The chair of the Hamilton County Republican Party, Gail Greene, questioned on Thursday why Tennessee’s program giving government money to families who send their children to private schools is being used for Islamic education.
“I know there’s a lot of information circulating about several Islamic schools in Tennessee that are getting our tax dollars from these Education Freedom Scholarships, and the fact that I’m learning that my tax dollars are going to fund Islamic education in our state really troubles me,” Greene said to a lawmaker who was addressing a Chattanooga Republican Women’s luncheon in Hixson. “So I was wondering if you can speak to whether or not that is true and how you feel about it.”
State Rep. Greg Martin, R-Hixson, voted to pass the Education Freedom Scholarship Program, which Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed into law in February, giving Tennessee families $7,295 in public funding to enroll their children in private schools. The program enrolled its first students this fall.
Martin, speaking at the luncheon, defended religious freedom and warned that if one religious school was excluded, other religious schools would be excluded, too.
The difference of opinion between Martin and Greene marks a divide within the Hamilton County Republican Party, as the program and its rollout have created a debate among lawmakers.