2016 could be the year Tennessee passes a voucher program

Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, speaks at a news conference at the legislative office complex in Nashville, while Rep. Jeremy Durham, R-Franklin, left, listens in this Feb. 2, 2015, photo.
Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, speaks at a news conference at the legislative office complex in Nashville, while Rep. Jeremy Durham, R-Franklin, left, listens in this Feb. 2, 2015, photo.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - The co-sponsor of a Senate proposal to create a school voucher program in Tennessee says lawmakers will try again to pass the measure in the next legislative session.

A proposal that would let parents move a child from a failing public school in Tennessee to a private school with funding from the state failed earlier this year for the third consecutiveTennessee General Assembly session.

But Republican Sen. Brian Kelsey of Germantown told reporters following a Senate Education Committee hearing on Monday that he's optimistic this could be the year the legislation finally passes.

He says one reason is that the chairman of the House Education Subcommittee where the companion bill got stuck in the last session is also a co-sponsor of the legislation he's supporting.

Lawmakers return in January.

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