The concept of educational vouchers in Tennessee got the go-ahead Wednesday to be discussed further in the state House.
Where there should have been confetti thrown, instead Democrats and public-education purists ran around as if the world were ending.
The bill passing from a subcommittee to a full committee is, for now, only an opportunity for the concept to get a broader public airing. That ought to be the least we can do for a program that has the possibility to lift some - dare we hope many? - out of failing schools.
It may be that the House Finance Committee, where the "opportunity scholarships" bill landed after being voted out of the House Finance Subcommittee, finds too many questions about vouchers have been left unanswered. Or members find the amount of money that would be moved from public schools too scary.
But what if members eventually vote it out of committee and onto the House floor? Isn't it better to have more discussion, not less, about low-income children having an opportunity at a better education, about a program that is limited at the start and could grow if successful, about a plan that might spur public education advocates to think less about money and more about new approaches to helping all children succeed?
A version of the bill sponsored by state Sen. Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, passed the Senate last year and earned the support of Gov. Bill Haslam. It would allow parents whose children qualify for free or reduced-cost lunches in districts that have at least one of the state's bottom 5 percent of schools to use public money to send their children to private schools.
Parents have said they'd love that opportunity - to give their children something closed off to them because of their own lack of education or the location of their home.
How could it be wrong to attempt, at the very least, a pilot program offering vouchers?
With few exceptions, Democrats controlled Tennessee - at the legislative level and the executive level - for most of the past 150 years. During that time, the state was not high on any list for education outcomes.
Since Gov. Haslam took office in 2011, Tennessee has been the most-improved state in the nation for education. With the light of day first in a full committee, and we hope on the House floor, it's time to fully discuss this conservative idea of vouchers and find out if it, too, might give Volunteer State students a hand up toward a better future.