BRISTOL, Tenn. – After a lively discussion Thursday, the Bristol Tennessee Board of Education voted 3-2 in favor of sending Gov. Bill Lee a letter opposing his school voucher program.
At the meeting, Bristol Tennessee board member Jim Butcher, who voted in favor of the resolution, read a letter that he sent to Tennessee state Sen. Bobby Harshbarger and Tennessee House Rep. John Crawford in which he highlighted his reasons for opposing the Education Freedom Act.
“There are multiple reasons. Firstly, to have this educational bill considered, while at the same time, the legislators ponder disaster relief allocations in another proposed bill — although it is politics as usual — is nonetheless unseemly,” stated Butcher. “Secondly, there is no part of the EFA bill that benefits the publicly educated school children from my community. Only category two or three private schools can access the EFA as currently proposed in Upper East Tennessee. Only two private schools meet that threshold.”
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Butcher highlighted that Boards of Education from across the state are firmly against any system that diverts public money to private education, adding, “I feel like my constituents in Bristol currently have school choice through their ability to choose private, faith-based education, homeschooling or choosing to be educated in other local school systems through current signature avenues.”…