NASHVILLE (AP) — Tennessee lawmakers returned Tuesday for months of election-year work, anchored by the debate over whether taxpayer money to help students attend private schools should be available statewide for families of any income level.
Republican Gov. Bill Lee's voucher expansion is just one of the major proposals topping the annual legislative session agenda.
Lawmakers also have a third chance to pass gun control measures in reaction to a deadly Nashville Christian elementary school shooting last March. Yet many inside the GOP supermajority still appear unwilling to consider such changes, and the governor doesn't plan to bring back his push to keep guns away from people judged to pose a threat to themselves or others.
Lingering tensions over the lack of movement on gun control were quickly on display as a protester was escorted out of the House gallery for yelling during a moment of silence to think of the six people killed — including three 9-year-old children — during the March 27 shooting at The Covenant School.
Divisions were further escalated after House officials unveiled new policies for accessing public galleries and limiting media to the House floor. Specifically, one-half of the public galleries will only be available via tickets distributed by lawmakers.
When pressed for a copy of the new policy, House officials declined to provide one and said it was set by House Speaker Cameron Sexton, arguing he has the authority to set rules for decorum.
Meanwhile, Lee additionally plans to request a change to a tax on businesses due to legal concerns about its current format, saying the switch would amount to a tax break. Lawmakers will consider the tax cut, school voucher expansion and other new costs at a time when tax revenues have slowed some, though the state remains flush with cash.
The voucher fight will unfold after lawmakers barely passed Lee's initial voucher program in 2019, which had only applied to counties that include Nashville and Memphis and had strict income requirements.
Nashville, Memphis and civil rights leaders sued to stop the initiative, arguing that vouchers would undercut public schools. At the time, the program was blocked in court until a state Supreme Court ruling in summer 2022.
Since then, lawmakers have added a third voucher county — Hamilton, which includes Chattanooga.
The current program awards eligible families around $8,100 in public tax dollars to help cover private school tuition and other preapproved expenses for up to 5,000 students. State education officials have said the number of students approved for the vouchers increased to 2,172 this year. The low uptake stands in contrast to similar programs in many other states where demand is outstripping availability.
Senate Speaker Randy McNally, a Republican, said he philosophically agrees with the governor's plan but could see the need to limit the expansion to students in failing schools or impose income-level restrictions if lawmakers determine the budget is too tight.
Sexton, the House speaker, has also thrown his support behind the idea, marking a significant change after opposing the measure nearly five years prior. He said part of the reason he's changed position is seeing parents want more options in their child's education after going through the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet Sexton said he's unsure that a voucher expansion with no income requirements could clear the House.
Separately, gun control advocates, Democrats and family members of children at The Covenant School are gearing up for another push for changes in the wake of the shooting last March.
Several children led a news conference Tuesday calling for gun restrictions, including 9-year-old Mabel West.
"Some days, I walk through my school door and think I'm going to die from the gun violence," Mabel said at the event led by Rise & Shine TN.
To date, Republican lawmakers have declined to take up gun control measures and have focused their response on other proposals that broadly center on crime and public safety.
House Majority Leader William Lamberth is proposing bills that make it a misdemeanor to violate bond conditions; require mental health evaluations and treatment after misdemeanor charges if someone's mental capacity or competency to stand trial is in question; allow aggravating stalking victims to ask for lifetime restraining orders; and develop safety plans for when a school fire alarm goes off.
Lamberth also is proposing that criminal defendants who are deemed incompetent to stand trial be committed to a treatment facility and entered into a database of people prohibited from buying or owning guns.
The change would come in response to the death of college student Jillian Ludwig in November after she was hit by a stray bullet while walking near the Belmont University campus in Nashville. The suspect charged in her shooting, Shaquille Taylor, had faced three charges of assault with a deadly weapon from 2021, but a judge dismissed the charges when three doctors testified that Taylor was incompetent to stand trial because he is severely intellectually disabled.
Because Taylor did not qualify for involuntary commitment to a mental health institution, he was simply released from prison.