Lawmakers in the Tennessee House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to advance legislation to expand school choice, moving forward the proposal announced by Governor Bill Lee in November.
Designed to create 20,000 new Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) for Tennessee students next school year, HB 1183 passed the House Education Administration Committee with 12 votes in favor and seven votes against.
State Representatives Chris Hurt (R-Halls), Bryan Richey (R-Maryville), Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill) and Monty Fritts (R-Kingston) joined Democrats in opposing the bill.
The other three votes against the bill were State Representatives Sam McKenzie (D-Knoxville), Antonio Parkinson (D-Memphis) and Harold Love, Jr. (D-Nashville).
Before their vote, Republicans voiced disagreement about a possible amendment by State Representative Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill) that would have prohibited ESAs from being distributed to illegal immigrants. The amendment was eventually withdrawn amid concerns about the legality of denying education funding to those in the country illegally.
After Warner previously voted against the bill, The Tennessee Star Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy vowed to help “lead the charge” to primary the Chapel Hill Republican, remarking that “nothing would please me more than to lead the charge that would take Todd Warner and retire him from the Tennessee General Assembly, because that’s where he belongs.”
Leahy explained, “He’s not going to get anything done at all; he’s just there to align with the Tennessee Marxists. That’s the reality of what he’s doing and he needs to be kicked out.”
Walter Blanks, Jr. of the American Federation for Children and conservative filmmaker Robby Starbuck spoke in favor of the vouchers at the hearing. Both testified that ESAs or other school choice methods helped them and their families receive a rounded education.
The bill was filed on January 31 after Lee announced plans to expand Tennessee’s school choice program with a plan to initially expand it to lower-income families before eventually making ESAs available to all Tennessee students.
HB 1183 would create a priority system that prioritizes students whose families of four earn less than $128,000 per year in the first year, then $160,000 in the second year, before opening the ESA program to all eligible students.
SB 503, the Senate version of the legislation, differs from the House version, which at one point led Warner to remark that details of the bill are likely to be resolved in a conference committee.
Later on Wednesday the State Senate version of the school choice bill advanced through the Senate Education Committee in a 7 to 1 vote.
Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and the Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to pappert.tom@proton.me.
