Gov. Bill HaslamNASHVILLE – Gov. Bill Haslam’s school voucher proposal, which would affect Hamilton County schools, is headed for a Senate floor vote after clearing a key Senate hurdle today.
Senate Finance Committee members approved the revised measure on an 8-2 vote. The bill was delayed the House Budget Subcommittee.
Haslam had tried to limit the proposal to low-incomes families whose children attend the bottom 5 percent of the state’s lowest performing public schools. Last year, he even jerked the bill from final consideration when senators sought to expand it.
But this year Haslam finally agreed to expand the bill, which would allow the use of public money to pay for vouchers to send students to private or religious schools.
If there aren’t not enough students from the bottom five percent of schools to fill the initial 5,000 slots statewide, low-income families from other schools would be eligible in the five currently affected counties.