NASHVILLE — Senate Minority Leader Jim Kyle, D-Memphis, is urging lawmakers to deal with the state’s “insolvent” lottery-funded college scholarship fund.
Sen. Kyle’s comment came after a Senate panel refused to adopt his plan to plug a $13 million program shortfall.
“This is the first step to reducing scholarships and denying accessibility for thousands of Tennessee students who depend on the lottery scholarship as their sole opportunity to attend college,” Sen. Kyle said in a news release Thursday. “This inaction threatens the ability to keep our promise to these students. The time to act is now.”
His bill would shift from $56 million and $91.4 million in lottery funds, set aside two years ago for the $90 million Energy Efficient Schools Initiative, back to the scholarship fund’s reserve. The initiative, a GOP brainchild, was intended to provide construction grants or loans to K-12 schools to promote energy efficiency and savings.
Sen. Kyle’s bill failed Wednesday in the Senate Education Committee on a 4-4-1 party line vote, with all four Republicans voting “no” and a fifth Republican abstaining. All four Democrats, including Sen. Andy Berke, D-Chattanooga, voted for it.