Tennessee State SEC Member Speaks Out Against Governor Lee’s School Voucher Legislation

As Governor Bill Lee has finally succeeded in his relentless push for a statewide school voucher program under the guise of "education freedom," conservatives across Tennessee have been raising the alarm—not just about the policy itself, but about the dangerous precedent it sets for government overreach into private and homeschool education.

In a powerful statement, a member of the Tennessee State Republican Executive Committee (SEC) has laid out a compelling constitutional argument against Lee’s school voucher legislation, exposing the contradictions between this plan and the oath every elected official in Tennessee swears to uphold. The statement highlights a fundamental truth: lawmakers are bound by their constitutional duty to vote without favoritism or prejudice and to oppose any legislation that could harm the rights of Tennessee citizens.

 This SEC member makes a critical point—parents in Tennessee already have school choice. Families are free to homeschool or send their children to private institutions without interference from the government. However, once public money begins flowing into private education, so does government control. Progressives may argue that vouchers create an uneven playing field by funding private education without imposing public school standards. But conservatives recognize the far greater danger: by accepting taxpayer dollars, private and home schools open the door for bureaucratic oversight, regulations, and eventually, the very same failing policies that have crippled public education.

 The statement also calls out a fundamental failure of leadership: if public schools are failing, why are lawmakers not addressing the root causes of that failure instead of creating a taxpayer-funded escape hatch for a select few? 

If billions of dollars have been poured into Tennessee public schools with little to show for it, then heads should roll—not more money shuffled into a system that remains unaccountable.

 Governor Lee’s voucher program, rushed through a special session with alarming speed and a lack of transparency, represents a fundamental shift in the relationship between the state and private education. It’s not just about school choice—it’s about government power. 

As this SEC member warns, Tennesseans must demand accountability before it’s too late. The real question isn’t whether private education should receive public funds—it’s whether the government should be allowed to attach strings to institutions that were previously free from its grip.

Below is the full statement from this Tennessee State SEC member, detailing the constitutional and moral concerns with Governor Lee’s school voucher legislation that passed by the narrowest of margins: 

 "Per Tennessee Constitution Article 10 § 1, EVERY person who shall be chosen or appointed to any office of trust or profit under this Constitution, or any law made in pursuance thereof, shall, before entering on the duties thereof, take an oath to support the Constitution of this State, and of the United States, and an oath of office.

That means that if an individual seeks and wins any public office, is hired to carry out the orders or duties laid on them by appointment by an elected employee in the service of the People, is bound by their oath and solemn swearing to God to abide thereby.

 Each beginning of the General Assembly starts with the time honored constitutional requirement, that before it can proceed to business, the members must take their oath.

 That oath requires them to swear or affirm that they will vote without favor, affection, partiality or prejudice, and that they will NOT propose or assent to any bill, vote or resolution, which shall appear to them injurious to the people, or consent to any act or thing, whatever, that shall have a tendency to lessen or abridge their rights and privileges, as declared by the Constitution of this State.

 Words have meaning, or else they would not be the manner of expression of codifying requirements, contracts or oaths.  Humankind has inscribed for posterity since cave dwellings runes that provide history to remind those who come after what the sacrifice of blood and treasure was intended to provide for their issue.  The rise or fall of nations and civilizations are recorded for posterity by documents made up of words, The Magna Carta, The Declaration of Independence, The Treaty of Versailles, The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen etc.  All instruments of agreements, contracts if you will, between the victorious combatants who get to set the rules, the letters inscribed with blood to place chains on government and lay out the powers delegated to the servants by the victors for the necessary functions of that government, the exercise of those contracts described in detail.

 Thomas Jefferson opined that the Constitution of Tennessee was “the least imperfect and most republican” of the state documents at the time of its ratification (1796). Contained in that tome is this, Article 10 § 4 “The declaration of rights hereto annexed is declared to be a part of the constitution of this State, and shall never be violated on any pretence (sic) whatever. And to guard against transgressions of the high powers which we have delegated, we declare that everything in the bill of rights contained, and every other right not hereby delegated, is excepted out of the general powers of government, and shall forever remain inviolate.” This is the affirmation of the People as the intended recipients of the value of government and that government is to keep its greedy hands off of Liberty.

 Our Constitution, that contract so dearly bought, enshrined in our Preamble as the form of our government, demands of our elected employees many things, included is this:

Article 11 § 12 “The State of Tennessee recognizes the inherent value of education and encourages its support. The General Assembly shall provide for the maintenance, support and eligibility standards of a system of free public schools. The General Assembly may establish and support such postsecondary educational institutions, including public institutions of higher learning, as it determines.”  This is the only mention of responsibility for education in the entire agreement (legal term for the lawyers who might stumble across this assemblage of words). 

 The General Assembly is the only entity that can pass laws and our contract calls for them to be solely responsible for the success or failure of public education.  They do what legislatures do, create “departments” to function the day to day operation, create bureaucracies that put orders into place and then promulgate rules by which the taxpayers must fund, live under and suffer the good or ill of those decisions, hiring practices, and purchase options.  All these things involve money, which is the property (pursuit of happiness) of the public taken from individuals to be used and overseen by the General Assembly. 

 There is a method of amending our state Constitution, it is lengthy and laborious (quite frankly lives or dies at the whim of the General Assembly, imagine that).  Should the legislature deem it necessary to change the verbiage of our contract then it must do so in two successive General Assemblies, gaining a plurality in the first, two thirds majority in the second and then it can be put on the ballot for the People to decide if that body, the true masters of government, desires to change the deal.  It is time and event constrained as well; those issues can only be decided in a year with a governor’s election.

 Please, someone correct me if I am under false understanding, but it appears to me that parents in Tennessee can currently CHOOSE to take their children out of public schools and place them in either private institutions or home school them. (I have attended several “Home School Day on the Hill events), perhaps I misunderstand what that means…If the aim is to better education, will using tax dollars to support private institutions while still lawfully required to support public education for the hundreds of thousands of students of public schools who will not be allowed to enjoy additional tax dollars to attend some in the eithers “private, much better school” bear immediate, quantifiable results?

 In summation, if there is a reason for underperforming, failing public education then heads should roll, as our dollars are being inefficiently squandered, our milk and egg money being taken by government but producing no credible public benefit it seems, Johnny can’t read or do simple math, is lacking in skills to be employed.  There is a raucous hue and cry about us now defining all that, and so my question is who is accountable.  My suggestion is, physician heal thyself!"

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