The Clarksville-Montgomery County School Board voted to pass a resolution on Tuesday establishing a neutral stance on school choice vouchers being debated by state lawmakers in the Tennessee General Assembly.
The board voted 4-2 to pass the resolution at its Tuesday meeting, which revokes a previous resolution passed by the board in March 2024 that took an opposing stance to vouchers being debated by state lawmakers at the time.
“[T]he Clarksville-Montgomery County Board of Education hereby revokes the resolution previously adopted opposing education scholarships; and…that the Board remains neutral on matters related to the Education Freedom Act of 2025 and will continue to focus on its mission of supporting students, educators, and schools within the district,” Tuesday’s resolution reads.
School board members Carol Berry (District 1) and Herbert Nelson (District 3) voted against the resolution while members Kacie Bryant (District 2), Kent Griffy (District 4), Chris Lanier (District 6) and Aron Maberry (District 7) voted to pass the resolution.
Maberry, who also serves as a freshman state representative in the Tennessee House of Representatives, said Tuesday’s vote “recognizes” the members of the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System who “support” the school choice program being debated in the General Assembly.
The Education Freedom Act, filed in the General Assembly as HB1/SB1, would make 20,000 Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) worth $7,075 available for Tennessee students in the 2025-2026 school year.
In addition to creating school choice vouchers, the bill would provide K-12 public school teachers with a $2,000 bonus in the 2025-2026 school year and dedicate 80 percent of all sports wagering dollars to build and maintain public school facilities.
State lawmakers will convene on Monday, January 27 for a special session to focus on passing the Education Freedom Act as well as a disaster relief package and other measures related to immigration.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Clarksville-Montgomery County School Board” by Clarksville-Montgomery County School System.
