White County School Board met Jan. 23 in a special session to address their concerns about the 2025 Education Freedom Act.
The state legislature begins a special session on Jan. 27 with the large topic being school vouchers. The act, if passed, would provide $7,000 vouchers to 20,000 students across the state to use toward private school tuition. The funds would come from taxpayer funds and are part of the $144 million allocated in the state’s budget for a school voucher program.
White County School Board passed a resolution opposing the 2025 Education Freedom Act and urged state lawmakers to reconsider the voucher program and instead prioritize legislation that supports public education.
Chairman of White County School Board Bob Young told board members other states such as Arizona started their programs with a budget of $65 million but ended up allocating another $200 million to the program. While Tennessee’s proposal starts at $144 million, that is still well below the $265 million that Arizona needed.
“Our fixed costs do not change,” Young said, talking about the fact that expenses aren’t going to be lowered for White County schools if local families choose to take their vouchers and leave the public school system. “Ultimately, who does that impact? It’s going to impact the local taxpayers.”
Kurt Dronebarger, White County’s director of schools, said that due to inflation, costs keep rising for the school system, and this bill would cause revenues to decrease, making budgeting more difficult. He added that the bill would result in the system’s retention rate to drop as well.
“In White County, the reality is our numbers are down right now. All across our district, we’re down 200 students from about two years ago,” he told the board members. “Two hundred students at $7,075 is $1.4 million that we are down. Every student that leaves is that much more.”
Long-time board member Jayson McDonald said the voucher bill does not provide choices and new opportunities like is being said. He went on to express his feelings that the bill is strictly about money.
“We can choose where we want to go to school. We choose where we want to live. We can choose if we want to homeschool or not,” McDonald stated, and explained none of these choices are new because the county has always allowed families to make those choices without the need for legislation. “It’s never been about choice, this has been about money, and I’m afraid that’s going to be the downfall of this.”
The seven board members present signed the resolution informing the state legislature of their stance on the 2025 Education Freedom Act.
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sissytoo
People, this is your school system. According to a study, by the Tennessee Education Association, White County stands to lose $3.3 MILLION investment in our schools alone, and this is parroted across the state. How will that money be recouped in school districts that already need more money? More taxes? Is this acceptable to you? Supposedly this is to help the poor. Bunk. Poor people cannot pay the additional costs associated with private schools. In fact, many rural counties do not even have a private school. many poor or working parents cannot transport their children to school. So the first year, these vouchers are open to people who are up to 300% of the poverty level. The next year, open door. Millionaires can get a voucher, while YOU and YOUR school have to struggle for funding. Is this acceptable?
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