Readers criticize Sen. Richard Briggs for decrying vouchers going to ‘Islamic’ schools

Editor’s note: These letters are responding to Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s proposal to expand the Education Savings Account plan and this story in The Tennessean: “GOP support not universal for Gov. Bill Lee's statewide voucher plan: 'It concerns me’.”

The first two letters are responding to comments by state Sen. Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville who said he is concerned about which private school would receive taxpayer money: “We have an Islamic school in Knoxville. Some of the young children that will want vouchers may go there. Are we using taxpayer money to send kids to Islamic schools? ...We shouldn't have taxpayer money funneling to Islamic education.”

You can share your perspective by writing a letter of 250 words or fewer to letters@tennessean.com. Include your full name, city or town, and ZIP code.

Knoxville lawmaker’s comments on Islamic schools are outrageous

The statement by state Senator Briggs in The Tennessean sent cold chills down my spine.

I wholeheartedly agree with his serious doubts about the extensive voucher program being pushed by Lee.

For him to say, however, that part of his objection is that the money might be used to “send kids to Islamic schools” is beyond reprehensible.

Why not say that he objects to any of the money being used to support religious schools? To single out our Muslim neighbors for such a comment is beyond belief coming from a Tennessee state senator!

For decades, a bumper sticker on my public classroom wall proclaimed, “If you are not outraged, you are not paying attention!” Never has this been more true in the State of Tennessee!

Steve Cates, Murfreesboro 37130

Column in support of expanding vouchers: Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s proposed school choice expansion increases freedom of education

Tennessee should not infringe on anyone's religious freedom

State Senator Richard Briggs is quoted as saying, “We shouldn’t have taxpayer money funneling to Islamic education.”

Isn’t this discrimination when under the Governor’s plan, taxpayer money will likely be funneled to independent private schools, Catholic schools, other Christian schools,  and Jewish schools?

Mary Jo Murphy, Nashville 37215

Wall Street Journal reports that vouchers benefit private-school students

Private schools should never be funded federal, state, county or municipal public funds. In the 10 states that have adopted school vouchers, 60%-75% of the money goes to kids that are “already in private school,” per The Wall Street Journal’s Dec. 3 story: “Vouchers helping families already in private school, early data show.”

Bleeding the already strained resources for public K-12 only further degrades public education. Lee and the legislature are already considering turning down $1.8 billion in federal dollars for public education out of suspicion of federal oversight.

It is the failure of local and state governments for not building better public education. Giving money to private schools guarantees public education in Tennessee will crumble completely.

Bill Tyler, Nashville 37221

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Students should not attend private schools on the taxpayer dime

Re: “Gov. Bill Lee welcomes a 'conservative education revolution.' Will public schools survive?” by David Plazas and “Gov. Bill Lee is empowering families by expanding school choice in Tennessee,” by Chris Burger.

I agree that there is a revolution going on in education in the United States. Mr. Burger states that we have options in most parts of life – from where we shop, to what car we drive, to what cell phone provider we chose. Mr. Burger then points out that in education, only those families with financial means have choices.

David Plazas defines revolution as changing things so radically that they are never the same. Since the Reagan administration , every Republican administration has stated its intent to abolish the Department of Education. The General Assembly is considering refusing federal money from the Department of Education.

Refusing to accept money that taxpayers have paid would further limit educational opportunities for those families without financial means.

In the 1960s, particularly in the southern, formerly Confederate states, private, all-white schools sprang up in multiple communities, primarily to avoid the Supreme Court mandate to desegregate following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. These schools were not subject to federal oversight, as they did not receive federal funding, diminishing the tax base that supported public schools.

Like Mr. Burger, I am a product of public education through high school, and private school in undergraduate and law school. In college and law school, my parents and I paid my expenses, and we did not rely on taxpayers to fund private education.

Carlton M. Lewis, Nashville 37206

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: School vouchers: Readers respond to Gov. Lee's school choice proposal