Responding to criticism about Tennessee’s applications for private-school vouchers, Gov. Bill Lee said this week the state doesn’t need to know whether students were enrolled in private schools before seeking the funds.
Lee told reporters this week the Department of Education created the rules and application based on the bill lawmakers passed this year. The governor’s administration is coming under fire for subsidizing private schools with the $146 million program.
The applications for 20,000 vouchers don’t ask where students previously attended school or were enrolled in a private school. Nor do they request financial information from parents applying for “universal” scholarships, those without income restrictions.
The governor said in a press conference last week the data is not required by the legislation and noted “it’s not necessary to have, particularly because what we hope for is universal school choice, where every family regardless of their child’s past educational history has access to a scholarship.”
Families of more than 38,000 students applied for the funds this spring, nearly $7,300 each, to pay for tuition and other private-school costs after lawmakers narrowly passed the voucher program. Those were divided almost evenly between families without income limits and those at 300% of the poverty level with an estimated income of $175,000 for a family of four.
Another 5,000 slots could be offered next year.
Republican Rep. Jody Barrett of Dickson, a vocal critic of the program, told the Lookout the legislature should require a state study to determine whether students are using the money to continue attending private schools and where they live so lawmakers can decide if the program should be changed.
Democratic Rep. Caleb Hemmer of Nashville, who is trying to obtain information about the program’s applicants, called it the “educational equivalent of Cash for Clunkers,” a 2009 federal rebate program designed to boost the economy and encourage people to buy fuel-efficient cars.
In light of Lee’s comments, Hemmer said Tennessee residents “deserve full transparency” when funds are being “diverted” from public schools.
“The Department of Education and the governor’s refusal to ask for critical data on private and previously participating schools is deeply troubling – especially when other states with similar voucher schemes have faced significant fraud and abuse. We can’t afford to blindly walk into a system that lacks oversight and accountability,” Hemmer said in a statement.
Reports on Arizona’s private-school vouchers show the state’s budget ran into problems because funds had to be diverted from other programs to pay for the education program.
The legislature passed Lee’s main initiative even though the state’s own financial impact analysis showed 65% of the students who receive the vouchers would be enrolled in private schools already. Students from private schools surrounded the governor when he signed the bill into law at the State Capitol.
The governor further defended his initiative by saying, “Tennesseans broadly of multiple backgrounds and economic diversity want to have this for their kids.”
Data such as previous enrollment and income level for “universal” scholarships is “not helpful,” Lee said.
The state’s Education Savings Account program for low-income students in Memphis, Nashville and Chattanooga requires applicants to report their household income.
This article was originally published by the Tennessee Lookout.
