By Ashleigh Costello
EAGnews.org

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – There’s a big fight brewing in Tennessee over the possible establishment of a publicly funded voucher program that would allow low-income youth to attend private schools.

In one corner is the state teacher’s union, which opposes vouchers for selfish reasons. Fewer public school teachers are needed when students transfer to private schools. With fewer teachers working, the union loses dues revenue.

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But other folks are starting to wonder why poor kids stuck in miserable public schools should be denied the opportunity to have a quality education at a private school.

The Memphis Commercial Appeal published an editorial Thursday urging lawmakers to focus on the best interests of the children.

“Should a poor kid going to a failing public school be denied the option of taking a publicly funded school voucher and moving to a better private school while the state works its admittedly long-term plan to fix public schools?” the editorial said.

“When you think about kids first, allowing public money to fund vouchers to any school, public or private, begins to make more sense.”

State lawmakers fell short last year in an effort to establish a voucher pilot project. Following the disappointing struggle, Gov. Bill Haslam appointed a task force to look at how a voucher system might work in Tennessee.

The nine-member task force held its final meeting Tuesday.  While the group could not reach a consensus on the cost of each voucher or the scale of the program, they agreed a voucher program should be limited to low-income students.

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Such a program would likely have the most impact on Memphis, which holds the state’s largest number of failing schools and the largest income eligible population.

Tennessee Education Association lobbyist Jerry Winters has spoken out against a voucher program.

“Tennessee does not need to go down the voucher road,” said Winters. “Vouchers will rob public schools of much-needed funding and send it to private and religious schools. That should raise red flags with taxpayers, right out of the gate. In effect, they would be funding a dual-system in this state.”

Winters’ claim of a dual-system is misleading. Public schools receive a certain amount of taxpayer dollars per each student enrolled in the district. A voucher program allows students to use that already earmarked money to transfer to a different school. There are no additional fees for taxpayers.

School voucher programs have been around for more than a decade, but have gained traction in the past few years.  Nineteen states either have a voucher system or “scholarship” programs that allow students to use tax credits to attend private schools.

The editorial in the Commercial-Appeals says the state should seriously consider joining that group.

“Many issues must be resolved, but the basic notion of letting Memphis kids of all income brackets have a shot at the best education they can find, by using the money the state already has set aside to educate them, is an idea worth serious consideration,” the newspaper said..

Gov. Haslam is expected to present his voucher plan to the state legislature when it convenes in January.