NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – A prominent voucher group’s outreach efforts to families of students “caused nothing but confusion” while Tennessee attempted to enact a program that would have allowed parents to use tax dollars to pay for private school tuition, a state official said in emails detailing the implementation efforts.
Known as education savings accounts, the school voucher program was one of Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s most contentious legislative priorities that he successfully pushed through his first year in office. The program has never fully launched due to multiple ongoing lawsuits.
However, emails obtained through a public records request by The Associated Press show state officials were clashing with the American Federation for Children – a group previous chaired by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos – as they rushed to get the voucher program up and running in the final days before a Tennessee judge blocked it from going into effect.
Under the program, eligible Tennessee families in only Nashville and Shelby County – which includes Memphis – could use up to $7,300 in public tax dollars on private schooling tuition and other preapproved expenses. Democratic lawmakers in those regions opposed the measure, but Republicans, almost all from areas outside where the program would be in effect, passed the measure anyway.
As the lawsuits were making their way through the courts, the AFC Tennessee chapter had set up its own website to help interested families submit a school voucher application, but state officials raised flags the group’s actions were causing stumbling blocks for families.