Gov. Lee's ESA Bill Clears House Committee

Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s push for a voucher-like education savings account program moved past another hurdle Wednesday as it passed the House Education Committee 14-9.

House Speaker Glen Casada (R-Franklin) showed up to vote for the bill, a right the speaker enjoys in each committee though infrequently uses.

The measure, which would give $7,300 to certain families to cover private-school costs, attracted criticism and uncertainty from committee members in both parties, including Republicans who voted to advance the bill but withheld commitments to approve it if it makes it to the House floor.

Republican State Rep. Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka) said the bill was “too important to die here today” and that he would “continue to move forward cautiously and carefully” as the legislation undergoes possible additional changes.

“I do not think this legislation is the answer, but I do believe it deserves a shot,” Rep. Chris Hurt (R-Halls) added.

Despite the bipartisan nature of the opposition, the bill’s sponsor, Republican Rep. Bill Dunn of Knoxville, was quick to inject partisan politics into the debate. In an opening statement, he said Donald Trump and Mike Pence support ESAs while “Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and other socialists” oppose it. Later, he compared education savings accounts to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The legislation is a moving target, with amended versions circulating and Lee representatives assuring members that more changes could still come. One recent change addressed another conservative concern about the bill, which anti-immigration group Federation for American Immigration Reform worried would offer ESAs to undocumented students.

An amended version would require participating parents to provide identification that would effectively exclude undocumented families. But multiple lawmakers suggested that provision could be unconstitutional, since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Plyler v. Doe that states had to offer a public education to students whether they were in the country legally or not. A committee attorney says courts have not weighed in on whether that ruling would require a state to offer ESA money to undocumented students or parents.

Some of the most vocal critics of the bill cite the expansiveness of the participation requirements. Under the legislation as currently written, families firmly within the middle class at high-performing schools could be eligible, leading one testifying Hamilton County School Board member to call the ESA “a coupon for a middle-income family” rather than a way for a low-income family to afford private-school tuition, which in many cases far exceeds the contemplated $7,300.

The bill now heads to the Government Operations Committee. The Senate Education Committee has not yet considered the measure.