Senate Speaker Ron RamseyNASHVILLE – Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey on Thursday blamed the failure of Republican Gov. Bill Haslam’s school voucher bill on a fellow GOP senator he says was “bound and determined” to expand the measure over the governor’s objections.
Now, with lawmakers hoping to adjourn in about two weeks, the issue is dead, said Ramsey, R-Blountville.
“I think something’s better than nothing,” Ramsey said of the insistence of Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, on extending vouchers beyond what Haslam proposed. “Sometimes, the search of perfection stands in the way of good. At least we should have had good and moved forward something.”
Haslam pulled his voucher proposal Wednesday with Majority Leader Mark Norris, R-Collierville, who carried the administration’s bill, saying the governor was sticking to his limited voucher plan.
Haslam’s bill would have created a limited voucher program that in its first year would allow 5,000 children from low-income families attending the state’s 83 lowest-performing public schools to use tax dollars to pay private school tuition. The numbers would have increased over time.