Williamson County Board of Education rescinds resolution opposing vouchers, changes dress code

Williamson County resident Kate Keys speaks out rescinding a recent Williamson County school board resolution that voices opposition to school vouchers. (Screenshot)

The Williamson County Schools Board of Education voted Monday to rescind a resolution from March that voiced the board’s opposition to Gov. Bill Lee’s Education Freedom Scholarship Act.

This reversal, which was passed through a 10-2 vote, follows the first partisan school board race in Williamson County in August that saw six new members elected to the board. Five of those departing board members made up the majority in the 7-5 vote to support the resolution last March. Only two board members, Melissa Wyatt and Eric Welch, voted “no” to rescinding the resolution and Drason Beasley, who previously supported it, voted in favor of rescinding the resolution.

Gov. Bill Lee’s proposed Education Freedom Scholarship Act, sometimes referred to as vouchers, would allow parents across the state the ability to use taxpayer dollars to send their children to private school. That proposal failed to advance out of committee last legislative session, though Lee has promised to bring it back next year.

Some local community members voiced their opposition to the decision during public comments. Among them was Kate Keys, a local parent who said she was “very concerned” that new members of the board would do something that “undermines the integrity and resources available to public schools.” She echoed concerns from other opponents of the legislation, who believe vouchers offered under the governor’s program would divert funding away from public schools.

“This is a public school board, and your goal is to support public schools, so I hope that you will continue to take that very seriously and do all that you can to get more resources for our public schools, not less,” she said.

In other business, the board voted to approve changes to the district’s dress code policy. According to documents provided by Williamson County Schools, the changes omit language that prohibits clothing with hate speech against groups based on “sexual orientation” and “gender identity.” Melissa Wyatt was the only board member to oppose the changes.

Eve Boger speaks at Monday’s Williamson County school board meeting. (Screenshot)

A handful of community members spoke out against the changes, such as Eve Boger, president of the local LGBTQ nonprofit support group Wilco Iris. She said the dress code policy “removes clearly stated protections for sexual orientation and gender identity,” which could be detrimental to LGBTQ students’ mental health.

She said that during a recent policy committee meeting reviewing the dress code, there seemed to be much confusion and uncertainty about whether LGBTQ students were “protected under current law,” referring to Title IX regulations that protect against discrimination based on sex stereotypes, sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics.

 “If the board was struggling with the current legal terminology with the benefit of having direction from legal counsel, then how are our educators tasked with enforcing this policy expected to know that ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’ are protected [under federal law] if these terms are removed from the policy?” she said. “Will there be school-to-school training or a clarifying addendum for parents and students who aren’t familiar with Title IX?”

One trans male student told the board that he’s seen instances of bullying against LGBTQ students before in the district, underscoring the need for LGBTQ students to be included among protected groups.

“The attention changing this rule would get would spur disruptive and unkind students to act out,” he said. “By simply just removing this language from the policy, kids like this would be enabled and encouraged to act out in a way that would threaten the peaceful school experience of LGBTQ students.”