Voucher bill fails to move forward in state Senate
NASHVILLE — A voucher bill that would let parents spend taxpayer money on private schools has failed to get enough votes to move forward in the Senate. While the bill could technically be brought back up, Wednesday’s vote in the Senate Education Committee may have doomed this year’s efforts to pass a statewide voucher program.
Last year a similar bill passed in the Senate, but the House sponsor pulled it after failing to get the votes.
Voucher supporters also are advancing a bill to create a fiveyear pilot program for vouchers, limited to Shelby County.
Opponents of vouchers say they hurt public education by diverting money from schools. They point to recent studies showing some children in other states did worse after getting vouchers.
Supporters say they give parents choices when they are stuck in failing neighborhood schools.
Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, sponsored the measure. He told fellow lawmakers on the Education Committee the vouchers would be limited to poor students living in school districts ranking in the bottom 5 percent.
Gardenhire tried to assure fellow lawmakers the measure wouldn’t create a mass exodus from the public schools by telling them the bill allows no more than 20,000 students to get vouchers.
“There’s that many out with sickness or flu or something else,” Gardenhire said. “We’re not talking about a major amount.”
Gardenhire needed five votes to advance the measure, and couldn’t persuade enough lawmakers to go along with him. Four voted in favor, four passed and one voted no.