NASHVILLE - The state Senate on Thursday approved a school voucher bill that allows lower-income students to take half of the taxpayer money spent per pupil in their school district - about $4,300 per year in Knox County - to any private, church-sponsored or other independent school that will accept them.
They may also take the money to any other public or charter school that has room for them.
As written, the bill will initially apply only to students whose household income qualifies them for free or reduced-price school lunches, and only to students in Tennessee's four largest counties: Knox, Shelby, Davidson and Hamilton. School districts in all four counties opposed the bill.
Thursday's 18-10 Senate approval of SB 485 is the first time a school-voucher bill has been approved by either legislative chamber. The House Education subcommittee is scheduled to review the bill Wednesday, and to become law, the bill must also pass the House. Its sponsor, Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, calls the measure the "Equal Opportunity Scholarship Act" and declared on the Senate floor that it's a "windfall" for school districts because they retain half of the per-pupil expenditure from state and local taxpayers for each student who leaves.
Read more:
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/apr/22/senate-oks-school-voucher-bill-some-pan-vote/