April 3, 2013- State Senator Mark Norris (R-Collierville) late this afternoon asked that the governor’s school voucher bill, for which he was the prime sponsor in the Senate, not be considered further by the Education Committee. During the last hours of the last schedule meeting of that committee for this year, Norris sent a letter to committee chairwoman Dolores Gresham (R-Somerville), asking that the committee take no further action on the proposal at this time.
This appears to kill the bill for this session of the Tennessee General Assembly.
Governor Bill Haslam has said that he wished the bill to be considered as filed, without amendments. Some Republican legislators wanted to expand the coverage of the voucher bill or otherwise lessen restrictions but Haslam made it clear he would withdraw the bill rather than let it be amended.
We note this legislative news because elsewhere in this blog we indicate observers had thought there was a good chance for passage of some form of school voucher bill this year in Tennessee.
A Memphis Conversation 