(WJHL) – Representative Rebecca Alexander and Senator Bobby Harshbarger voted no to Governor Bill Lee’s Education Freedom Scholarship Act, commonly referred to as the school voucher bill.

Both lawmakers say their decision came down to what the majority of their constituents favored.

“We looked at the letters that people took time to write and explain why they wanted us not to vote for vouchers or why they wanted us to vote for vouchers and we had at one point 91 that was against it and 8 that was for it,” Alexander said. “So to me that showed me what my district really wanted.”

Harshbarger said he had an enormous amount of feedback from people in the region.

“We actually kept a spreadsheet and the vast majority of folks were against this for various reasons,” Harshbarger said. “So my primary objective is just to represent my district. That’s the number one. You know, I’ve always said I want to be the most effective representative and that’s the bulk of it.”

Senator Rusty Crowe said on the Senate floor that he struggled with his decision because of school boards in our region voicing opposition. However, his choice came down to the government limiting parental choice.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that it is simply not the role of government to impede the parent’s right to make these choices for their children,” Crowe said. “Today the government tells parents their children should be educated in public schools. If the parents have the resources, they can decide to opt-out. If they don’t have the resources, then government would have made that decision for them and their children will go to public schools and essentially have no other option except possibly homeschooling.”

Alexander and Harshbarger say they’re skeptical about public schools being held harmless from this legislation.

“I didn’t see anything in the bill that would solidify that opinion,” Harshbarger said. “And that was the questions that I kept putting out to get answers for as far as the sustainability of the funding. And in all honesty, I did not receive the answers that I was looking for.”

“I can tell you this – that I am confident that I’m going to work my tail off to make sure that they do what they promised they would do,” Alexander said.

Alexander also doesn’t agree with how many vouchers will still go to students who already attend private schools.

“If we’re doing it for people that 65% are already going to private schools, those people already made those choices,” Alexander said. “They already budgeted, that was their choice to send their children to that school.”

Harshbarger said he talked with local educators before the bill passed.

“I went ahead and told them, you know, there’s a really good chance that this is going to go through,” Harshbarger said. “So it is up to us to make the best of it, so we can’t put our head in the sand. We can’t just say, ‘Oh, woe is me’ and move on. Like we have to make the best of it, figure out how to work within these confines. Otherwise, there’s no reason to give up throw your hands up and give up.”

Harshbarger believes this voucher bill was rushed and didn’t need to be in a special session.

“I felt like they had the votes before we came when they called the special session,” Alexander said. “They won’t do that unless they know they’ve got the votes to get it through. It didn’t keep me from poking. It didn’t keep me from praying.”

“It is what it is, the governor has been determined to pass this since I’ve been in office and so maybe now that it’s out of the way we can move on,” Alexander said.

Alexander said she is proud of Northeast Tennessee public schools.

“I’m always proud to represent them and I’m just proud to represent my community and be down here doing what you all sent me to do.”

News Channel 11 reached out to legislators from our region who voted yes for the vouchers. They either declined to comment or have not responded.