NASHVILLE (AP) — A proposal to create a school voucher program in Tennessee is advancing in the House.
The so-called "opportunity scholarship" legislation sponsored by Republican Rep. Bill Dunn of Knoxville passed an education subcommittee 7-1 on Tuesday. The companion bill is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday.
The legislation that would give parents the option to move a child from a failing public school to a private school is similar to a measure Republican Gov. Bill Haslam proposed last year that failed.
Under Dunn's proposal, eligibility would be opened to low-income students in districts that have a school in the bottom five percent.
Haslam's proposal was approved in the Senate last year, but the House version was unsuccessful because it sought to expand eligibility to the bottom 10 percent of failing schools.