Legislation to expand the controversial Education Savings Account (ESA) program advanced through a key subcommittee Tuesday night.
The House K-12 subcommittee approved a plan by Chattanooga State Senator Todd Gardenhire to allow students in Hamilton County to participate in the ESA. The legislation passed the State Senate last month.
The Tennessee General Assembly originally passed the ESA program in 2019 to allow eligible students in Davidson or Shelby County to use state and local dollars to help cover education expenses at private schools. Legal challenges prevented the program from taking effect until last year.
Hamilton County was originally considered to be a part of the ESA program but supporters say it was left off to give the Hamilton County School District more time to turn things around. The district has been among the state’s lowest performing school district since 2016 when students scored below average in nine to ten categories.
Memphis Representative Mark White is carrying the legislation in the House on behalf of Senator Gardenhire who says it’s needed in Hamilton County.
“Five years of giving opportunity to the Hamilton County Schools, Sen. Gardenhire says ‘it is like playing whack-a-mole—two priority schools come off, three come back on.’ So Sen. Gardenhire is asking for Hamilton County to be a part of the ESA, or what is known as the “voucher”, to give parents a choice. This is a pro-choice bill for parents where the particular school they’re in is not working for them,” said Representative White quoting Senator Gardenhire.
The Tennessee Department of Education is supporting the legislation and subcommittee members Representative Gino Bulso and Bryan Richey both said they’d like to see it expand to every county in the state.
Critics of the initial ESA legislation argued it would take money away from public schools and Chapel Hill Representative Todd Warner echoed that concern to his fellow subcommittee members.
“I support school choice, I think parents ought to have the right. Where I struggle is when we taken money out of a public school system,” said Representative Warner.
Maryville Representative Bryan Richey responded to Representative Warner’s concerns, making the case that parents should be able to decide where their children’s educational dollars are spent.
“I think parents having the opportunity to be able to make with the decision that’s what’s best for them when we’ve got taxpayer dollars, it’s not public-school dollars, that are set aside to educate our kids,” said Representative Richey.
The House Education Administration Committee will vote on the legislation next week.
