Special Session convenes with major shakeup to the House Education Committee
Representatives Renea Jones, Chris Hurt, Jody Barrett, Charlie Baum (top left to right), Jay Reedy, Ronnie Glynn, and Sam McKenzie(bottom left to right) (Photo by Tennessee General Assembly)
Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, opened the first day of the special session on Governor Bill Lee’s Education Freedom Scholarship Act of 2025, Hurricane Helene relief for East Tennessee, and illegal immigration with wholesale changes to the House Education Committee.
Sexton opted to replace half of the members who will serve on the committee in the regular session that resumes next week, including Representative Jody Barrett, R-Dickson, who’s expressed opposition to supporting the Education Freedom Scholarship plan that would allow parents across the state the ability to use taxpayer dollars to send their children to private school, frequently referred to as vouchers. The House Education Committee will play an important role in whether the vouchers plan succeeds this year after failing to advance to the floor in either chamber last year.
“With the filing of the bill package for the special session last Wednesday and the release of the fiscal note on the Education Freedom act, I have spent the weekend going over the language of the bill and the fiscal analysis provided for the same. Upon further review my initial concerns have been confirmed. I believe I have informed staff for both of you previously that I was leaning no on this vote. I am writing today to confirm that I cannot vote in favor of the bill as file,” wrote Barrett in a letter to Governor Bill Lee and House Republican Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland on Monday.
In addition to Barrett, Sexton also moved Representatives Charlie Baum, R-Murfreesboro; Ronnie Glynn, D- Clarksville; Chris Hurt, R- Halls; Renea Jones, R-Unicoi; Sam McKenzie, D-Knoxville; and Jay Reedy, R-Erin, off the committee for the special session. In their place he appointed Representatives Karen Camper, D-Memphis; Michele Carringer, R-Knoxville; Elaine Davis, R-Knoxville; Vincent Dixie, D-Nashville; Rick Eldridge, R-Morristown; John Gillespie, R-Memphis; David Hawk, R-Greeneville; Justin Lafferty, R-Knoxville; Pat Marsh, R-Shelbyville; Jake McCalmon, R-Franklin; Debra Moody, R-Covington; Gabby Salinas, D-Memphis.
Sexton also changed out who will lead the Education Committee during the special session. Representative Scott Cepicky, R-Culleoka, who led the unsuccessful effort in the House last year to pass the Governor’s plan will take over as the House Education Committee Chair for Representative Mark White, R-Memphis. White has also been a supporter of the Education Freedom Scholarship Act and will continue to serve on the committee during the special session before returning to his chairmanship next week.
Democrats worry about pace
The General Assembly has a total of seven bills on the special session calendar currently. The plan is to vote on all by the end of the week and there’s a possibility some bills could reach the floor during the same day they advance out of committee.
It’s a pace Democratic Caucus Chairman John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, argued won’t provide the public with transparency about the legislation that’s passing.
“That does not allow for sunlight for Tennesseans to know what’s happening to them and we are not going to be able to thoroughly debate the issues before us in this legislative session,” said Clemmons
Representative Lamberth pushed back on Clemmons’ concerns, arguing the General Assembly takes a similar pace towards the end of the legislative session each year through a process called “flow motion,” that allows legislation to advance out of committee and to the floor on the same day.
“There will be robust debate, and I anticipate a number of amendments filed by anybody on this floor,” said Lamberth. “This is a very straightforward set of rules that is very similar to the flow motion that we pass every year toward the end of session when we go from more than a thousand bills passed down to just a few at the end of session,” said Lamberth.
