BOE approves resolution against school voucher bill

‘I don’t think public funds should go to private institutions,’- Crystal Creekmore, BOE member

TOP PHOTO: Director of Schools Jennifer Fields, right signs the Board of Education’s resolution in opposition of the governor’s Education Freedom Act bill that the legislature is scheduled to vote on next week. Fields, along with BOE members, signed the resolution on Wednesday after it was approved. BOE member Jamie Wheeler is also pictured at left.

By Charlotte Underwood

JACKSBORO, TN (WLAF)- The Campbell County Board of Education held a special called meeting on Wednesday afternoon to approve a resolution opposing the Education Freedom Act that is up for a vote in the state legislature soon.

The resolution opposing the proposed school voucher program was approved unanimously by school board members who all said they were in opposition and felt it would harm the county’s schools and communities.

Tennessee Governor Lee has called a special session regarding this bill and several others to convene on January 27^th.

Campbell County Board of Education members are in opposition to this measure, stating it would be detrimental to Campbell County schools for multiple reasons.

The school board passed a similar resolution last year through executive action. Board of Education Chairman Jeffrey Miller said he felt it was important that people understand how the board felt about the proposed voucher program.

Crystal Creekmore said the voucher program is “not good for our county” and made the motion to pass the resolution of opposition.

“I don’t think public funds should go to private institutions. Public money should go to public education, not private,” Creekmore said.

Education board member Brandon Johnson said he had read the bill and his “biggest concern centered around the fact that there was no anti-discrimination language.”

“This Education Freedom Scholarship Act has no anti-discrimination language. So under the current version, it still has to go through committee and we’re still not sure what it’s going to look like in the end, but the current version basically does not force a potential charter school that would accept voucher money to accept students who have disabilities and as an advocate of students with disabilities that is a big concern for me,” Johnson said.

Johnson, along with Director of Schools Jennifer Fields met with Senator Ken Yager on Tuesday and “expressed their concern over the lack of equitable testing” in the bill.

“For example, this voucher bill does require that students have a certain end of course exam or TCAP, from my understanding the charter school gets to pick which of those. For example, of course our students have to take TCAPs and the charter school could take a different end of course exam and then all of a sudden you are left trying to figure out the difference of those two. The lack of a requirement for an equitable final exam that could be even and easily compared is a big concern for me too,” Johnon said.

Board Chair Miller said he did “not believe in public money going to private institutions.” He said he also had concerns about funding.

“The part of the bill that says that $7,000 of set money, base money that the school system gets to keep, well again, we had this conversation today, some children provide us more money than that per child. So, where it says you are going to get to keep $7,000 grand per child …what if that child was providing $12,000, where does that shortfall come in, you take that over 50 kids and that’s over $200,000, well, where are you going to get that in Campbell County schools, it doesn’t grow on trees, that means cut of jobs, cuts of schools, cuts to services. So, again, in a perfect world, it would be all nice and dandy, but I’m represented by the people in Campbell County in the first district and nowhere have I been told that I need to support vouchers, So I am not for it, I am against it,” Miller said.

Director Fields made a point that “not only is it using taxpayer money to pay for private education but also said that Campbell County had no private schools that were accredited to receive those funds”.

“If our students took advantage of that, they would be leaving our county, purchasing gas in another county, shopping in another county. It would be detrimental to not only our schools, but to our communities.

Board member Sharon Ridenour said she was concerned about it causing the county to lose funding and that she had also heard the “Hope Scholarships may be in danger” and the loss of those would harm Campbell County students.

“I’m against the vouchers. We take all students, we don’t discriminate against any of them, and I feel like as public schools that is a big plus for us,” Ridenour said. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-01/23/2025-6AM)