City council opposes school vouchers
At its meeting on Dec. 15, the Clinton City Council voiced disapproval of Gov. Bill Lee’s proposed Education Freedom Scholarship Act.
The measure would provide taxpayer- funded vouchers for Tennessee students to attend private schools or to participate in home schooling.
Before voting on the resolution opposing the act, the council asked the opinion of Kelly Johnson, head of Clinton City Schools.
“It would be very detrimental,” Johnson said of the voucher system.
She said that the ultimate goal of the bill is for all existing private schools students to receive state funds.
It’s not about public versus private schools, but using tax dollars to support schools that are not bound by the rules and regulations of public schools, Johnson said
She said that in other states that use vouchers, there is nothing to show that students are better educated. While Johnson said that as a pastor’s daughter she was not opposed to state funding for church supported schools, she feared it would open the door for funding schools that had ideologies she would not want her tax dollars spent on.
Johnson claimed that the governor was making a lot of political deals to get his bill passed.
“Our children should not be involved in politics,” she said.
“We need to mimic other public schools rather than taking money away,” Johnson said, adding that she fears that if the bill passes, the city school system would lose funding for two or three teachers, and would still have to maintain the same staffing level. She claimed that a lot of organizations outside the state are pushing the bill.
Without any comment, the council unanimously passed the resolution opposing the voucher system.
Other Action
Also during the City Council meeting, the council:
• Voted to sell a 4.9-acre Carden Fram Park tract for $70,000 to the county for use as an animal shelter.
The county wants to replace the current shelter with a new, larger facility in the new location.
• Passed on second and final reading an ordinance modifying the zoning code.
The ordinance would change the deadline for making required corrections to an approved site plan from 10 days to 30 days.
It would also allow 21 days instead of 14 on the application process for telecommunication tower standards and site plans, and it also deals with the permitting of recreational vehicle parks and campgrounds.
• City Finance Director Chris Phillips informed the council that with 46% of the fiscal year gone, the city was at 34% on revenues collected, and 44.8% on expenditures.
The current fiscal year will end June 30.
