Tennessee Gov. Lee renews push for school vouchers, adds hurricane relief and immigration to effort

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Republican Gov. Bill Lee on Wednesday doubled down on his efforts to enact universal school vouchers throughout Tennessee by ordering the GOP-dominant Statehouse to pause their regular legislative duties and focus on passing a bill that would allow families to use public dollars for private school tuition.

The announcement comes at a peculiar time. Tennessee's lawmakers kicked off their regular monthslong legislative session this week and are easing in with administrative tasks. However, rather than go through the typical process of passing legislation, Lee has called for a so-called special session — which restricts lawmakers to topics as outlined by the governor. The special session is scheduled to start Jan. 27.

For years, Lee has attempted to expand school vouchers with limited success. While the Republican narrowly won a push to create a school voucher program for low-income families in a small number of counties in 2019, Lee failed to win enough support last year to launch a universal school program. Democrats and local school leaders have been opponents of the proposed voucher push.

It's unclear if the political landscape has changed enough in the months since Lee admitted defeat in April 2024. With Lee's endorsement and a financial boost from pro-voucher advocates, a handful of new lawmakers won elections last November, but many have been shy to publicly declare their stance on universal school vouchers.

Yet the governor's proposal does have the support of Tennessee's top legislative leaders, many of whom provided a joint statement on Wednesday declaring that “we believe the state has a responsibility to act quickly on issues that matter most to Tennesseans.”

To help sweeten the school voucher debate, Lee also ordered lawmakers to pass a $450 million relief package for those impacted by Hurricane Helene, as well as “address public safety measures regarding immigration, as the incoming Trump Administration has called on states to prepare for policy implementation," according to a news release from Lee's office. It would come a week after President-elect Donald Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration.

Lee's administration did not provide any further details about what those public safety measures may be but promised more information over the next several days.

Lee has joined the group of Republican governors and lawmakers who have promised to help Trump's pledge to deport millions of people living in the U.S. illegally. Lee told reporters earlier this month that he would be open to using the state's National Guard to carry out Trump's vision.

Meanwhile, in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis has called a special session about Trump’s immigration policies and other topics that are scheduled for the same week as Tennessee’s. But the state’s Trump-supporting Republican legislative leaders have said it’s “premature” and “irresponsible” to hold the session and get out ahead of any announcements by Trump on immigration enforcement plans. Lawmakers don’t begin regular session in Florida until March 4.

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Associated Press writer Kate Payne in Tallahassee, Florida, contributed to this report.