ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. (WJHL) — Northeast Tennessee’s county mayors mentioned disaster relief when they weighed in on Gov. Bill Lee’s new school choice voucher bill with a letter of support — but a key signer says the letter wasn’t prompted in any way by pressure from Lee’s office.

“I know that’s not his intentions and no, we’re not afraid of that,” Carter County Mayor Patty Woodby told News Channel 11 Tuesday, referring to any possibility that Lee might tie recommendation for aid to support for the new version of a bill that failed to pass last year. Woodby said a new component of the bill that pledges not to reduce state aid from a system if students disenroll from that system, at least in the following year, was the primary selling point for mayors.

State Rep. David Hawk (R-Greeneville), who opposes the voucher bill, also said he hadn’t received any signals that Lee was considering holding disaster aid if he didn’t get a public stamp of approval from Northeast Tennessee mayors.

“I don’t think that this one bill in time is going to dictate anything about funding for hurricane relief,” Hawk said in a Zoom call from Nashville. “I have to give people more credit to be bigger human beings, to be bigger people.”

Monday’s release of the letter, which called the Education Freedom Scholarship Act “a practical step toward addressing the educational and financial needs of our communities,” drew quick criticism on social media for additional references to “the inclusion of disaster relief.”

A provision in the bill that provides an ongoing revenue stream for public school building maintenance also specifically mentions aid to rebuild schools in distressed counties that are damaged or destroyed by disasters. Hampton High School fits that category.

But Woodby said unequivocally that she wasn’t motivated by a fear of reprisal.

“Whether that would have been in there or not, his intentions were still to help Carter County with the high school,” Woodby said. “That was already in the works before this happened. So no, as truth coming from me, it was not a component of us making the decision to support him in his path to getting this bill passed.”

Hawk, who said area legislators and the mayors met about a week ago to discuss the upcoming legislative session — lawmakers were sworn in Tuesday — said he could see the potential for some of them to feel pressure even where none really existed. Johnson, Carter, Unicoi, Washington and Greene counties all have many millions of dollars in damage to contend with.

“I don’t want to second guess the mayors, because they’ve done great work in helping us recover,” Hawk said. “They have been on the spot with our emergency management folks across Northeast Tennessee from day one. They have been under incredible pressure to get this right. So I understand what their fear may be. I’m not feeling that same fear that they (may be) feeling.”

‘That protects the school system’s budget’

Woodby said she opposed the 2024 bill to allow a voucher program statewide. Having reviewed this year’s version, she said she’s confident that the new provision — that the state funding accompanying each student enrolled this year will stay steady even for systems that have fewer students next year — is sufficient protection for public school budgets.

She said the topic of publicly supporting the measure came up at the mayors’ weekly Zoom call last week.

“Some mayors did have reservations, as we should, but we don’t have a glass ball and we can’t predict what or what it won’t do,” Woodby said. “All we can do is support a good governor, a governor who has cared about education, the billions of dollars that he’s put into the public education system in the past four, four and a half years.”

She said she and her fellow county mayors see things from a different perspective than school boards, several of which already have come out in opposition to the plan.

“Most counties, the public school system is more than half of the budget. In this county that’s millions of dollars. It’s a big deal for Carter County. So when we look at the fact that this will protect loss of enrollment, that was a big deal for me.”

And while some leaders and parents, and most if not all public school teachers and administrators, oppose vouchers even with the new provisions, Woodby said she isn’t philosophically opposed to the concept of taxpayer money going to support private education.

“I’m a product of a public school system,” the Hampton High alumna said. “My kids are a product of a public school system. I do not want to see anything taken away from public school systems.”

“But I do understand being a parent and I understand how important an opportunity would have been to me as my kids were growing up to have a choice for a specialized education, a unique education that is specialized or tailored to my child, and that should be afforded to every parent.”

‘They’re going to vote how they feel they should’

Last year, though former Senator Jon Lundberg sponsored the Senate version, Lee’s voucher bill didn’t garner a tremendous amount of support in Northeast Tennessee despite the delegation being comprised 100% of fellow Republicans.

Woodby said she doesn’t expect the mayors’ letter to influence those legislators.

“They’re going to vote how they feel they should vote based upon speaking to their constituents,” she said.

Hawk said she can rest assured of that.

“Historically I’m a no,” he said. “At the moment I don’t see anything that could move me toward a yes.”

Hawk said he hasn’t seen any indication that his constituents in Greene County are ready for statewide vouchers — and that support for public schools has traditionally been very strong in Northeast Tennessee and other rural parts of the state. That’s despite private charter schools and universal voucher programs being a popular cause among Republicans in many parts of the country.

“Our job is to be the voice of the people that we serve,” Hawk said. “Overwhelmingly, the communities in Northeast Tennessee are telling us that a universal voucher plan is not really something that we need at the moment.

“We don’t have perpetually failing school systems in Northeast Tennessee. We’re not to that point, and there’s not really been that outcry of ‘yes, we need vouchers in Northeast Tennessee.’”

But Hawk reiterated his belief that Lee isn’t explicitly or, as far as he can tell, indirectly pressuring anyone as it relates to disaster relief no matter how badly he wants the education bill to succeed this year.

“I can’t see this vote on a voucher being tied to money for flood recovery. That’s no way to run a rodeo. There’s better ways to get bills passed. Let a bill stand on its merit and just ask the question: Do the folks feel across the state we need a universal voucher?”

News Channel 11 expects more from the governor’s office tomorrow on a comprehensive, multimillion-dollar legislative and budget package to address Hurricane Helene and disaster relief.