Knox County school board politically divided on message to send lawmakers about vouchers

The Knox County school board members were evenly split on whether to send a message to Tennessee's Republican supermajority lawmakers as they debate Gov. Bill Lee's school voucher expansion plan.

In the end, the lack of consensus means board member Jennifer Owen's resolution against vouchers failed.

The 4-4 vote Feb. 8 reflects the members' political leanings, with the District 8 seat vacant after the death of Mike McMillan.

In opposition were board chair Betsy Henderson, vice chair Steve Triplett, Susan Horn and Kristi Kristy. Owen, Katherine Bike, John Butler and Daniel Watson had hoped to send a message to Nashville that vouchers will hurt Knox County Schools.

Owen argued that public tax dollars should stay with public schools, not go to private ones. Vouchers would allow students to essentially have credit from the state to help pay their tuition at a private or religious school.

"Our duty is to be very specific about public schools, so when we're talking about the needs of public schools and we're talking to our legislators about the needs of public schools, I think we have a responsibility to let them know when they are doing something that would not be in the best public interest of our public schools," Owen said at the board's Feb. 8 meeting.

The resolution was modeled using language from the Tennessee School Board Association, which opposes a voucher expansion, saying it will have "detrimental impacts" on public schools and communities by siphoning away funding. Critics argue vouchers will help cover tuition costs for wealthy families that have already chosen to use private schools and therefore can afford the tuition on their own.

Boards for several districts across the state have passed similar resolutions urging lawmakers to scrap vouchers, including Blount County, Collierville, Metro Nashville, Moore County Schools, Rutherford County Schools and others. A joint resolution from Alcoa and Maryville boards opposed vouchers last month.

The Knox County school board passed a similar resolution opposing vouchers in 2017 with an 8-1 vote.

How did we get here?

During the 2023 legislative session in Nashville, Knox County's state senators declined to support a bill that would have brought school vouchers to Knox County even though local GOP House members supported the plan.

In this year's session, Lee's bid to expand vouchers statewide has received mixed reactions. In his State of the State speech, Lee branded 2024 as the year to "make school choice a reality for every Tennessee family."

The Education Freedom Scholarship Act would offer 20,000 Tennessee students $7,075 each to pay for a private school of their choice beginning in the 2024-25 school year.

Lee’s proposal for a new statewide school choice program will not include any testing or accountability requirements for participating students, according to an advance draft of the legislation obtained by the USA TODAY Network-Tennessee.

School vouchers could be used by families to pay for private schools, including religious institutions and for those who home school. Knox County has 1,714 homeschool students enrolled this year in the district, according to Knox County Schools spokeswoman Carly Harrington.

Who can get a school voucher in Tennessee?

Right now, only students zoned for Hamilton County Schools, Memphis-Shelby County Schools and Metro Nashville Public Schools, or a school that was part of the Achievement School District as of May 24, 2019, are eligible for vouchers.

Families must meet the program's requirements, including having attended a Tennessee public school for one full school year immediately preceding the school year for which they request a voucher. There is an exception for incoming kindergarten students or those who move to Tennessee from out of state.

There also are income requirements. The student must be a member of a household with an annual income for the previous year that doesn't exceed twice the federal guideline that qualifies them for a free lunch. That guideline changes each year and depends on household size.

How much is a school voucher worth?

Tennessee’s current Education Savings Accounts program offers low- and middle-income students in Davidson, Hamilton and Shelby counties grants of about $9,000 each to attend state-approved private and parochial schools, though private schools often cost more than that. Those students are required to take the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program test each year from grades 3 through 12.

The funds can be used for tuition, fees, textbooks and school uniforms.

Areena Arora, data and investigative reporter for Knox News, can be reached by email at areena.arora@knoxnews.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @AreenaArora.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knox County school board politically divided on vouchers