Bradley County school board approves letter opposing proposed universal vouchers, OKs Parkview contract and bus route transfer

BRADLEY COUNTY, Tenn. — The Bradley County Board of Education on Dec. 12 approved a letter from the board urging state lawmakers to include safeguards if they advance a proposed universal school voucher program and took several local actions including approving an architect contract for Parkview Elementary with a corrected timeline and transferring a bus route to a new contractor.

The voucher letter — drafted for members of the Tennessee General Assembly and the education committee chairs — asks lawmakers to protect low-income access, set eligibility criteria that prioritize students new to private schools, require uniform accountability for any school receiving public funds, and delay expansion until impacts on public-school funding and infrastructure are understood. The board voted 6-0 to approve the letter.

Dr. Cash, director of schools, told the board that the draft Education Freedom Act of ’25, as discussed by the board, would rely on public funds and that the bill language the board had reviewed suggested roughly $144,000,000 in funding. “The best place for students to be educated is the public schools,” Dr. Cash said, urging the board and district staff to continue telling public schools’ story. Nancy Cason, the district’s legislative liaison, read the board’s recommended safeguards and said, “This letter is two pages because we think it is a total priority that we need to be addressing.”

The board’s letter lists six categories of recommendations: preserve access for low-income students, set clear eligibility so vouchers do not subsidize families already able to afford private schooling, prioritize transfers to public schools before voucher use, limit program expansion until public-school needs are met, require uniform accountability standards for any school receiving public funds, and require independent evaluations of outcomes and funding impact before expansion.

In other actions, the board approved an architect contract for Parkview Elementary and asked that a clause on the contract timeline be corrected. Board members discussed a clause that referenced a 14-month threshold for additional compensation or other contractual remedies; the board amended the contract language to 24 months before approving it, and the vote on the contract was 6-0. Peter Ludman of Cope Architecture answered board questions about the schedule, saying the design phase was expected to be about six months and construction about 12 months (roughly 18 months total) and that the 24-month clause provides a buffer for unexpected delays.

The board also approved a bus-route transfer, moving Route 9 from contractor Joe Lewis to driver David Guthrie, effective Jan. 1, 2025. The motion to transfer the route passed 6-0 after the district’s transportation supervisor, Terry McElhaney, said Guthrie had been vetted and is a current driver for Bradley County Schools.

Routine items were approved as part of the consent agenda in a 6-0 vote earlier in the meeting. During the superintendent’s report, the district noted a districtwide graduation rate of 97.7 percent and described transportation operations that move more than 8,000 students on 45 regular routes operated by 24 contractors, plus 15 special-education routes and two PI Center buses serving about 170 students.

The board also directed that the letter be sent to the chairs of the House and Senate education committees in addition to the legislators listed in the draft, a distribution the chair said did not require a separate vote. The letter will be signed by board members and submitted to the named legislators.

The board set its next meeting for Jan. 16, 2025, and announced district events and school closings for the winter break. A parent information night on vaping and student safety — a partnership with the city and a group called Steer Straight — was scheduled for Jan. 13 at Lee University.

Votes at a glance: consent agenda (approved 6-0); board letter on universal vouchers (approved 6-0); Parkview Elementary architect contract with timeline correction from 14 to 24 months (approved 6-0); Route 9 bus transfer to David Guthrie, effective Jan. 1, 2025 (approved 6-0).