Since we last talked about school vouchers back in fall 2022, the state legislature and governor have made major steps toward making them a reality for all Tennesseeans. Right now, there are bills on the table in the House and Senate that would give over $7000 per student against their private school tuition— regardless of whether they were ever even enrolled in public school. Some are calling this a subsidy for the rich, and some are saying vouchers will make private school more accessible for low and middle class families. We’ll talk today with lawmakers, parents, advocates, and reporters to understand this legislation. We will also turn to national perspectives on what has happened in states like Vermont and Arizona with their respective voucher programs— and see what we can learn from them.
This episode was produced by Elizabeth Burton. Special thanks to WPLN’s Alexis Marshall, Austin Sauerbrei, Ken Jobe, Katherine Ceicys, and Marta Aldrich at Chalkbeat.
Guests:
Liv Cook, former special education teacher and Public Education Campaign Organizer at the Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (SOCM)
Barbara Long, retired Murfreesboro schoolteacher, current board member at Murfreesboro City Schools
Freda Player, board member at MNPS
Representative Sam McKenzie (D-15), state legislator representing Knox County, chairman of the Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators, member of the House K12 subcommittee
Victor Evans, Executive Director of TennesseeCAN, former teacher in Memphis
Alec MacGillis, investigative reporter with ProPublica
Follow this link for further reading: https://wpln.org/post/episodes/whats-going-on-with-school-vouchers/
