SCHOLARSHIPS BILL LOOKS UNIMPROVED
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s Education Freedom Scholarships program apparently will head to discussion next week in at least state Senate committees without the requirement of annual Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) testing or Department of Education-directed accountability.
Though that is what a draft of the bill accidentally released in January said, we hoped a final version of the proposal that would dole out public money for students to attend private schools would be altered to add such measures. That the Senate version filed Wednesday does not continues to be troubling. And we’re avid believers in school choice.
However, House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, told the Nashville Tennessean that the House bill will not match the Senate’s bill, though he declined to supply details. And there is also this: Sen. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, the chairman of the Senate Education Committee, told the Tennessean he will file a 17-page amendment to the Senate bill that will add testing requirements.
That tells us, then, some Republicans — perhaps many — are, like us, concerned about the lack of accountability measures, and that the governor’s bill is unlikely to pass unscathed.
Lundberg’s amendment, according to the Nashville paper which obtained a copy of it, would require scholarship program recipients to take annual tests approved by the state Board of Education, would mandate third and eighth graders to take TCAP tests, and would require 11th graders to take a postsecondary readiness exam like the SAT or ACT (given free in Tennessee public schools).
Further, it would align the amount of the scholarships with the per-pupil funding amount determined by the state’s new Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) funding formula.
The amendment also would allow what in essence is open enrollment in state public schools, permitting students to attend schools outside the district for which they’re zoned. For example, a student in southern Rhea County might cross the line into Hamilton County and attend Sale Creek Middle/High, or a student in upper eastern Hamilton County might find it quicker to attend Bradley Central High in Bradley County.
Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, who filed the Senate bill, echoed Lee in diverting discussion about the lack of accountability in the Education Freedom Scholarship bill to an issue of parents’ choices.
“This is a parental rights bill,” Johnson said. “This is giving choice to parents to pick an educational alternative that is best for their child. It may be that their child has unique learning needs — so I’m very cautious about imposing everything that we impose on our public education system on these other alternatives.
“Ultimately, parents will make the decision about final accountability, in my view,” he said.
Of course parents have the ultimate accountability for their child, as they should, but testing of a child that is using public money for a private school scholarship at a minimum should do two things: 1) determine for the parents and administrators at the new school whether the move to a private school is beneficial for the student, and 2) determine for the state whether the program for which they are expending millions of dollars is a wise investment.
To not have such accountability seems to us to be both antistudent and anti-taxpayer.
Interestingly, as if hedging the state’s bets, Johnson also has introduced a bill that would require the state Department of Education to study the school choice programs available in other states and to submit a report of the department’s findings to the governor, the speaker of the House and the speaker of the Senate no later than Jan. 1, 2025.
In other words, the state will seek to pass the Education Freedom Scholarships this session but wants to know by the next legislative session if there’s really something better out there. Maybe it’s just us, but a thorough examination of programs in other states before passing such an expansive bill here might be the more prudent thing to do.
As it is, the legislation in the 2024-2025 school year would provide scholarships to 10,000 students whose families earn up to 300% of the federal poverty level (about $90,000 for a family of four), and 10,000 more to any student who qualifies, regardless of family income.
The following year, they would be open to any Tennessee K-12 student, regardless of income, but only at schools that accept the scholarships.
We’d still prefer, instead, the state continue its current pilot Education Savings Account program, measuring its success after a certain period.
Instead, the Senate Education Committee will get first crack at the new bill next Wednesday. The measure is likely to be one of, if not the most controversial bill to come before the legislature this year. Based on Lundberg’s amendment, we anticipate a spirited debate on it and we hope, if it passes, rigorous accountability for whatever ends up in the final proposal.