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Cooper: Voucher program offers promise

In his State of the State address, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee proposed a voucher program for public school districts with three or more schools ranked in the bottom 10 percent of schools across the state.
In his State of the State address, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee proposed a voucher program for public school districts with three or more schools ranked in the bottom 10 percent of schools across the state. In his State of the State address, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee proposed a voucher program for public school districts with three or more schools ranked in the bottom 10 percent of schools across the state.

By Clint Cooper 4 min read

We don’t believe it would matter if a wealthy foundation stepped forward to put $25 million into an “educational savings account” for students in low-performing public schools to attend “an independent school of their choice at no cost to their family.”

The Tennessee Education Association (TEA) still would not support it.

So expecting the TEA to support a voucher program that does not take $1 from public education funding but is nevertheless paid through state funds is a pipe dream.

But the organization ought to support the program. It ought to be in lockstep with the governor in trying to be innovative in trying to give every student “access to a great education,” as Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said in his first State of the State address on Monday.

Unfortunately, even before all the details could be worked out, TEA President Beth Brown played the negativity card on something that isn’t in adherence with the way public education has been offered for more than a century.