East TN lawmakers react to passage of school voucher bill after years of debate
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — The Tennessee General Assembly on Thursday voted to pass Gov. Bill Lee's statewide expansion of school vouchers, otherwise known as the 'Tennessee Education Freedom Act of 2025.' The bill outlines the process for parents to apply for a $7,000 'scholarship' of public taxpayer funds that can be used at private schools if they so choose.
The vote passing in the House, 53-46, as some Republicans jumped party lines to vote against the bill. Meanwhile in the Senate, the measure passed 21-13. This topic has been debated for several years and has gone through several revisions to get to where it's at today. Conservative lawmakers hailed the vote as a milestone for the state.
'Universal school choice is now an option in Tennessee,' said Gov. Lee.
While this is not the first time school vouchers have been talked about at the Capitol, it was different because lawmakers were able to focus solely on the issue.
'The nice thing about doing it during special session is we can focus on that,' said State Senator Becky Duncan Massey (R-Knoxville). 'During regular session there are probably 100 bills going on at the same time so there it wouldn't really get it's dual focus by the legislators and by the citizens of Tennessee.'
Democratic State Representatives Sam McKenzie and Gloria Johnson from Knoxville voiced their displeasure with how the vote turned out.
'It's extremely disappointing,' McKenzie said. 'I really thought we had a chance to convince enough of our rural Republicans, the fact that this was a bad bill. I'm also really disappointed in my Knox County delegation.'
'I'm just devastated. The reality is, this is the destruction of public education,' said Johnson. 'More than 90% of one million Tennessee students get their education from our public schools.'
The vote in the House was not down party lines as it ended in a 53-46 decision as some Republican lawmakers voted against the measure. Votes on the Senate side were not split down party lines either.
'It was a bipartisan vote against it. We just didn't get enough,' McKenzie said. 'It was a close vote. A lot of Republicans were true to their constituents and a lot of them held the no's and voted for it unfortunately.'
State Rep. Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby) said this bill will do good things for the people of Tennessee.
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'This bill is the single best bill in my 15 years that I've ever seen be presented to the General Assembly,' Faison said. 'We showed Tennessee that we will take care of the funding of our local public schools. We believe in that, but we also believe in empowering parents and we believe in empowering children. Whether we like it are not, there are times that the local public education decision for that parent isn't the best for that child.'
Massey said the bill was hard for her to vote on because she saw both sides of the issue. She ultimately voted for the bill after making sure her concerns were heard and her questions were answered.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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