Democratic Black Caucus honors Joanne Favors, discusses issues

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – Democratic lawmakers from across the state came to pay tribute to a former Chattanooga legislator on Thursday.

Former Representative Joanne Favors was honored with a plaque commemorating her service.

She was unable to attend the ceremony because the lawmakers said she was ill, but they praised her as a trailblazer.

Favors served in the Tennessee General Assembly from 2004 to 2018.

Five Tennessee Democratic lawmakers discussing various issues at the Bessie Smith Center.

Meanwhile during that ceremony, they took some time to address various political issues.

The five lawmakers from Tennessee’s Black Caucus, including Rep. Yusuf Hakeem, spoke about gun violence, abortion and healthcare among other topics.

One topic of focus is the ongoing debate over school choice.

Republican lawmakers we spoke with on Wednesday said they expect to bring it back to the floor of the General Assembly in January. They believe providing $7,000 scholarships to private schools will enable families to choose the best education for them.

However, Democratic lawmakers today argued school vouchers would take away funding from public schools and place the state in an unnecessary financial bind.

Rep. Sam McKenzie of Knoxville said, “The test scores, just the raw test scores of a public-school student who took the TCAP, versus a private school student on a voucher taking the TCAP… public schools did better. Not at the same level but did better than the private schools. Nothing magic is happening there that can’t happen in our public schools.”

Currently Tennessee spends roughly $11,000 per pupil.