A number of Republican-led states, such as Tennessee, have recently elected to join Democrats in actively going against school choice policies in the wake of dozens of red states already implementing changes on that topic.
School choice, which puts funds earmarked for public education directly in the hands of families to spend on where they want to have their kids learn, wound up very popular with both Republican and Democratic voters directly in the wake of the pandemic after parents were able to get a direct and unfiltered look at just what and how their kids were being taught.
A number of states, such as Arizona, Utah, Iowa, West Virginia, and Arkansas, have all elected to adopt such policies, while dozens of others have allowed parents to make use of tax credits or programs designed to save money on private schools or homeschool programs. While on the other hand, a few GOP officials out of red states such as Tennessee, Idaho, and Wyoming, are being met with insane levels of opposition from their fellow republicans.
Jack Johnson, the Republican Tennessee Senate Majority Leader, sponsored legislation regarding education savings accounts in that state back in 2019 which targeted poor-performing public school districts that have on average a more dense minority population.
“There was tremendous support for many, in the African American community or Hispanic community, as well as all folks that are in these urban areas where they have a failing school system,” stated Johnson. “That’s kind of where we drew the line for this initial legislation that we pass, and some would love to have statewide universal school choice.”
Despite all of this, a number of sources working inside the state capitol of Tennessee explained the long-standing fight that lawmakers have endured in passing the legislation because of the nature of the bill, which only covers a few hundred students. However, they expect such a number to grow, sources explain that they do not see universal school choice making the cut in Tennessee at any point soon because of the extreme backlash from not just the teacher’s unions and Democrats, but also from the legislature which is largely Republican.
Members of the House pushed through the policy with only a single vote, pushing the House Speaker to keep the poll alive for close to an hour as he negotiated with various other legislators to change their position. Despite Johnson standing in favor of expanding the laws that passed back in 2019, he clarified that he would not just take what he could get.
“I don’t want to let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” explained Johnson. “I support school choice, and where we need it, the most are in the areas where we have it available now.”
