John Coffelt, Editor

During the Manchester Board of Education meeting, Director of Schools Dr. Joey Vaughn was asked to discuss his concerns regarding a new iteration of a private school voucher program that is being heavily promoted at the state level.

“Our parents have a choice now,” Vaughn said. “People chose to come to Manchester City Schools.”

Gov. Bill Lee’s proposed voucher bill is called the Education Freedom Act and according to State Representative Rush Bricken, it deals with parental choice.

The bill creates 20,000 scholarships, part of which would be distributed based on income and the others will have no qualifiers attached, that can be used to pay for tuition to private schools for Tennessee students. Bricken said the bill will have no effect on funding for local school districts otherwise termed local education agencies (LEA).

Vaughn voiced concerns the private schools are not held to the same standards as public schools. 

“Private schools under the governor’s voucher program do not have to do any of this,” Vaughn said referring to testing. “So there is no accountability in growth or achievement.” 

Manchester City Schools scored “Advancing” district-wide and each of the three schools scored at or above the state’s

“To use state dollars to fund private education is not how it was intended to be,” Vaughn said. “Not every family that could get the state scholarship can pay the extras to send them to a private school. They may not transport them there or cannot make that happen.”

The bill, Vaughn said, will create a “green divide,” and help those with enough income to send their children to private schools, while excluding the parents it’s supposed to help.

Also included in the bill are what Bricken called “carrots,” a one-time $2,000 bonus for teachers and a change in designation for the 80% of money raised through sports betting from the Lottery Scholarship, which focuses on secondary education, to building infrastructure needs of public schools. 

Vaughn said the bill’s capital project money will not go far to build schools. 

He warned that smaller districts that lack the growth of Manchester and Coffee County could be negatively impacted if they lose students.

“Rural towns across the state are already losing kids,” Vaughn said. “So if you start pulling kids for this, they’ll fold.”

Vaughn acknowledged that the bill promises not to reduce the school’s funding, but he cautioned that once implemented the program will grow.

“That’s not best for public education,” Vaughn said.

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.