Tennessee Governor Bill HaslamNASHVILLE – Gov. Bill Haslam’s school-voucher task force on Thursday submitted its final written recommendations to the Republican governor on how a program could be implemented in Tennessee.
Haslam appointed the nine-member group, headed by Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman, a year ago to study how Tennessee might allow students to use state and local tax dollars to attend private and religious schools.
Task force members finalized their recommendations in a public meeting this month, saying the state should limit any would-be program to poorer students. But the group failed to reach consensus on several key details, including how large the program should be.
They looked at Tennessee public and private schools and examined voucher programs in other states to see what best would fit within the broader context of current education reform efforts.
Recommendations included discussion about accountability and private school eligibility, student eligibility and scholarship amounts.