Governor Lee and the TNGOP are getting closer to achieving what they want: the end of public education in Tennessee. The TNGOP’s goal is to bankrupt public education and substitute a public education with vouchers for religion-based schools and for-profit scam “schools.” According to the Economic Policy Institute, voucher expansion bills have failed in at least five states so far, as of 2023: Georgia, Texas, Idaho, Virginia and South Dakota.
Since 1970, voters have rejected the creation or expansion of private school vouchers every time they have been on a ballot. In 2024, Kentucky and Nebraska strongly voted down a ballot initiative on vouchers (but still voted for President Trump).
According to Nation’s Report Card.gov, Tennessee now ranks last among our neighboring states in funding.
This is intentional so that the TNGOP can say, “See, we told you that Tennessee public schools are failing.” To further the dismantling of public education, Governor Lee and the TN GOP majority legislature just passed a law: a school voucher scheme that will cost an estimated $1 billion—a billion public dollars that will go in the pockets of for-profit scam schools, private religious schools, and as a $8K coupon for families with children already attending established private schools.
That’s not where I want my tax dollars going. That’s not where a majority of Tennessee’s county commissions want public funds going, either. We want our tax dollars invested in a fully-funded public education for all Tennessee students because an educated population, able to read and be engaged in what is happening in their community, country and the world, creates a strong representative democracy for all of us. If the TNGOP wants a strong representative democracy for all students, their push for voucher schools belies that. And please don’t call it “school choice”.
Tennessee State Senate Democratic Caucus Chair London Lamar states that “Tennessee ranks near the bottom in what we invest in our public school students, and our teachers are still earning less than they did a decade ago after inflation. It’s time for state leaders to refocus on supporting our public schools — not handing out hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to unaccountable private schools.”
Therese P. Tuley
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I have attended private, as well as public schools in my educational background (in Hamilton County).
A seventh grade private school education level is almost on par with that of a senior or sophomore public high school education program. I realized this fact almost a quarter century ago.
The public high school I attended my freshman year had a bunch of kids bussed from other communities into our school. The merger of city and county schools ruined many schools and communities in those days.
Now the same public high school I attended is overwhelmingly Spanish speaking children. A large portion of these alien children are not citizens or the children of citizens of Hamilton County.
I wouldn't send my child to any Hamilton County school. I would jump at the chance to have a voucher to send my child to one of the private schools in town.
Hamilton County used to have schools in certain areas that people would move to, specifically for their child to attend a certain county school. Now the only option is a North Georgia address.
You people want more money to bus kids from one community to another... you want more money to pay for illegals... you need more money for food programs... etc... ad nauseum.
Public education is a dumpster fire in Hamilton County. Our tax dollars are wasted. I'd rather give a child a chance, and a voucher.
There will be no shortage of illegals to fill the schools seats and for you to get that sweet federal school funding you love... to waste.
The days of brick and mortar schools are almost at an end. Modern technology will eventually and hopefully, eliminate the need for such wasteful public tax spending.
Schools used to be about community... now they all about that money, as the original poster clearly demonstrated.
William Pitt