{"id":2227420,"date":"2024-04-22T16:43:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T20:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/extremely-disappointed-tennessee-school-choice-bill-wont-pass-this-year-governor-says\/"},"modified":"2024-04-22T16:45:26","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T20:45:26","slug":"extremely-disappointed-tennessee-school-choice-bill-wont-pass-this-year-governor-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/extremely-disappointed-tennessee-school-choice-bill-wont-pass-this-year-governor-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee School Choice Bill Fails to Pass This Year, Governor Expresses Disappointment"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fextremely-disappointed-tennessee-school-choice-bill-wont-pass-this-year-governor-says%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2227420&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Republicans in \u200dTennessee, despite\u2062 significant progress in implementing\u2062 a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/4-key-policy-areas-where-the-democratic-leadership-and-black-voters-disagree\/\" title=\"4 Key Policy Areas Where The Democratic Leadership And Black Voters Disagree\">school choice program<\/a>, failed\u200b to reach an agreement on two versions\u2063 of the measures in the House and Senate. Governor Bill Lee expressed disappointment as families will have \u200cto wait\u2063 another year for education freedom. The proposed plan aimed to offer $7,000 scholarships to 20,000 students but faced legislative challenges. Despite making strides towards a\u2063 school choice program in Tennessee, Republicans could not reach\u200c a consensus on proposed measures in the House and Senate. Governor Bill Lee \u2063conveyed disappointment as families \u2063will have to wait \u2064another year for educational\u2064 freedom. The plan to provide $7,000 scholarships \u2064to 20,000\u2063 students encountered legislative hurdles.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p>Despite making \u201ctremendous progress\u201d toward implementing a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/will-school-choice-come-to-tennessee-lawmakers-have-two-weeks-to-finalize-education-freedom-act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">school choice program<\/a> in Tennessee, Republicans ultimately failed to come to an agreement during negotiations on two different versions of school choice measures that had been put forward in the state\u2019s House and Senate.<\/p>\n<p>Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee, who had pushed for the state\u2019s legislature to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/devos-republicans-must-seize-window-of-opportunity-on-school-choice\/\" title=\"DeVos: Republicans Must Seize \u2018Window of Opportunity\u2019 on School Choice\">pass <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/what-are-we-going-to-tell-parents-watch-democratic-state-senator-break-from-party-confront-colleagues-over-school-choice\/\" title=\"\u2018What Are We Going To Tell Parents?\u2019: Watch Democratic State Senator Break From Party, Confront Colleagues Over School Choice\">school choice legislation<\/a><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GovBillLee\/status\/1782409052443508980\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> on Monday that families \u201cwill have to wait yet another year for the freedom to choose the right education for their child.\u201d The state\u2019s 2024 legislative session ends this week, and a new General Assembly will be sworn in after the elections this fall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am extremely disappointed for the families who will have to wait yet another year for the freedom to choose the right education for their child, especially when there is broad agreement that now is the time to bring universal school choice to Tennessee,\u201d Lee said. \u201cWhile we made tremendous progress, unfortunately it has become clear that there is not a pathway for the bill during this legislative session.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lee\u2019s plan, known as the \u201cEducation Freedom Scholarship Act,\u201d looked to make scholarships worth $7,000 available for 20,000 students in the next school year. For the first year of the scholarships, those with low incomes would have access to half of the scholarships while the other half would be handed out on a first come, first serve basis. The plan would push for all students in the 2025-2026 school year to have scholarships they could use at private schools and charter schools and they would also be made available for homeschool families.<\/p>\n<p>Lee thanked the leaders in both chambers of the state legislature \u201cfor their commitment to pursuing education freedom next year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The bills being considered by the state Senate and House contained major differences. The bill sponsored in the Senate by Republican Majority Leader Jack Johnson mirrored Lee\u2019s proposal and added a requirement that scholarship recipients take an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/will-school-choice-win-out-in-tennessee-lawmakers-have-two-weeks-to-finalize-education-freedom-act\/\" title=\"Can School Choice Prevail in Tennessee? Lawmakers on Deadline to Settle 'Education Freedom' Act\">annual norm-referenced test approved<\/a> by the state board of education. Meanwhile, the state House version of the bill \u2014 sponsored by Republican House Majority Leader William Lamberth \u2014 was more strict in how the scholarships could be applied as they were designated only for use at private schools with limited use for public schools. The House version also did not include scholarships that could be used by homeschool families.<\/p>\n<p>Lamberth cited concerns about fiscal responsibility for why the House bill included those major differences.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe would expand as possible as we go forward. Here in Tennessee, we are always very fiscally conservative. We balance our budget every year,\u201d Lamberth <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/will-school-choice-come-to-tennessee-lawmakers-have-two-weeks-to-finalize-education-freedom-act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told The Daily Wire<\/a> earlier this month. \u201cWe are just very careful not to have a program that has no fiscal constraints on it. So the intention would be to expand this program down the road, but we\u2019re going to start out with 20,000 students.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b><a href=\"https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" aria-describedby=\"sk-tooltip-9096\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp&#038;source=gmail&#038;ust=1700760801843000&#038;usg=AOvVaw2PQrVSrJfhxNb4LcARqniG\">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p>The school choice program was opposed by Democrats and teachers unions, but also by some conservative activists who say that school choice legislation could be fiscally irresponsible, introduce backdoor ways for the government to regulate Christian schools and homeschoolers, and fund education for illegal immigrants, The Daily Wire previously reported.<\/p>\n<p>The governor, however, says his proposed program will empower parents and give all students better opportunities \u201cto succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s very simple \u2014 this is about every Tennessee student having the opportunity to succeed, regardless of their zip code or income level, and without question, empowering parents is the best way to make sure that happens,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n<p><em>Leif Le Mahieu contributed to this report. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republicans in Tennessee failed to reach an agreement on school choice measures despite significant progress. Two versions of the program proposed in the House and Senate were unable to secure consensus. Governor Bill Lee&#8217;s push for legislative approval fell short this year<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":324,"featured_media":2227421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/04\/Bill-Lee-scaled-e1713810377401.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2227420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/04\/Bill-Lee-scaled-e1713810377401.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/324"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2227420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2227421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2227420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2227420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2227420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}