Tennessee House panel alters private-school voucher bill

Tennessee’s House finance subcommittee amended a private-school voucher bill Wednesday, putting it in conflict with Senate legislation and Gov. Bill Lee on multiple fronts.

In final State of the State, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee pushes to double private-school vouchers

The amendment drops the total number of scholarships to 35,000 for next school year after the governor requested 40,000, trimming roughly $35 million off Lee’s plan to double the program at a cost of $305 million. 

Another section of the amendment designed to keep school districts from losing state funds when students transfer to private schools could cause legal problems for the measure. It would require schools to check students during registration to determine their legal status, whether they are a U.S. citizen, trying to gain citizenship, holding valid legal immigration status or are subject to immigration proceedings in which a final order of removal hasn’t been issued.

The amendment also details requirements for eligible students who would receive about $7,500 in the coming year. Returning applicants would be first to receive the funds, followed by students whose household is below 100% of the poverty level, followed by those at 300% of the poverty level and then those with no income limit.

In addition, the Department of Education would be required to report the number of students who apply from each of 95 counties, the number enrolled in public schools when applying and the number not yet enrolled in school.

Passing a version with several different provisions than the Senate bill would make it more difficult to expand the private-school voucher program.

House finance subcommittee Chairman Ryan Williams, a Cookeville Republican, told the Lookout Wednesday he wanted to find a “fiscally conservative way to manage the resources” to help the program’s financial standing. He said he hadn’t discussed the measure with senators, whose bill doubles the voucher program as the governor requested.

Williams predicted the Senate and House versions would wind up in a conference committee where representatives from each chamber would try to reach a compromise before the end of the session.

“I can’t imagine it would not at this point, unless, for the first time all year, (senators) think we had a good idea,” Williams said.

He noted the amendment is not an effort to kill the bill and said House Republican William Lamberth and House Speaker Cameron Sexton, who sat in on Wednesday’s subcommittee meeting, support it. Until a week ago, Sexton said he wanted to double the private-school voucher program.

Democratic Rep. Antonio Parkinson of Memphis, a member of the finance subcommittee, said he has no idea why House leaders brought the amendment.

“But I like it,” Parkinson said. “I like the fact that they’re convoluting it and making it tougher to reconcile.”

Parkinson said he doesn’t support any form of the bill because the average recipient’s household income is around $94,000.

The legislature is bogged down already with a separate bill targeting immigrant students. On that front, the House version would require school districts to report the number of immigrant students without legal status, while the Senate version would allow districts to charge tuition to undocumented students. The latter bill is considered a challenge to the 1982 U.S. Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe, which determined that schools must enroll all students regardless of immigration status.