Bill could divert millions from SCS

A bill that would create vouchers for students to use public money to attend private schools could divert upward of $18 million from Shelby County Schools, according to a fiscal note filed with the bill.

The bill, filed by Sen. Brian Kelsey, RGermantown, includes language that only students in districts with at least 30 schools in the bottom 5 percent in the state in academic performance would be eligible for a voucher. SCS is the only district in Tennessee with that many lowperforming schools.

Students would also have to be zoned to or currently attending a school in the bottom 5 percent and would have to meet age and income requirements.

The bill creates a phased-in Opportunity Scholarship Pilot Program that would eventually offer 20,000 students a scholarship to attend private school.

In the 2017-18 school year, the program would cost SCS an estimated $8.8 million in funding, followed by $13.6 million the year after and $18.6 million in 2019-2020. That assumes students claim just 25 percent of each year’s available vouchers.

The program would also cost the state a one-time expense of $330,094 in 2017-18 and a recurring expense of $230,394 in administrative costs per year. Vouchers would be worth just over $7,000 and would increase slightly each year.

Kelsey said Monday the funding loss for SCS would be proportional to the number of students the district would no longer have to educate. The bill also only diverts state money, and requires students using a voucher to be counted toward the enrollment of their local school district. That means the district still re-

tains local funds for them.

“The beauty is they no longer have to educate the child, and yet they’re still getting paid some money,” Kelsey said.

Kelsey’s bill has support, including from co-sponsors Rep. Harry Brooks, R-Knoxville, and Sen. Reginald Tate, D-Memphis. But it’s not the only pending legislation aiming to create a voucher program. Rep. Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville, has a broader bill competing in the House.

SCS said in a statement the district is monitoring the legislation as it progresses, but that it’s too early to determine its full fiscal impact.

Superintendent Dorsey Hopson previously questioned whether such a bill would be constitutional because it targets only one area. Kelsey said previously he believes his program is constitutional because it’s a pilot program.

The district and school board have also been vocally opposed to any voucher bill.

SCS board member Billy Orgel said Monday he’s in favor of programs that help students, but only when they’re done in partnership with local leaders.

“I would wish that legislators that grew up in our community would remember the impact they have on our community when they introduce things in Nashville and work to make them law,” he said.

Kelsey said he’s spoken with SCS leaders but is creating the program to help children and not adults.

“I’ve spoken with all kinds of children and all kinds of parents who desperately want more choices for their schooling,” he said.

The bill is scheduled for discussion next month in the Senate Education Committee.