On the day before Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced there would be a special session of the state legislature to take up his school voucher proposal, the Oak Ridge Board of Education showed its continued opposition to school vouchers by adopting a resolution opposing his bill.
The Oak Ridge school board approved the resolution opposing Lee’s Education Freedom Scholarship Act by a vote of 4-1 on Tuesday afternoon during its monthly meeting at the School Administration Building on New York Avenue. Voting against the resolution was new board member Mary Crank, who had attempted to have a scheduled vote on the resolution postponed at the start of the meeting.
The new Oak Ridge Board of Education: from left are member Mary Crank, Vice Chair Erin Webb, Chair Laura McLean, members Heather Hartman and Ashley Craven. This is believed to be the first time the Oak Ridge school board has been made up of all women.
“I feel it is a little early to jump in … until we see what the legislature is going to do with this,” Crank said in making the motion to postpone the vote. The Tennessee Legislature convened for its first day earlier on Tuesday.
However, new member Ashley Craven objected to a postponement, saying she’d been contacted by about 100 people about the school voucher issue. Crank’s motion to postpone a vote on the resolution failed.
Voting in favor of the resolution opposing Lee’s school voucher program were board members Laura McLean, Erin Webb, Heather Hartman and Craven.
The resolution states that the Oak Ridge school system serves a student population of 5,072 students with 32% of those coming from economically disadvantaged families, and employs 712 workers. It provides specialized programs such as special education services, career and technical education training aligned with local workforce needs, the resolution continues.
“Vouchers and education savings accounts (ESAs) could threaten the district’s ability to maintain the quality of its educational offerings as ESAs would divert state funds to private actors. … the Oak Ridge Schools Board of Education hereby expresses its opposition to the Governor’s ‘Education Freedom Scholarship Act’ as well as any other voucher or education savings account legislation due to the detrimental impacts these programs will have on our students, schools, and community,” the resolution states in part.
Special legislative session Jan. 27
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Wednesday announced a special legislative session would be held for the state legislature on Jan. 27 to deal with school vouchers, disaster relief funding and immigration issues.
Lee’s signature voucher proposal failed last year amid legislative gridlock and delayed votes through the spring.
“We believe the state has a responsibility to act quickly on issues that matter most to Tennesseans, and there is widespread support in the General Assembly and across Tennessee for a special session on the most pressing legislative priorities: the unified Education Freedom Act and a comprehensive relief package for Hurricane Helene and other disaster recovery efforts,” read a joint statement from Lee, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, R-Franklin and House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland.
School board has opposed vouches before
This isn’t the first time the Oak Ridge school board has voted in opposition to the proposed school vouchers program.
And it is not alone.
As reported by The Oak Ridger last January, the Anderson County Commission, along with the school boards for the Oak Ridge, Clinton city and Anderson County school systems, issued a joint resolution asking the Tennessee Legislature to reject the “Education Freedom Scholarship Act or similar voucher initiatives.” Diverting dollars from public school systems to private schools, and a lack of accountability required from the private schools are listed as the reasons behind their opposition.
Melissa Brown of The Tennessean newspaper contributed to this story.
The Oak Ridger’s News Editor Donna Smith covers Oak Ridge area news. Email her at dsmith@oakridger.com and follow her on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, @ridgernewsed.
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The Oak Ridge Board of Education elected Laura McLean, right, as chair and Erin Webb, left, as vice chair at the board’s meeting on Jan. 14, 2025.
This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Oak Ridge school board again opposes Gov. Lee’s school voucher bill