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CPA FOOTBALL
DECEMBER 7, 2023 | VOLUME 35 | NUMBER 48
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‘Tis the Season for Christmas tree lightings, holiday parades, book readings, and cheer STAFF REPORTS Communities across Middle Tennessee kicked off the holiday season with Christmas tree lightings and parades including Belle Meade, which held its inaugural city parade on Saturday. Both Nashville and the City of Franklin held their respective Christmas tree lightings
on Friday night, with Franklin also hosting a parade on Saturday. Brentwood held its tree lighting on Monday night, which included its annual visit from the Conductor from The Polar Express. View a full gallery of images at thenewstn.com. >> PAGE 3
Gov. Bill Lee at the Education Freedom Scholarship Act press conference PHOTO BY MATT MASTERS
Gov. Lee pushes statewide voucher expansion BY KELSEY BEYELER
Gov. Bill Lee is ready to expand Tennesee’s school voucher program statewide, introducing the Education Freedom Scholarship Act at a packed press conference last week. He was joined by several members of the Tennessee General Assembly, as well as Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who successfully shepherded a similar program in her state. Sanders touted the universal voucher push as “an absolute conservative education revolution.” Tennessee currently provides vouchers to qualifying families through education savings accounts, though those are available only to students in Davidson, Shelby and Hamilton counties, as well as those zoned for the state-run Achievement School District. Currently, qualifying students must fall below a certain income threshold. The current ESA program, which was narrowly passed by the state legislature in 2019, was quickly met with litigation for targeting Davidson and Shelby counties. Several judges agreed with this argument, and the
program was held up in court until 2022. Gov. Lee’s newly proposed legislation would expand both the scope and eligibility requirements of the program to include students across the state. As introduced, it would provide 20,000 vouchers to students as soon as the 2024-25 school year. Half of those would be reserved for students who are already enrolled in the ESA program, have a disability or are at or below 300 percent of the federal poverty level. The other half would be available to all other students, though priority would go to the former group if applications exceed available scholarships. The legislation seeks to expand the program further by the 2025-26 school year. Before the announcement was officially made, it garnered significant criticism from urban and rural Tennesseans alike. Although vouchers are already available to students in Nashville, local politicians have vehemently condemned an expansion of vouchers on social media. Columbia Mayor Chaz Molder has referred to the >> PAGE 2
Children wave to Santa during Belle Meade’s inaugural Christmas parade on Dec. 2, 2023. PHOTO BY MATT MASTERS
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