Knox County School Board chair defends support for school vouchers after backlash
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Knox County School Board chair Betsy Henderson is responding to backlash after she went to Nashville to voice her support for school vouchers before lawmakers passed the legislation.
She says she spoke as a private citizen, however, some have criticized the move, saying it is hard for an elected official to blur the line between being a public figure and a private citizen.
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During an interview for Tennessee This Week, Henderson defended her actions.
'I did go in my personal capacity, I made that abundantly clear. And before I went, I do have an email here, I did email the law director to make sure I was doing everything properly. And he did email back, saying 'Yes, you did everything properly.' They followed up and watched my testimony, said everything was great, and so, I was just happy to be there. I will always fight for principles. I will always stand up for issues I believe in. This is something that I ran on twice and won twice,' said Henderson.
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She went on to say that she is not the only school board member to share support for school vouchers.
'We did have three other board members either go to Nashville or speak publicly at a rally in their capacity as a board member, and I fully support that. I fully respect their right to do that as a board member,' said Henderson.
She continued, 'So, I don't believe in this double standard that I'm seeing on social media, that I'm doing something wrong when three other board members did the same thing. And I don't see the outrage against them. It's just that people are opposed to the issue and those are the people that are coming after me.'
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On January 31, the Senate and House of Representatives passed Gov. Bill Lee's statewide expansion of school vouchers, otherwise known as the 'Tennessee Education Freedom Act of 2025.' Lee signed the bill into law on Feb. 12. It provides around $7,000 in 'scholarships' in public taxpayer money for parents in Tennessee to use at private schools if they so choose.
Watch Tennessee This Week on WATE Channel 6 on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. and find past episodes on YouTube and WATE.com.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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