Rep. Jody Barrett condemns Tennessee’s school voucher bill, calling it a costly government overreach driven by special interests. He warns it threatens rural schools, fiscal stability, and true school choice.
In the wake of the Tennessee House’s narrow passage of a private school voucher program, State Representative Jody Barrett (R-69) is taking a firm stand against what he describes as an “out-of-state, big-government entitlement scheme” that prioritizes special interests over the needs of rural families.
In a powerful statement, Barrett calls attention to the shadowy network of lobbyists and political operatives who have flooded Tennessee with hundreds of millions of dollars in an effort to dismantle the state’s longstanding commitment to local control and fiscal conservatism. He warns that the passage of this legislation marks a dangerous shift—one that threatens to weaken rural communities, expand government dependency, and funnel taxpayer dollars into a bloated, unsustainable program with no clear benefit for most Tennessee families.
Barrett makes it clear: this isn’t President Trump’s plan—it’s a high-cost, low-impact program that does “far too little for far too few at far too high a cost.” Worse yet, he argues, the process was rigged from the start. Conservative lawmakers who opposed the plan were denied the opportunity for full debate, given only four minutes to present their case, while opposition voices from the minority party were granted 45 minutes on the House floor.
Barrett’s statement underscores the constitutional, financial, and ethical concerns surrounding the voucher scheme. He questions the legality of the proposal under Article XI, Sections 8 and 12 of the Tennessee Constitution and warns of the long-term financial consequences of a plan that commits half a billion dollars to a program that offers no real path to improving education in Tennessee.
His message is clear: rural conservatives will not go quietly into big-government dependency. Instead, Barrett is calling on fellow conservatives to reject this misguided plan, demand accountability, and refocus efforts on true school choice solutions—like tax credits—that actually empower families without expanding bureaucracy.
Below is Representative Jody Barrett’s full statement on why he stood firm against this legislation and why Tennessee’s rural communities must not allow their voices to be drowned out by the drumbeat of special interests.
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