Gov. Bill Haslam today received a report from the Task Force on Opportunity Scholarships, outlining recommendations for a potential program to expand educational options and improve achievement for low-income students in Tennessee.The report comes a year after Haslam appointed the nine-person Task Force—made up of state education leaders, legislators and representatives from public and private schools—to consider a program to offer publicly funded scholarships for low-income students to offset tuition costs at participating schools in Tennessee.
The Task Force was not meant to evaluate the merits or disadvantages of a scholarship program. Instead, members spent months studying the public and private education landscape in Tennessee, as well as opportunity scholarship programs in other states, to determine potential design elements that would best fit within the broader context of the education reform work taking place in Tennessee. The report outlines various options for the governor’s consideration.
“I want to thank the members of the Task Force for the time and effort they spent researching and deliberating what an opportunity scholarship program could look like in Tennessee,” Haslam said. “I look forward to reviewing the Task Force’s recommendations ahead of the upcoming legislative session.”
Haslam’s Task Force, chaired by Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman, represented a variety of perspectives on opportunity scholarships and did not reach full agreement on each design element, but found many points of consensus. All Task Force members agreed that the focus of an opportunity scholarship program should be designed to increase options for low-income students.
“I appreciate the thoughtful contributions of each of the members of the Task Force,” Huffman said. “Their serious consideration of this project helped ensure we were able to offer recommendations for the governor, motivated by our shared goal to improve educational outcomes for all students in Tennessee.”
The complete report submitted to Haslam for consideration can also be accessed online at: http://www.tn.gov/education/news/opportunityscholarshipreport.pdf.
Members of the Task Force on Opportunity Scholarships included:
Kevin Huffman, commissioner, Tennessee Department of Education, chair
Chris Barbic, superintendent, Achievement School District
Rep. Harry Brooks (R-Knoxville), House Speaker Beth Harwell’s (R-Nashville) designee
Sen. Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown), Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey’s (R-Blountville) designee
Indya Kincannon, Coalition of Large School Systems designee; vice chair, Knox County Board of Education
Mary McDonald, independent school community designee; former superintendent, Memphis Catholic Dioceses
Gary Nixon, executive director, State Board of Education
Jamie Woodson, president and CEO, State Collaborative on Reforming Education
Ron Zimmer, associate professor of public policy and education, Vanderbilt University