NASHVILLE — Legislative Democrats charged today that if the General Assembly passes a school voucher program, the costs to local school districts “would nearly wipe out all the new funding” proposed by Republican Gov. Bill Haslam for K-12 education next year.
“Our state is 47th in per pupil spending, and this state budget does nothing to help us move up the board against other states,” House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh, D-Ripley said in a news release. “We only hear about vouchers: a system that hasn’t provided any stories of success. We have to fully fund our schools: not cut nearly a half billion dollars from their budgets.”
Democrats say state Comptroller Justin Wilson recently told the House Finance Committee the state currently underfunds education by as much as a half billion dollars. Democrats say that adjusted for inflation, Tennessee spends less on public schools now than it did in 2008.
In the 2016-17 spending plan Haslam presented to lawmakers earlier this week, the governor proposed spending an additional $261 million on K-12, largely for teacher pay and benefits.
But Democrats argue the voucher proposal, supported by Haslam, by 2018 would cost local school districts as much as $175 million in state and federal per-pupil funding.