School voucher ideas expose deep GOP divisions in Tennessee Legislature

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI
Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Deep divisions remain in the Tennessee GOP over how to implement a universal school voucher program. Different proposals are floating in the House and Senate and Republican members are publicly grumbling that they need more time to study the details. While various voucher bills are advancing, the differences aren’t likely to be resolved before the last moments of the session in April. It’s a much murkier situation than when Republican Gov. Bill Lee pitched a major expansion of Tennessee’s “educational savings account” program, which is limited to the counties including Memphis, Nashville and Chattanooga.