Tennessee House, Senate divided on school choice bill as governor aims for compromise

Tennessee lawmakers have struggled to succeed in an settlement on a school voucher bill, with the House and Senate remaining aside on what ought to be included within the laws.

Each chamber of the General Assembly is proposing their very own model of the school voucher bill. The House and Senate stay divided on their proposals, as a Senate committee prepares to listen to their model on Tuesday.

Republican Gov. Bill Lee is hoping lawmakers can come collectively on a compromise earlier than the top of the present legislative session, in response to Fox Chattanooga.

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Each chamber of Tennessee’s General Assembly is proposing their very own model of a school voucher bill. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)

Tennessee lawmakers are trying to increase the state’s present school voucher program, which is restricted to college students with particular wants and those that stay in sure counties.

The value of the House model of the proposal is $500 million, as the bill at the moment stands.

“We in the House feel like we should be doing something to strengthen the $8.5 billion that we’re investing in K-12 public schools, not just focus on the $144 million of school choice,” GOP Rep. William Lamberth informed Fox Chattanooga. “You can handle both in the same bill, we can focus on both, and I think we should.”

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Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is seen studying to schoolchildren throughout a current classroom go to. (Office of the Governor of Tennessee)

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The Senate model is half the price of the House counterpart but it surely doesn’t embrace the House’s provisions to extend state funds for trainer medical insurance plans, modifications to principal and trainer evaluations or modifications to testing necessities.

The major purpose of the Senate model is establishing Lee’s Education Freedom Scholarship Act and opening inter-county school enrollment.

“We’re focused on families first, and we want to do what we need to do to improve the quality of life of every Tennessee family,” Democrat Rep. John Ray Clemmons informed Fox Chattanooga. “And that is not happening right now with this fiscal mismanagement.”