Voucher Resistance Grows

School Boards in Murfreesboro and Rutherford County both recently indicated opposition to using public money to fund private schools, the Daily News Journal reports.

Lawmakers should oppose state money being used for private education, says a resolution approved Thursday by Rutherford County school officials.

The seven Board of Education members also signed the document in opposition to any state legislation allowing vouchers or education savings accounts for private education. The elected school officials represent a district serving 46,772 students from prekindergarten through 12th grade.

Murfreesboro City School Board members also will be signing the resolution to oppose vouchers and education savings accounts for private schools, Chairman Butch Campbell said Friday.

“I think it’s a continued effort to let our legislators know the opposition that we have for school vouchers,” Campbell said.

The seven-member City School board serves a prekindergarten- through sixth-grade district with 8,989 students.

Despite opposition from the city and county school districts she represents, state Senator Dawn White says she remains a supporter of using public money for private schools:

State Sen. Dawn White, R-Murfreesboro, however, said she backs any potential legislation similar to a law passed a few years ago permitting education savings accounts for special education students.

White’s support for vouchers not only runs counter to the school systems she represents, it also ignores significant evidence that vouchers simply don’t work:

Voucher studies of statewide programs in Ohio, Louisiana, and Indiana all suggest that not only do vouchers not improve student achievement, they in fact cause student performance to decline.

Stay tuned to see if a voucher plan — in whatever disguise — moves forward this legislative session.

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DC Voucher Advocates OR Local School Boards?

State Representative Dawn White is receiving political support from the Washington, D.C.-based Tennessee Federation for Children in part because of her support for legislation that would have silenced some of the most vocal critics of school voucher programs.

The Tennessee Federation for children supports voucher programs and has been involved in primary campaigns this year in support of candidates who share that view.

The Murfreesboro Post reports that TFC sent a mailer in support of White and also donate $1500 to her re-election campaign.

The legislation TFC supported would have allowed County Commissions to veto school board budget funds used to hire lobbyists.  School Board lobbying organizations, such as the Tennessee School Boards Association, have been some of the most vocal and successful opponents of voucher programs.

Further, the legislation White supported would have given County Commissions unprecedented control over School Board budgets.

For more on Tennessee education politics and policy, follow @TNEdReport