CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – State Rep. Ronnie Glynn held an “emergency town Hall meeting” Sunday to address issues regarding Gov. Bill Lee’s school voucher legislation going before Tennessee lawmakers in a special session that starts Monday.

Glynn said the proposed school voucher program will be brought before the Tennessee General Assembly along with a disaster relief package and public safety measures regarding illegal immigration.

“This is a really important special session we are getting ready to embark upon,” Glynn said. “I like to think that all of them are important, but I really think this one here takes the cake, because this is about the future of our kids.”

$917 million, 2 bites at apple

Under the school voucher proposal, payments of about $7,000 per student per year would help families pay for tuition at private schools, including religious schools.

“The amount of money the government is estimating for this special session is nearly $1 billion,” Glynn said. “To be exact, somewhere around $917 million.”

Glynn said the bill will be up for discussion and then a vote on Thursday. “Let me give you an interesting tidbit you may not know,” Glynn said. “The reason they call it a ‘special session’ is because, let’s say, it (school vouchers) is shot down. He (Lee) can bring it back up during a regular session. In other words, he’s going to get two bites at that apple.”

Arizona lawmaker weighs in

Nancy Gutierrez, a member of the Arizona House of Representatives, was brought in virtually as a guest speaker to provide her perspective on vouchers, since her state has already implemented them.

Gutierrez said that in 2012, Arizona passed a bill granting a small amount of vouchers for special education students, strictly for the students who were not being served well in the public school system.

In 2020, Arizona had a referendum on universal vouchers, and over 70% of voters turned it down. In 2022, however, the Republican-led majority ignored the voters’ previous decision and passed universal vouchers, according to Gutierrez.

“The original cost of universal vouchers were supposed to be $65 million a year. That was in 2022,” she said. “Cut to this year? In our budget for next year, vouchers are over $900 million a year.”

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Gutierrez said not only has this put a massive hole in their budget, but 75% of the families in Arizona using vouchers never had a child in public school before. Additionally, they have seen fraud cases. In particular, it was discovered that a family living out of state was receiving school vouchers to pay for their home, making off with nearly $200,000 in Arizona school voucher money.

Glynn asked Gutierrez how the state of Arizona was able to fund two education systems. She responded, “We have had to cut back on public education, our universities, many of our social programs, even our roads and freeways have taken cuts to pay for this billion-dollar voucher program.”

The Tennessee General Assembly to convene for the special session on Monday, Jan. 27.

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