Faculty voucher ruling sparks recent debate in Tennessee

Whether or not characterised as an assault on public faculties or a pathway for extra training selections for households, this week’s Tennessee Supreme Courtroom ruling in favor of the state’s embattled faculty voucher regulation stirred a torrent of public suggestions.

Reactions to the 3-2 determination cut up largely alongside partisan strains, bringing cheers from many Republicans, together with Gov. Invoice Lee, who mentioned that the ruling “places mother and father in Memphis and Nashville one step nearer to discovering the perfect academic match for his or her kids.”

Wednesday’s ruling revives Lee’s training financial savings account program, which lets eligible households use taxpayer {dollars} towards non-public faculty tuition or different non-public academic providers. But it surely doesn’t assure this system’s survival.

The choice overturned decrease court docket rulings in favor of the governments of Shelby County and Metropolitan Nashville, which argued that the 2019 regulation violated the Tennessee Structure’s “dwelling rule” provision, as a result of it utilized solely to districts in Memphis and Nashville with out native consent. 

However a number of different authorized avenues stay open to problem the regulation, together with a second lawsuit filed in 2020 on behalf of 11 public faculty mother and father and group members in Memphis and Nashville based mostly on their college students’ constitutional rights to sufficient and equitable academic alternatives.

The plaintiffs in that case “have asserted these constitutional claims from the start of the litigation difficult the voucher regulation, and intend to vigorously pursue them,” mentioned a joint assertion from the Schooling Regulation Heart, Southern Poverty Regulation Heart, and the ACLU, that are collaborating on the litigation. 

Native governments in Shelby and Davidson counties additionally may pursue different authorized claims.

Right here’s what Tennesseans are saying about this week’s long-awaited ruling:

Memphis-Shelby County Faculties: “The current ruling is an unlucky roadblock on the trail towards progress and makes serving college students within the state’s largest city district much more difficult.”

Adrienne Battle, director, Metropolitan Nashville Public Faculties: “Personal faculty vouchers undermine our public faculties and have didn’t assist the training wants of scholars who’ve used them in different states the place they’ve been tried. We strongly disagree with the court docket’s opinion, which undermines the ideas of native management and can hurt Davidson County taxpayers who will finally be on the hook to pay for the state’s voucher scheme.”

Rep. Mark White, R-Memphis: “Our first precedence in authorities is to construct robust public faculties. However the place that’s not accessible, faculty selection needs to be an choice.”

Kay Johnson, director, Larger Reward Christian Academy, Memphis: “I’m overjoyed by the court docket’s ruling. This program provides college students in poor-performing faculties the chance and assist to attend the faculties that finest go well with their wants. That could be a win for them, their households, our communities, and our state.”

Sen. Heidi Campbell, D-Nashville: “This might not be worse for Tennessee kids in tandem with the invoice to transition our complete training program into evangelical hedge-fund faculties. That is horrible information for our state.”

Rep. Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis: “The truth that Davidson and Shelby County taxpayers are singled out as the one counties within the state of Tennessee the place the taxpayers are pressured to make use of their tax {dollars} to fund non-public faculty enrollment is absurd and discriminatory. And much more harmful and disturbing is the precedent this determination units for the Tennessee Common Meeting to proceed, with the backing of the very best court docket within the land, to dump different shit laws solely on the individuals of those counties.”

John Patton, Tennessee director, American Federation for Kids: “The Tennessee Supreme Courtroom made the correct determination by declaring that the Schooling Financial savings Account program doesn’t violate the HomeRule Modification. These packages encourage each non-public and public faculties to create new and higher choices for all college students.”

Tennessee Legal professional Common Herbert Slatery III: “The Schooling Financial savings Account program has at all times been about serving to Tennessee college students — giving eligible households a selection in training, a chance they at the moment do not need. It challenged the established order, a transfer that’s at all times met with resistance. … Whereas there are additional court docket proceedings that have to happen, it is a main step ahead.”

Beth Brown, president, Tennessee Schooling Affiliation: “This ruling shouldn’t be the top of the struggle in opposition to non-public faculty vouchers. We’ve seen the privatization business’s playbook come to life in different states and witnessed the injury induced to college students and public faculties. They begin a small program, then develop it, after which develop it a bit extra, till public training funding is obliterated.”

Tennessee Senate Democratic Caucus: “On this determination, the Supreme Courtroom erased constitutional protections for native management and years of precedent. Not solely does this determination usher in a horrible training coverage, but it surely invitations extra political meddling that absolutely ends in native governments dropping freedom and independence from state interference.”

Raymond Pierce, president and CEO, Southern Schooling Basis: “There’s a lengthy and well-documented historical past of faculty voucher packages within the South getting used to keep away from integration by siphoning public funds out of public faculties. … Whereas this regulation stands for now, the Southern Schooling Basis will proceed to struggle faculty privatization efforts that may take our nation again to the times of a segregated and inherently unequal training system.”

Justin Owen, president and CEO, Beacon Heart of Tennessee: “We’re so happy that the Tennessee Supreme Courtroom affirmed what we have now at all times identified: the ESA regulation shouldn’t be a violation of the Tennessee Structure’s Dwelling Rule Modification. We’re totally assured after this determination that households in Nashville and Memphis will lastly get the selection alternatives that they deserve.”

Victor Evans, government director, TennesseeCAN: “A scholar’s ZIP code or neighborhood ought to by no means dictate their future, however with out the choices and assets that these from wealthier areas get pleasure from, that’s too typically the case. Tennessee’s Academic Financial savings Account program will assist deal with this evident inequality and wish.”

TJ Ducklo, spokesman for Nashville Mayor John Cooper: “We’re dissatisfied by as we speak’s ruling however will proceed to vigorously struggle this regulation via all attainable avenues.” 

JC Bowman, government director, Skilled Educators of Tennessee: “Authorized specialists will proceed to debate this case on its deserves for a few years, and it could nonetheless face extra authorized challenges. The Tennessee Schooling Financial savings Account will finally be outlined by the scholars who take part in this system and their educational success or failure. Public faculties will stay the selection of the overwhelming majority of fogeys in our state who imagine their baby is receiving a high-quality training.”

Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.