed vouchers in the past. 

“We could have and should have held a special session months ago to accomplish everything we need to do for these devastated communities, but Lee clearly and purposefully waited almost four months until he thought he had enough votes to pass his voucher scam. 

“There is nothing ’Christian’ about a man who demonstrates such callous indifference to the lives of Tennesseans and the well-being of entire communities as often as Bill Lee. 

“I trust that my colleagues across the aisle are incensed as I am and that they will hold the line on their opposition to a scam that would decimate public education, blow a hole in our state budget, and directly result in property tax increases in every county.”

Lamar:

“Gov. Lee’s push for private school vouchers is a direct affront to Tennessee families and taxpayers. The current voucher program in Tennessee is failing to deliver the promised benefits to students while siphoning essential funds from our public schools. 

“At a time when our communities are still grappling with the aftermath of recent storms, the last thing Tennessee needs is a special session to advance a flawed voucher policy. 

“If a special session is convened, our focus should be on unifying issues that directly impact our citizens: Storm recovery to ensure that all affected communities receive the necessary support to rebuild and recover, affordable housing for our working families, implementing measures to alleviate financial burdens on Tennessee households, and preventing crime. 

“Using storm relief as a pretext to promote a voucher scheme is a disservice to our families and undermines the real challenges we face. We must prioritize policies that strengthen our public schools, support our communities in recovery, and enhance the well-being of all Tennesseans.”

Here’s how others reacted to the news of Lee’s special session:

• Tanya T. Coats, a Knox County educator and president of the Tennessee Education Association:

“For months, East Tennesseans have been reeling from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. It is high time to address the needs of families and communities that are suffering.

“While the General Assembly considers measures to support those recovering from a natural disaster, they should refrain from creating a man-made disaster. Reducing the state’s support of public schools to pay for vouchers will leave local governments to try to make up the difference. They’ll be forced to decide whether to raise taxes locally or reduce services, which can mean firing teachers and closing schools.

“Small towns can’t afford to lose their public schools — where more than 90 percent of students are educated — because of vouchers. Rural communities depend on local public schools to do more than just educate their students — they serve as community gathering places and are often the largest employer. During the days and weeks immediately following the flooding in East Tennessee, public schools served as hubs for distribution of aid to hurting Tennesseans.

“Governor Lee should focus on helping our neighbors, not pushing his statewide voucher scheme backed by out-of-state special interests.”

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Year That Was: Cannabis, Schools, and MPD

C.J. Davis (Photo: memphispolice.org)

JANUARY

• A state report found “out of control” inmates, drug overdoses, staff shortages, and more in Tennessee state prisons, especially at Tiptonville’s Northwest Correctional Facility.  

• Cannabis industry leaders began working against new state rules that would remove smokeable products from their shelves and damage the industry. 

• Memphis Police Chief C.J. Davis kept her job but on an interim basis.  

• SmokeSlam BBQ Festival was introduced. 

• We got to the bottom of the “Dicc Dash” car that had been seen all over Memphis. 

• Winter Storm Heather left five dead in Shelby County, pushed a record-breaking demand for electricity, and put all residents under a boil-water advisory. 

FEBRUARY

• Artis Whitehead was exonerated 21 years after he was convicted of a 2002 robbery at B.B. King’s Blues Club. 

• Governor Bill Lee pushed for more school vouchers and big business tax cuts in his State of the State address. 

• The Memphis-Shelby County Schools board picked Marie Feagins as its new superintendent. 

• Data showed that Black residents got four times as many traffic tickets than whites. 

• A bill was filed to mandate gun safety training for every Tennessee school student. 

Tyre Nichols (Photo: Dakarai Turner)

MARCH

• American Queen Voyages closed. 

• Eighteen anti-LGBTQ bills were introduced from GOP lawmakers in the state legislature. 

• State House members voted to stop the Memphis City Council from a proposed ban on pretextual traffic stops, which came in the wake of the beating death of Tyre Nichols by MPD officers. 

• The Overton Park Conservancy (OPC) gave an early look at new trails on land ceded to the park by the Memphis Zoo. 

• Protestors cut short Kyle Rittenhouse’s appearance at University of Memphis. 

• The Satanic Temple sued the Shelby County Board of Education over discriminatory practices on club meetings. 

• A GOP House member wanted to ban lab-grown meat. 

APRIL

• State GOP lawmakers wanted users to submit their ID before watching porn online. 

• Bartlett’s American Paper Optics produced nearly 3 billion pairs of paper glasses for the solar eclipse. 

• A shoot-out left MPD Officer Joseph McKinney and one suspect dead. McKinney was killed by friendly fire.

• State leaders introduced a $787.5 million project to replace the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge. 

• State GOP lawmakers stopped Memphis leaders from studying Black reparations. 

MAY

• The school voucher bill died. 

• A Buc-ee’s was promised for Fayette County. 

• Lee signed a bill that granted anti-LGBTQ parents the right to adopt LGBTQ children. 

• The Biden administration paused a ban on menthol cigarettes. 

• We caught up with Renee Parker Sekander, the city’s first LGBTQ liaison. 

• Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti sued the federal government over rules on pronoun respect in the workplace.

• The zoo announced a 20-year, $250-million campus plan.

• Memphis Shelby County-Schools ruled against teachers carrying guns, despite a new state law allowing it. 

• A mysterious investment firm claimed it owned Graceland and would auction it off. 

JUNE

• Mr. Lincoln’s Costume Shoppe closed. 

• Memphis ranked as most dangerous city for pedestrian deaths. 

• Renting a home in Memphis became more affordable than buying one. 

• Elon Musk announced Memphis would be the new home for his supercomputer, Grok. 

• New census data said nearly half of Tennesseans could not afford the basic cost of living in their counties. 

• Tina Sullivan announced she would step down from the OPC. 

• The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) asked the city council for $30.5 million after revealing a $60 million deficit. 

• A federal judge blocked some protections of transgender people in Tennessee allowed by new Title IX rules.  

JULY

• Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi said more than 10,000 people had left Tennessee for an abortion in the two years after Roe v. Wade was overturned. 

• The U.S. Supreme Court announced it would hear Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors.

• The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art’s new Memphis Art Museum project was allowed to move ahead after a judge denied a challenge from Friends for Our Riverfront. 

• City council members asked for more transparency from MATA after the announcement of its big budget deficit. 

• New state laws went into effect including a death sentence for child rapists, one against “abortion trafficking,” a declaration of the Bible as a state book, one against “chemtrails,” and another for singers’ protection from AI.

• A court denied former state Senator Brian Kelsey’s (R-Germantown) request to rescind his guilty plea for campaign finance violations.  

• The former leader of Shelby County’s Covid vaccine rollout lost a bid to declare she was wrongly blamed for allowing hundreds of doses to expire. 

• A court ruled transgender Tennesseans cannot change the gender marker on their birth certificates.

• Memphis International Airport was green-lit for a $653 million modernization of its main terminal. 

• The school board settled with the Satan Club for $15,000 and a promise to end its discriminatory practices.

• A court ruling allowed a ban on drag shows in public places. 

• Tennessee tourism hit a record spend of more than $30 billion in 2023. 

AUGUST

• Environmental groups asked Memphis Light, Gas & Water (MLGW) to deny an electricity deal for xAI’s supercomputer. 

• The Links at Audubon Park opened.

• Memphis cases of HIV and syphilis spiked 100 percent over the past five years. 

• Leaders warned of a tax surge coming after property reappraisals next year. 

• Black Lodge closed.

• Serial scammer Lisa Jeanine Findley was arrested in Missouri for her attempt to steal Graceland from the Presley family. 

• MATA suspended trolley service. 

• Kaci Murley was named OPC’s new executive director. 

• The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) raised electricity rates by 5.25 percent. 

SEPTEMBER

• Carol Coletta stepped down as CEO of the Memphis River Parks Partnership. 

• A state land deal could protect the Memphis Sand Aquifer.

• Cannabis industry leaders sued the state over new rules that would ban smokeable products.    

• Tennessee ranked near the top for arresting people for cannabis. 

• For the third year in a row, water levels were down in the Mississippi River after Midwest droughts. 

• AG Skrmetti proposed warning labels for social media. 

• Social media threats made for a turbulent week at local schools with disruptions and some lockdowns. 

OCTOBER

• Lawmakers want to replace the now-fallen statue of racist newspaper editor Edward Carmack at the State Capitol Building with David Crockett.

• A court decision mandated schools offer “reasonable accommodation” for transgender students to use bathrooms of their choice. 

• Three MPD officers were convicted in the beating death of Nichols. 

• Memphis Mayor Paul Young replaced every member of MATA’s board. 

• State Democrats pressed for financial reforms to address the state’s “crumbling transportation infrastructure.”

• Judges blocked discipline for doctors who provide emergency abortions. 

NOVEMBER

• Atomic Rose closed.

• A new school voucher bill was filed.

• The Memphis-area crime rate fell. 

• Tuition at state schools looked likely to rise again next year. 

• TVA approved xAI’s request for power. 

• Teachers scoffed at Lee’s $2,000 bonus as a “bribe” to go along with school vouchers.

• 901 FC left Memphis for Santa Barbara. 

• University of Tennessee Health Science Center began a plan to demolish the “eyesore” former hotel building on Madison. 

• Gun Owners of America sued the city of Memphis to block the gun referenda approved by voters from ever becoming law. 

• A new $13 million plan will help redesign the intersection of Lamar, Kimball, and Pendleton. 

• Crime fell Downtown in 2024 compared to 2023. 

• Cannabis industry leaders filed another suit against the smokeables ban after lawmakers left it in the final rules.      

DECEMBER

• Buds and Brews, a restaurant featuring cannabis products, opened on Broad. 

• Blended sentence laws could usher hundreds of kids into the adult criminal justice system. 

• State revenue projections flagged on big business tax breaks. 

• A blistering report from the U.S. Department of Justice found that MPD used excessive force, discriminated against Black people, and used “harsh tactics” against children.

• Houston’s abruptly closed. 

• The SCOTUS heard Skrmetti’s case against gender-affirming care for transgender minors. 

• The former Velsicol facility in North Memphis could enter into a state-run environmental response trust. 

• Feagins narrowly survived the board’s ouster move but the situation will be reviewed in 2025.

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Teachers Scoff at Bonuses In Gov. Lee’s School Voucher Plan

Credit: Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, who’s trying again to enact his statewide private school voucher plan, is hoping to win over critics and skeptics with a $2,000 bonus for public school teachers. But many educators who would be eligible for the extra cash are dismissing it as a diversion tactic.

Some are calling Lee’s bonus offer an attempted bribe, or “hush money,” as he seeks to expand policies that provide public funding for students to attend private schools. Others say it’s insulting to teaching professionals who have spent their careers advocating for their students, and for more funding to support them.

“It’s a one-time bonus that’s basically asking us to sell out our public schools,” said Liz Marable, a longtime Memphis educator who is currently president of the United Education Association of Shelby County. “But we are not for sale.”

Details of the latest universal voucher proposal, reached during months of negotiations between the governor’s office and legislative leaders, emerged last week after Election Day. House and Senate Republican sponsors filed identical bills in an effort to avoid disagreements between the two chambers that killed their first attempts this spring in committees, even though Republicans held a supermajority in the legislature.

Some concerns that critics raised about the earlier bills apply to the new package, too. Among them: The program could create long-term funding uncertainty for public schools and set uneven standards for accountability through testing. It wouldn’t guarantee accommodations and services for students with disabilities and would bar undocumented students from participating, in violation of federal law.

The one-time bonus for approximately 86,000 public school teachers is new to the mix. It would cost about $172 million, which could itself be a concern during a fiscal year when state economists project declining or stagnant revenues.

The bonuses, and other public school benefits in the legislation, aren’t intended specifically to win over teachers, of course; they won’t get to vote on it. Rather, they’re aimed at winning over Republican lawmakers, mostly in rural Tennessee, who are wary of vouchers’ impact on their public schools.

These lawmakers have to answer to constituents in areas where public schools are often the only educational option, the largest employer, and the hub of their communities. Lee and Republican legislative leaders are betting that the bonus will make a vote for vouchers more politically palatable.

Lee’s Education Freedom Act also proposes new money to help local districts pay for school maintenance and construction. And it includes “hold harmless” language that pledges the state will reimburse school systems for any lost funding tied to students who withdraw from public schools to accept vouchers and attend private schools.

Educators interviewed by Chalkbeat said that they believe the promised reimbursements would be short-lived, and that the funding would be eliminated from future state budgets, ultimately draining resources from their public schools.

“Teachers aren’t fooled by the promise of a small bonus in exchange for a bill that would lead to public schools closing across the state,” said Tanya T. Coats, a Knox County teacher who is president of the state’s largest teacher organization, the Tennessee Education Association.

The one-year bonus would barely address pay disparities between teachers in Tennessee and those in other states. The average teacher in Tennessee made below $58,000, compared with $69,597 nationally, during 2022-23, the latest year for which national data is available, according to an analysis by the National Education Association.

The governor is budgeting next year to increase the state’s minimum salary for teachers from $44,500 to $47,000, in accordance with his plan to get base pay to $50,000 by the time he leaves office in 2027.

But critics say those increases aren’t rewarding experienced teachers, keeping up with inflation, or attracting high-quality candidates to the teaching profession, which is suffering from sagging morale.

Kathryn Vaughn has been a full-time teacher in Tennessee for 20 years and works two other jobs to make ends meet. She’s unimpressed by the idea of a $2,000 bonus, which likely would be closer to $1,400 after taxes. The underlying goal of Lee’s voucher plan, she believes, is to defund public education.

“If you’re really serious about helping teachers, why not make some sort of systemic change to teacher pay to alleviate the starvation funding we’re operating under?” said Vaughn, an elementary school art teacher in Tipton County.

Linking benefits for teachers to school choice agenda

It’s not the first time the governor has sought to package benefits for teachers with more controversial education proposals.

In 2023, Lee pressed for a bill to guarantee gradual minimum pay boosts for teachers during his second term in office — and also to ban school districts from making payroll deductions for employees’ professional association dues. Teacher groups and many lawmakers objected to the tactic, but the bill eventually passed.

Similarly, Lee’s bonus proposal is tied to the creation of a statewide program to give $7,075 each in public funding toward the cost of a private education for up to 20,000 Tennessee students, beginning next fall.

Lee has pushed for more education choices for families, while also investing hundreds of millions of dollars in public schools, since taking office in 2019. He remains adamant that both policies can complement each other.

“This piece of legislation represents a commitment to education for all children in the state, and that includes public funding, teacher funding, parental choice,” said Lee, when asked by reporters last week why the voucher and teacher bonus measures aren’t decoupled so lawmakers can vote on them separately.

Other governors, especially in predominantly Republican states, have used a similar playbook when pressing for vouchers.

In Arkansas, for instance, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a 2023 law to increase beginning public school teacher salaries from $36,000 to $50,000, while also creating a statewide voucher program to cover the costs of private school tuition, homeschooling expenses, and other educational expenses.

Teachers fear that vouchers will hurt their students

Many Tennessee teachers are skeptical about the new proposal to give them a bonus, viewing it as a ploy to push a policy agenda that they say will ultimately hurt their profession, public schools, and students in general.

“Teachers I am hearing from are very insulted that the sponsor of this bill thought any devoted Tennessee teacher would be willing to erode the future of public education for a one-time, taxed bonus of $2,000,” tweeted National Teacher of the Year Missy Testerman, who works for Rogersville City Schools in northeast Tennessee.

Like Testerman, Siema Swartzel teaches students who live mostly below the poverty level. More investments in public education would help, she said.

“I don’t see how creating a voucher program and adding $2,000 to my bank account is going to make sure my kids have all the things they need to be good learners,” said Swartzel, who teaches music at an elementary school in Cleveland, near Chattanooga. “They are our future, and I’m very afraid that vouchers will interfere with that.”

In Clarksville, near the Kentucky border, Karel Lea Biggs doesn’t think vouchers, as they’re proposed, would end up benefiting any of her middle schoolers, many of whom are considered economically disadvantaged.

Under Lee’s proposal, half of the first year’s vouchers would be subject to limits based on family income, but those limits would still be high: three times the threshold to qualify for free and reduced price school meals, or about $173,000 for a family of four. The remaining 10,000 slots would have no income restrictions.

Lee’s administration acknowledges that many enrollees would be the children of parents who intended to send their children to private schools anyway, and already had the resources to do so.

Meanwhile, Biggs says her public school desperately needs more resources to support students experiencing post-pandemic anxiety and other mental health issues. “A teacher bonus and vouchers,” she said, “just aren’t going to help my kids.”

Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

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School Voucher Bills to Be First Filed Ahead of Next Legislative Session

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, flanked by Republican legislative leaders, speaks with reporters after the 2024 General Assembly adjourned on April 25 in Nashville. The defeat of Lee's universal voucher proposal was a major setback for his administration. (Courtesy of State of Tennessee)

A new universal school-voucher proposal will be the first bill filed for Tennessee’s upcoming legislative session, signaling that Gov. Bill Lee intends to make the plan his number-one education priority for a second straight year.

Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) said last week that he’ll file his chamber’s legislation on the morning of Nov. 6, the day after Election Day. He expects House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland) will do the same.

The big question is whether House and Senate Republican leaders will be able to agree on the details in 2025. The 114th Tennessee General Assembly convenes on Jan. 14 as Lee begins his last two years in office.

During the 2024 session, the governor’s Education Freedom Scholarship proposal stalled in finance committees over disagreements about testing and funding, despite a GOP supermajority, and even as universal voucher programs sprang up in several other states.

Sponsors in the Tennessee House, where voucher programs have had a harder time getting support from rural Republicans and urban Democrats, attempted to woo votes with an omnibus-style bill that included benefits for public schools, too. But Senate Republican leaders balked at the scope and cost of the House version.

On Monday, Johnson gave a voucher update to school board members in Williamson County, which he represents, on the development of new legislation.

Similar to last year’s proposal, the new bill would provide about $7,000 in taxpayer funds to each of up to 20,000 students to attend a private school beginning next fall, with half of the slots going to students who are considered economically disadvantaged. By 2026, all of Tennessee’s K-12 students, regardless of family income, would be eligible for vouchers, though the number of recipients would depend on how much money is budgeted for the program.

“The bill is not finalized, but we’re all working together with the governor’s office to come up with a bill we all can support,” Johnson told Chalkbeat after the presentation.

Testing accountability is among chief issues to settle.

Johnson said the Senate’s 2025 bill will again include some type of testing requirement for voucher recipients — either state assessments or state-approved national tests — to gauge whether the program is improving academic outcomes.

However, the Senate bill would eliminate a previous provision that might have allowed public school students to enroll in any district, even if they’re not zoned for it. That policy proposal had been included at the insistence of Senate Education Committee Chairman Jon Lundberg (R-Bristol), who lost his reelection bid in the August primary.

Lamberth, the House leader, did not respond this week to multiple requests for comment about his chamber’s plan, which in 2024 had no testing requirement for voucher recipients. Instead, the House version sought to dramatically reduce testing and accountability for public school students, including replacing high school end-of-course assessments with ACT college entrance exams.

The House bill also included numerous financial incentives to try to garner support from public school advocates. One idea was to increase the state’s contribution to pay for public school teachers’ medical insurance by redirecting $125 million the governor had earmarked for teacher salary increases.

Johnson told school board members the governor is planning a “substantial” increase for public education funding in 2025 but didn’t specify how much or for what.

“I think we’re going to have some things in there that will be great for all public education,” he said when asked later about including costly incentives such as teacher medical insurance funding. “Whether it’s in that (voucher) bill or if it’s in a separate bill is a great question. We will see. I don’t know the answer.”

Williamson County school board rescinds earlier anti-voucher resolution

Johnson told board members in his home district that he expects “nominal” impact to Williamson County’s two suburban school systems south of Nashville, if the bill passes the legislature in 2025. Most enrollees, he said, would be in urban areas that have more low-performing schools and private school options.

Later Monday, Williamson County’s board, including four newly elected members whose campaigns were supported by a conservative out-of-state political action committee, voted 10-2 to rescind a resolution passed by the previous board opposing Lee’s Education Freedom Scholarship Act.

The governor is from Williamson County and graduated from a public high school there in 1977. So it was significant when his local board voted in March to join more than 50 other school boards across Tennessee on record against his signature education proposal.

But Dennis Diggers, a new board member, argued that it was appropriate to revisit the issue given the recent election, and proposed rescinding the resolution.

“Four of the six candidates who won their election ran publicly for more than six months on this issue, so it was out there,” Diggers said. “I am not going to deny the parents in Williamson County the chance to help their kids.”

Meanwhile, a Tennessee policy organization that supports vouchers released a new poll showing 58 percent of the state’s voters are more inclined to support a candidate who supports letting parents collect public funding to choose where their child is educated, including public, private, charter, or home schools. The Beacon Center poll did not use the word “vouchers” in its question to voters, which tends to poll worse than language about “school choice.”

Universal vouchers would mark a major expansion of vouchers in Tennessee, where lawmakers voted in 2019 to create education savings account options for students in Memphis and Nashville. That targeted program, which has since expanded to the Chattanooga area, has 3,550 enrollees in its third year, still below the 5,000-student cap, according to data provided by the state education department.

A spokeswoman for the governor said his administration continues to work with both legislative chambers on a “unified” universal voucher bill to kick off discussions for the 2025 session. She also noted that $144 million remains in this year’s state budget for the program, even though lawmakers didn’t approve the bill.

“We remain grateful for the General Assembly’s continued commitment to deliver Education Freedom Scholarships to Tennessee families by keeping funding for last year’s proposal in the budget,” said Elizabeth Johnson, the governor’s press secretary.

Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

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GOP Candidates Quiet On School Vouchers in Election Season

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

While Gov. Bill Lee’s universal school voucher proposal is clearly a key issue this election year, there is less agreement on where Tennessee voters stand on the contentious education policy, incentivizing many state legislative candidates to avoid discussing the matter.

Numerous voter polls have generated wildly different results this year, depending on which organization was behind the survey and how the questions were asked.

As a result, rural Republican candidates, whose legislative votes would be pivotal in deciding the issue, aren’t generally trumpeting their positions on what would amount to a major policy change.

And when they do comment, the candidates are choosing their words carefully by using the language of “school choice” over “vouchers,” even though they’re essentially the same thing when it comes to letting parents use taxpayer money to send their children to private schools.

The divergent poll results, based on representative samplings of voters, underscore that vouchers remain a hot-button education issue as Tennesseans try to understand a complex idea that was the most divisive of the recent legislative session.

Supporters say the statewide voucher proposal, which the governor vowed to bring back to lawmakers next year after it failed to reach the Senate and House floors in April, would put parents in charge of their children’s education by giving them more choices. Critics say it would destabilize public education, bust the state’s budget, and further segregate schools by race, income, and students with special needs.

Now in his second term, Lee has characterized GOP support across Tennessee as solidly favoring his proposal, which is especially important in a red state where the winner of the Republican primary typically wins the general election.

The Republican governor, who campaigned on the promise of giving parents more education choices for their children, recently told Fox News that school choice is “a very popular idea among Republican primary voters.” He added that voters support it “by an overwhelming margin.”

“Legislators understand that; they know their voters want this,” Lee said.

But while vouchers have steadily gained support through the years, surveys of voter attitudes don’t necessarily bear out Lee’s claim.

Three pro-voucher groups — The Beacon Center, Americans for Prosperity, and the American Federation for Children — released findings early this year declaring broad support for expanding school vouchers in Tennessee as they sought to build momentum ahead of critical voucher votes in the General Assembly.

During the same period, the Tennessee Education Association, the state’s largest teachers organization and a voucher opponent, released results of its own poll showing only 30 percent of Republican primary voters supported the governor’s plan.

Most recently, Vanderbilt University’s poll found Tennessee voters evenly split on the matter.

When asked if they approve of the policy, 45 percent were in favor of vouchers, 46 percent opposed them, and 9 percent said they neither supported nor opposed the idea.

“These results show that vouchers remain a controversial issue,” said John Geer, the Vanderbilt poll’s co-director and a distinguished professor of political science.

“It is a complex and complicated topic,” he added. “That makes the issue difficult to measure in a poll.”

The uneven findings of various polls stem, in part, from how the questions were framed.

For instance, Americans for Prosperity asked voters: “Governor Lee is proposing a school choice program that will enable parents to take back control over $7K of their education tax dollars to educate their child in a private or home school environment if they choose to, giving parents more control over how and where their children are educated. Do you agree with the program Governor Lee is proposing?”

More than 70 percent responded ‘yes.’

By contrast, the TEA’s survey asked a series of questions delving into the structural and financial impacts that universal vouchers would have on the state’s public education system.

Among them: “Other states that have enacted statewide vouchers saw that 95 percent of students who benefitted were from wealthy families who had the resources to send their children to private schools or already attended private schools, mostly in rural areas, instead of providing resources to middle-income families and students from across the state. Does knowing this make you more or less likely to support school vouchers?”

More than 70 percent responded that they were less inclined to support the policy.

The Vanderbilt poll, which also examined issues such as abortion, vaccines, and gun control, was conducted this spring, soon after the legislature adjourned.

On vouchers, Vanderbilt pollsters asked: “Do you support, neither support nor oppose, or oppose Tennessee giving all parents tax-funded vouchers they can use to help pay for tuition for their school-age children to attend private or religious schools of their choice, instead of attending local public schools?”

“We don’t have an ax to grind, so we tried to be as straightforward as we could,” said Geer.

About 49 percent of responding voters also said they were likely to use vouchers if they became available, and 50 percent said they would not. By a wide margin, Republicans who support former President Donald Trump were the group most likely to use them, while only 26 percent of Democrats said they would take advantage of the option.

“The outcome of the poll on vouchers was very partisan in nature,” Geer said.

That partisan lens, he added, was more significant than whether the voter lived in a rural, urban, or suburban district, where access to private schools varies significantly.

“I think it’s another statement about our political climate and the polarization of our country. We really weren’t able to get past the partisanship,” he said.

This year’s uneven polling results may help explain why many rural Republican candidates aren’t discussing vouchers or promoting where they stand on the issue when seeking to secure their party’s nomination. In suburban and urban districts, which are home to more private schools, both Republican and Democratic candidates are more likely to weigh in or use vouchers as a campaign issue.

“Rural Republican legislators got some pushback over the governor’s voucher proposal, so I can understand why they would skirt the issue with primary voters,” Geer said. “I can understand why they would just say: ‘I’m for public education because that’s what’s important to my rural district.’”

Debby Gould, president of the League of Women Voters in Tennessee, said legislative candidates can easily cloak their voucher stance by saying they support public education, especially since the House’s 2024 voucher bill bundled the creation of a statewide voucher program with public school reforms.

“That muddied the waters a bit, but voters deserve a clear answer to whether they plan to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on universal vouchers,” Gould said.

“Vouchers aren’t a secondary election issue,” she added. “Gov. Lee has said it’s a priority for his administration, so it will be front and center next legislative session.”

All 99 seats in the state House and half of the Senate’s 33 seats are on the ballot this year. Aug. 1 is Tennessee’s primary election day, with early voting July 12-24. The general election will be on Nov. 5.

You can find more voter information on the Secretary of State’s website.

Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

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School Voucher Plan Dead for the Year

Gov. Bill Lee made passage of education savings accounts, a type of school voucher, the signature legislative goal of his first year in office and proposed creating a statewide school voucher program in 2024. (TN.gov)

In the end, the gulf between competing school voucher bills in Tennessee’s legislature was just too wide to cross.

Gov. Bill Lee acknowledged Monday that his push to create a universal school voucher program — which had been on the ropes for more than a month — was dead for the year after Republican leaders in the Tennessee House and Senate were unable to break through disagreements about testing and funding.

“While we made tremendous progress, unfortunately it has become clear that there is not a pathway for the bill during this legislative session,” Lee said in a statement Monday.

The Republican governor vowed to return with another plan next year and added that he’s disappointed for families “who will have to wait yet another year for the freedom to choose the right education for their child.”

The proposal’s failure this year hands Lee one of the biggest defeats of his administration, now in its second term.

It also signals that for all the momentum vouchers have in Tennessee — including a string of victories in the courts and legislature — Lee’s statewide proposal remains a divisive policy because of its potential to destabilize urban, suburban, and rural public school districts, and add a new burden on state finances.

For now, Tennessee only has its targeted voucher program in three urban counties, which provides taxpayer funding to 2,095 students to pay toward private school tuition, plus a smaller voucher program for students with certain disabilities.

As part of his broader school-choice agenda, the governor wanted his new voucher program to eventually become available to every K-12 student across Tennessee, regardless of their family income, and lawmakers took up two vastly different bills from the House and Senate.

But the chambers deadlocked on two issues, according to Senate Education Committee Chairman Jon Lundberg, the Bristol Republican who worked with House Republican leaders for weeks to try to reach a compromise.

First, in addition to creating a new private school voucher program, the more expansive and expensive House version sought to dramatically reduce testing and accountability for public school students.

“We had worked really hard to get those measures into place,” Lundberg said, “and believe it would be a step backward for our state.”

Second, the House version proposed increasing the state’s contribution toward public school teachers’ medical insurance coverage from 45 percent to 60 percent — and paying for it with funding earmarked for teacher raises.

That funding pathway closed last week when the legislature approved a 2024-25 budget that retained the $125 million that Lee had set aside to increase the annual minimum salary for public school teachers from $42,000 to $44,500, as promised last year by the governor.

“Ultimately, the House and the Senate had looked at education freedom scholarships through two different lenses,” Lundberg told Chalkbeat on Monday. “We looked at it as school-choice legislation. The House looked at it as a way to achieve both school choice and education reform.

“Our perspectives were just so different that we could not come together at the end,” he said.

Timing and cost were factors

As the legislature entered what’s expected to be its final week of the 2024 session, lawmakers worried about the timing of creating an expensive new program in the midst of flattening revenues and during an election year in which most of their names will be on the ballot.

The voucher program would have been expected to grow over time, likely subsidizing tuition for families who would have chosen private schools anyway. In the program’s second year, according to financial analysts, the Senate version’s projected cost was $287 million, while the House version was projected to cost $384 million.

In addition, more than 50 Tennessee school boards were on record opposing the plan. And the research shows little recent evidence that vouchers improve test scores.

The hurdles were especially problematic in the House, where voucher proposals have historically been harder to pass. To win more votes in that chamber, GOP leaders added enticements aimed at public school supporters to reduce testing time for students, require fewer evaluations for high-performing teachers, and give districts extra money to help with their building costs, as well as more funding for teachers’ medical insurance costs.

On Monday, House Speaker Cameron Sexton framed the debate as helpful for future talks even though it didn’t produce a consensus this year.

“Universal school choice came closer to a full vote than it had ever been in the past,” Sexton said in a statement. “We will continue working until all parents have the same opportunity to use their tax dollars to choose the best school for their child.”

Democrats, who were united in their opposition to vouchers, said the governor’s proposal ultimately crumbled because many Tennesseans pushed back on a plan that generated more questions than answers.

“From the start, the governor’s proposal was heavy on talking points and light on the substance of how it would work and how much it actually would cost,” said Sen. Jeff Yarbro of Nashville. “The funding and the accountability pieces were always going to be the sticking points,” he added, “because voucher proponents really want the funding without the accountability.”

Even as voucher supporters quickly promised to try again next year, groups representing the state’s teachers hailed the governor’s loss as a win for Tennesseans.

“Governor Lee’s proposal was poorly written, arriving late in session, and had zero accountability in the plan,” said JC Bowman, executive director of Professional Educators of Tennessee.

The leaders of Arlington Community Schools near Memphis, who issued a fiery statement in December denouncing Lee’s voucher plan as part of a systematic attack on public schools, said they were exhilarated by the legislation’s defeat — and troubled that the governor is already talking about next year.

“He hasn’t even taken a day to understand why his signature bill failed,” said Superintendent Jeff Mayo. “That tells me he doesn’t care to listen to our concerns. The end-game is to ultimately usher vouchers into Tennessee to fund private schools, despite the lackluster evidence that it will actually help students.”

Voucher policies have advanced under Lee

For years, school voucher advocates had watched their policy dream come up short in Tennessee before racking up a string of victories after Lee took office in 2019 amid significant turnover in the GOP-controlled legislature.

Lawmakers passed a bill on a narrow, controversial vote in the House of Representatives during Lee’s first year in office to help create an education savings account program.

The targeted program rolled out in 2022 in Memphis and Nashville for students from low-income families attending low-performing schools. Voucher opponents challenged the law in court and had some early legal wins, but the Tennessee Supreme Court declared the law constitutional in 2022.

After the program’s accelerated rollout and the addition of Hamilton County during its second year, the governor took another big step: proposing a separate statewide Education Freedom Scholarship program to launch this fall with up to 20,000 students, and eventually to eliminate all the geographic and family-income restrictions.

Dueling bills from the House and Senate easily advanced through education committees, but stalled for four weeks in finance committees before the governor accepted defeat.

In his statement Monday, Lee reiterated his reasons for pressing ahead, adding that he’s “never been more motivated.”

“It’s very simple,” he said. “This is about every Tennessee student having the opportunity to succeed, regardless of their ZIP code or income level, and without question, empowering parents is the best way to make sure that happens.”

Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.

Memphis reporter Laura Testino contributed to this report. Contact her at ltestino@chalkbeat.org.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

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Lee’s School Voucher Bill Not Expected to Advance

Credit: Tennessee Lookout

The plan to expand school vouchers statewide is not expected to pass the Tennessee House Finance Ways and Means subcommittee Tuesday, a source confirmed to the Tennessee Lookout. 

The legislation’s failure in the finance subcommittee likely sends it back to the clerk’s desk and requires it to go through the committee process again, all but guaranteeing that the bill won’t pass this legislative session. 

The Tennessee Journal first reported Monday that the voucher bill was dead. 

Three different versions of the school voucher program floated around the Capitol this session:

• A House version that includes several sweeteners for public school advocates, such as less student testing and extra funding for school infrastructure.

• A Senate version with no sweeteners but testing requirements for students who receive vouchers.

• A Gov. Bill Lee version that had no extra funding for public schools or testing requirement but created the base program and provided funding for 20,000 scholarships with ability to expand to every student

The Senate and House have been stuck over items such as testing reduction, which the Senate opposes, and transfer of students from public district to another, a provision the House dislikes. Lawmakers vary in their opposition to the plan, but many dislike the proposal because of concerns raised by public schools officials in their districts.

Ultimately, though, many lawmakers have grown leery of the proposal because right-wing groups have been opposing it because of the potential impact on homeschool families and private schools that might have to give standardized tests.

One of the few remaining decisions for lawmakers is whether to sock away the $144 million it would take to start the private-school voucher program or spend the money in the fiscal 2024-25 budget.

On Monday, Lee and legislative leaders met at the State Capitol, but no compromise was publicly announced. 

The voucher program, which lawmakers had titled “education freedom scholarships” during an announcement in November, has long been Lee’s top priority. He first introduced a similar voucher bill in 2019, but under pressure to pass it, he took out the universal aspect and targeted it at the Democratic-controlled counties of Davidson and Shelby. It has since expanded to Hamilton County. 

Along with Lee’s advocacy, the voucher program also had the backing of the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity and the American Federation for Children, which is affiliated with former Republican Secretary of Education Betsy Devos. 

American Federation for Children sent text messages attacking at least one Republican for not supporting vouchers. 

The money pushing for a statewide school voucher program means the concept is unlikely to go away. Lee could call a special session to pass a voucher program, but it’s election year and lawmakers are not allowed to raise money while in session.

The failure of the voucher bill also means these groups, along with several others, are likely to play a significant role in Republican primaries held later this year. The entire state House and half the Senate are up for re-election in 2024. 

Tennessee lawmakers are expected to finish their legislative session over the next two weeks. The voucher bill was one of the major sticking points left before members could head home and start campaigns. 

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and Twitter.

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School Voucher Plan Stalls as Legislature Enters Final Weeks

Gov. Bill Lee speaks Thursday with reporters at the state Capitol about the chances of his statewide school voucher proposal passing this year in the legislature. The General Assembly is expected to wind up its business during April. (Marta W. Aldrich / Chalkbeat)

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s push to create a statewide school voucher system is running out of time as Republican lawmakers work to reconcile significantly different proposals and iron out disagreements over student testing requirements.

After sailing through education committees and building early momentum, the bill has stalled for three weeks in finance committees — without public discussion.

GOP leaders hope to complete the 2024 session by April 26. That leaves two weeks to approve a state budget, decide on dozens more bills, and seek consensus on one of the biggest education proposals of Lee’s administration.

Senate Education Committee Chairman Jon Lundberg (R-Bristol) and House K-12 Subcommittee Chairman Kirk Haston (R-Lobelville) have been key players during weeks of private negotiations.

“We’re still working on it,” Lundberg said Thursday as he emerged from the Senate chamber. He declined to take questions from reporters.

“We’re still working on it.”

Sen. Jon Lundberg (R-Bristol)

Privately, several Republican lawmakers have told Chalkbeat the governor’s statewide voucher plan is sputtering and may not have the votes needed to pass in their respective chambers, especially if negotiators tinker too much with the original proposals.

But publicly, the governor and GOP leadership sound hopeful.

“It feels like they’re close,” Lee told reporters after the legislature recessed for the week. “I’m very encouraged.”

Asked about sticking points, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) said the Senate wants to make sure voucher recipients take some type of annual state-approved test that can be used to compare and rank students in order to gauge the program’s academic effectiveness. The House version has no state testing requirements for students who accept vouchers.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) said his chamber is “adamant” that any school choice-related package includes a provision to reduce student testing in public schools. He also indicated that the State Collaborative on Reforming Education, an education research and advocacy group known as SCORE and founded by former U.S. Sen. Bill Frist (R-Nashville), is being consulted as negotiations progress.

“We’ve had a lot of conversations this week,” Sexton said about talks between the House and Senate. “So we’re hopeful we can get there.”

Lee’s Education Freedom Scholarship Act, projected to cost $144 million in its first year, would provide taxpayer funding to up to 20,000 K-12 students to pay toward private school tuition. The governor has set aside that amount for the program in his proposed budget.

The Senate’s version also would allow public school students to enroll in any district, even if they’re not zoned for it, provided there’s enough space and teaching staff.

The House’s larger and more expensive version includes a long list of enticements aimed at public school supporters, including reducing testing time for students, increasing the state’s contribution toward health insurance costs for teachers, requiring fewer evaluations for high-performing teachers, and giving districts extra money to help with their building costs.

Democrats in the legislature oppose school vouchers, even while supporting many of the public school provisions in the House bill.

Caucus Chairman John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) said he’s glad to see the bill’s progress slow, but added that Democrats are staying vigilant as the two-year session moves toward adjournment.

“Deals get cut late at night,” said the Nashville lawmaker. “I would encourage citizens of Tennessee who truly value public schools to sleep with one eye open.”

“I would encourage citizens of Tennessee who truly value public schools to sleep with one eye open.”

Rep. John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville)

Meanwhile, lawmakers are anxious to head home during an election year. All 99 seats in the House and half of the Senate’s 33 seats are on the ballot this year. Until the session ends, incumbents can’t begin accepting campaign contributions. And Republican members in both chambers don’t appear interested in taking a stance on the controversial voucher bill during an election year if the measure is unlikely to succeed.

More private talks by Republican leadership are planned for the weekend.

The bill is scheduled to be taken up Monday by the Senate Finance Committee and Tuesday by the House Finance Subcommittee. McNally, the Senate’s leader, said the outcomes there will signal the proposal’s chances.

“One of the keys will be as it moves through the finance committee in both houses,” McNally said. “I think if you see that, you probably know that things are going fairly well.”

You can track the legislation on the General Assembly’s website.

Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.