Wednesday, February 03, 2016

Lawmakers to take up school voucher issue
Next week members of the Tennessee House will vote on whether the state should implement a school voucher program, which would pay for up to 5,000 students to attend a private school next year. .....using taxpayer funds to pay tuition at private schools. The Senate has passed voucher bills three times, but those bills have never made it through the House committee process until this session. If the full House passes the “Opportunity Scholarship Act” next week, Gov. Bill Haslam has said he plans to sign it into law. To be eligible for the program, students would have to qualify for free or reduced lunches and be zoned for or attend a school that is in the bottom 5 percent of all schools in the state. The bill caps the number of students who can apply, with an eventual expansion to 20,000 vouchers. If there are unused vouchers, the remainder may be awarded to students who reside in a district that contains at least one school in the bottom 5 percent of schools. Students who attend private schools on the voucher program would still have to take the state assessments administered in public schools to measure the value-added progress they make, and the participating private schools would have to provide the data on their scholarship students to the state education department.


Return to Today's News Stories - Front Page

Thursday, April 29, 2021

  • US 411 Project News
  • Mill Creek Wildfire Update
  • More Bad News For Smokies' Fans

    Wednesday, April 28, 2021

  • Mill Creek Wildfire doubles in size
  • Goodbye Smokies?
  • Keep Cocke County Beautiful
  • Cocke Co. High School Remote Learning today!

    Tuesday, April 27, 2021

  • The fireflies are coming!
  • Burnout Operations on MillCreek wildfire today
  • Gas prices drop
  • Tennessee keeps all US House seats

    Monday, April 26, 2021

  • Boat accident victim ID'd
  • Traffic stop yields drug arrest
  • Cocke County Wildfires

    Friday, April 23, 2021

  • Leaving WNPC
  • Mathis announces candidacy
  • Newport drug roundup
  • Cruise Against Cancer
  • Jobless numbers