School Vouchers Pass Tennessee Senate, Await House Vote

School vouchers look like they may soon become a reality in Tennessee, after the Senate approved a voucher plan Monday night.

Lawmakers say they’ve come up with a program that targets children in some of the state’s worst-performing schools — without crippling their districts.

Many lawmakers seem to favor giving families credits that they can put toward tuition at private schools. The details, however, have been thorny.

But this year, they say they’ve got a voucher plan worked out. They’ve capped the number at 20,000 and limited availability to families in the state’s largest urban districts.

Senate Education Chairwoman Dolores Gresham (R-Somerville) says the program is small — in her view — but it will at least help needy families who can’t afford private-school tuition.

“What we’re doing here is rescuing the most vulnerable, poor children from chronically, low-performing schools where they are imprisoned in these schools, with no options,” she said.

The biggest objection has been the impact on local schools. Sen. Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) estimates they’ll see $70 million in funding diverted from their budgets in just the program’s first three years.

“The timing of this, I don’t really think could be worse,” he said. “We’re at a time when we’ve heard numerous concerns this year about whether we’re adequately funding our public schools.”

The Senate has approved vouchers before. They typically get caught up in the House, where teachers and school administrators have more clout.

A voucher plan is moving in that chamber, too. And if it passes, Gov. Bill Haslam says he’ll fund it.