Tennessee’s school voucher program faces lawsuit

Published 8:27 am Friday, February 7, 2020

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI

Associated Press

NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee’s new school voucher program is unconstitutional and must be blocked before going into effect later this year, officials in the state’s largest communities argue in a lawsuit.

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Nashville Mayor John Cooper announced Thursday that his office had filed the complaint with the support of Nashville’s Board of Public Education.

“We must do all we can to protect Metro’s resources, especially when it concerns our public-school students and educators,” Cooper said.

Shelby County, which encompasses Memphis, is also a plaintiff. Republican Gov. Bill Lee and his handpicked Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn are named as defendants.

The lawsuit comes less than a year after Lee signed the school voucher bill into law with support from the GOP-controlled Statehouse and opposition from Democratic members and public education advocates.

The law would begin diverting tax dollars to private education, starting in the 2020-21 school year, by allowing participating families to receive up to $7,300 in state education money each year.

The program, which establishes education savings accounts, would apply only to the state’s largest school districts — Nashville metro and Shelby County, the areas with the lowest performing schools. The original version of the measure included several other counties, but it was eventually whittled down after Republican lawmakers objected due to uneasiness about launching a voucher program in their own legislative districts.

Neither the governor nor the education commissioner immediately responded to a request for comment. Tennessee’s attorney general office declined to comment Thursday on the pending litigation.

The 44-page suit alleges the voucher law is illegal under the Tennessee Constitution’s “home rule.” It claims that Republican lawmakers did not receive local consent when drawing legislation affecting local communities.

Opponents also argue it violates another provision in the state constitution by “diluting public school funding” for just Davidson and Shelby counties and not all of the state’s 95 counties.

The lawsuit does not, however, address the legality of the voucher program’s income verification — which requires participating families to provide federal income tax returns showing they do not exceed twice the federal income eligibility for free school lunch, or provide proof they can qualify for federal assistance.

Separately, the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee and the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition have said the law would exclude families who are in the U.S. illegally from getting their children vouchers. No lawsuit targeting that angle has yet been filed.