NASHVILLE – Brushing aside concerns and criticisms, Gov. Bill Lee said he sticking with a new plan to implement his controversial Tennessee school voucher program in the fall of 2020, a year earlier than expected by lawmakers.
The governor this week defended his decision, noting legislators pared back his administration’s Education Savings Account program from five county public school systems to just Nashville and Shelby County, the state’s largest.
“What we found was the implementation could occur more efficiently and more effectively in a short time frame,” Lee told reporters Thursday, nonetheless insisting he was not “accelerating” the program. “So that’s why we’re trying to get this done earlier – so kids can get started in the plan.”
Hamilton, Knox and Madison-Jackson County school systems were included in his original bill. But they were stripped out as part of multiple efforts to prevent the new Republican governor’s effort from dying in the GOP-controlled House.
Even so, the bill deadlocked this spring for 40 minutes in a 49-49 House tie vote, sending the governor, his lobbying team and then-House Speaker Glen Casada scrambling to save it.