The Maryville and Alcoa school boards this week joined more than 20 others across the state that have passed resolutions urging legislators to reject Gov. Bill Lee’s proposal to expand publicly funded school choice statewide.
Their unanimous votes approved a joint resolution with each other and their city governments, which already had passed the resolution urging the Tennessee General Assembly to “reject the Education Freedom Scholarship Act or similar voucher initiatives that would divert public dollars away from public schools.”
“I want our representatives in the General Assembly to understand that we, as Alcoa City and Maryville City, utilize our funding to provide a strong education for any … child that wants to attend our schools,” Chair Julie Elder said before the Maryville Board of Education vote Monday, Jan. 22. “What we need are our state politicians to not listen to the out-of-state money and out-of-state influence and focus, instead, on Tennessee’s children.”
Before the Alcoa Board of Education vote Tuesday, Jan. 23, Chair Julie Rochelle highlighted the part of the resolution that says all educational institutions receiving public funds should have the same requirements for accountability and reporting their performance.