Hamilton County school board approves state-funded raises passed in school voucher bill

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- In addition to passing this year’s school budget, the Hamilton County School Board approved a portion of Tennessee’s Education Freedom Scholarship Act.              
The School Board previously denied implementing the state’s school voucher program, which would give scholarships to public school students to allow them to attend a private school.

While the board did not accept the full bill, they did accept section four of that bill.

It states that all instructors they deem as quote “forward-facing” towards students would get a two thousand dollar raise.

That clause was put into the bill as a compromise.

School board member Gary Kuehn said, “The public might not realize it, but there will be districts around the state of Tennessee that don’t understand the legal jargon and will not act by presenting a resolution and their teachers will lose that two thousand dollars.”

For all other instructors not covered by the bill, the school system did allocate three point five million to give those employees that same raise as well.