Tennessee is preparing for another private school voucher debate. Here’s what we know. • Kentucky Lantern

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A proposal for a new universal school voucher would be the first bill filed in Tennessee’s upcoming legislative session, signaling that Gov. Bill Lee intends to make the plan his No. 1 education priority for the second year in a row.

Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson said this week that he would introduce the bill to his chamber on the morning of Nov. 6, the day after Election Day. He expects House Majority Leader William Lambert to do the same.

The big question is whether House and Senate Republican leaders can agree on the details in 2025. The 114th Tennessee General Assembly will convene Jan. 14 when Lee begins his final two years in office.

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

Sponsors in the Tennessee House of Representatives, where voucher programs have had a harder time gaining support from rural Republicans and urban Democrats, tried to attract votes with omnibus bill this also included benefits for public schools. But Senate Republican leaders disagreed with the scope and cost of the House version.

Johnson recently provided members of the Williamson County School Board, which he represents, with an update on the development of new legislation.

Similar to: last year’s offer The new bill would provide about $7,000 in taxpayer funds to each of the 20,000 students who would be able to attend a private school starting next fall, with half the seats set aside for students considered economically disadvantaged. By 2026, all Tennessee K-12 students, regardless of family income, will be eligible for vouchers, although the number of recipients will depend on how much money is budgeted for the program.

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

Accountability testing is one of the main issues that needs to be addressed

Johnson said Senate Bill 2025 would again include some testing requirements for voucher recipients — either state assessments or state-mandated national tests — to evaluate whether the program improves academic outcomes.

However, the Senate bill would repeal a previous provision that could have allowed public school students to enroll in any district even if they were not zoned for it. The policy proposal was included at the urging of Senate Education Committee Chairman John Lundberg, a Bristol Republican who lost his bid for re-election to August primaries.

Lambert, the House leader, did not respond to multiple requests this week for comment on his chamber’s plan, which would not include any testing requirements for voucher recipients in 2024. Instead, the House version sought to sharply reduce testing and accountability for public school students, including replacing high school course scores with the ACT college entrance exam.

The House bill also included numerous financial incentives to try to win support from public school advocates. One idea was to increase the state’s contribution to public school teachers’ health insurance, redirecting $125 million the governor had allocated to raise teacher salaries.

Johnson told school board members that the governor is planning a “substantial” increase in public education funding in 2025, but did not specify by how much or for what.

“I think we’ll have some things that will be good for all of public education,” he said when later asked about including costly incentives such as funding for teacher health insurance. “Whether it will be in this (voucher) bill or in a separate bill is a big question. Let’s see. I don’t know the answer.”

Williamson County School Board rescinds previous resolution banning vouchers

Johnson told board members in his home district that he expects a “nominal” impact on Williamson County’s two suburban school systems south of Nashville if the bill passes the Legislature in 2025. -working schools and private school options.

Later Monday, the Williamson County board, including four newly elected members whose campaigns were supported by an out-of-state conservative political action committee, voted 10-2 to repeal resolution passed by the previous council v. Lee Educational Freedom Scholarship Act.

The Governor is originally from Williamson County and graduated from Williamson County Public High School in 1977. So it was important when his local council voted in March to join over 50 other school boards across Tennessee, opposing his signature education proposal.

But Dennis Diggers, a new board member, said it would be appropriate to revisit the issue given the recent election and suggested the resolution be rescinded.

“Four of the six candidates who won the election ran publicly on this issue for more than six months, so it was widely known,” Diggers said. “I’m not going to take away the opportunity for Williamson County parents to help their children.”

Meanwhile, Tennessee’s pro-voucher political organization released a new poll showing that 58% of the state’s voters are more likely to support a candidate who supports allowing parents to collect public funding to choose their child’s education, including public, private, charter or home schools . Beacon Center Survey did not use the word “vouchers” in his question to voters, that 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. The targeted program, which has since expanded to the Chattanooga area, had 3,550 students enrolled in its third year, still below the cap of 5,000 students, according to data provided by the state Department of Education.

A spokeswoman for the governor said his administration continues to work with both legislative chambers on a “unified” universal voucher bill to begin discussions by the 2025 session. She also noted that There is $144 million left in the state budget for the program this year. although lawmakers did not approve the bill.

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

Martha Aldrich is a senior reporter covering the Statehouse in Chockbeat, Tennessee. Contact her at (email protected). Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational changes in public schools.