A school voucher bill sponsored by Senator Todd Gardenhire that passed the Senate on Monday in a 24-8 vote advanced in the House on Tuesday.
The Tennessee Choice & Opportunity Scholarship Act was approved by the House Government Operations Committee.
The bill now heads to the House Finance subcommittee for review.
Officials of the Beacon Center called it "a big step in what Beacon hopes will lead to the eventual passage of a school choice program in 2015."
Beacon CEO Justin Owen said, "We are extremely proud of the senators who stood with families across the state of Tennessee today. It is completely unfair for a child's future to be determined by his or her zip code. Every child deserves a quality education that meets his or her unique needs, and today's passage of this bill in the Senate was the first step to making that dream a reality."
The bill would allow a child from a failing public school to move to a private school. It applies to low-income students in districts with a school in the bottom five percent.