Recent editorials from Tennessee newspapers:
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May 27
The Crossville Chronicle on the state budget and a $38 million school voucher program that could be ruled invalid under Tennessee law:
Members of the Tennessee General Assembly are returning to Nashville to address a slate of budget woes as state income falls below projections following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, said the state needs to make up about $500 million in revenue to close out the 2020 fiscal year. Next year’s budget, passed in March, may need another $1 billion cut.
We don’t know what lawmakers will eye to make up the revenue lost from sales tax across the state. McNally told media outlets last week that the popular back-to-school sales tax holiday could be scrapped. That three-day break on state and local sales tax costs the state about $10 million annually.
But efforts to delay the controversial, and expensive, school voucher bill failed in a committee this week. The state budget still has $38 million budgeted for the first year of a program that would provide low-income families in Shelby and Davidson counties up to $7,300 annually to pay private-school tuition costs.
A judge ruled the program violates the state’s “home rule” provisions. Under this provision, the General Assembly can’t pass laws that single out specific counties without those counties’ consent.
An appellate court ruled earlier this month it would block implementation of the program pending an appeal. The state is asking the Tennessee Supreme Court to allow the program to continue this school year while appeals more forward.
A signature legislative victory for Gov. Bill Lee’s first year in office, the educational savings accounts have been controversial since the very beginning.
Former Speaker of the House Glen Casada held the vote open in the House of Representatives for more than 40 minutes after the vote tied at 49-49. Rep. Jason Zachary of Knoxville then changed his nay to a yea after meeting with legislators on a patio.
At that time, the Knoxville lawmaker said he changed his vote because he was assured his district wouldn’t be affected. Though included in the bill, Knox and Hamilton counties were not part of the Senate bill and removed later.
Other lawmakers who voted against the bill said later they had been offered “unspecified” incentives if they supported the measure.
That was in the spring of 2019. The program was to start in the 2021 school year, but the state hurried to get the infrastructure in place to start it even sooner.
We don’t know what programs will be on the chopping block. Hard choices will have to be made to trim $1 billion from the state’s $40 billion spending plan. School systems around the state are bracing for their own revenue shortfalls and scrapping plans for raises or other programs. And the impact of federal funding through COVID-19 relief programs is still in limbo as states evaluate how U.S. Education Department guidance said the funds must be used for students in private schools, as well, regardless of student achievement or need.
In January, Lee laid out an ambitious plan for public education in this state, including raising the salaries of our teachers and providing more resources to help them help our children succeed. Much of those plans have been scrapped while the state deals with the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 on our economy. It makes no sense to keep the voucher program when the state needs to save money and the constitutionality of the program remains to be determined.
So before the budget trimmers go looking for every penny they can shave from other programs, we hope they take a hard look at $38 million sitting there for a program that could very well be declared invalid under Tennessee law.
Online: https://www.crossville-chronicle.com/
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May 27
The Johnson City Press on funerals during the pandemic:
The most emotionally tasking effect of the novel coronavirus pandemic likely has been on families and friends who have lost loved ones during the precautionary lockdown.
The mourning and recovery process from a death requires some sense of closure, and in this culture that comes via a funeral allowing family and friends to reflect on the life of the person laid to rest. Shared grief is a necessary part of healing for many.
This pandemic takes its toll not only on those with family members lost directly to COVID-19 but also on nearly any family needing that kind of closure. Because of the need for social distancing, funerals have become largely private affairs restricted to immediate family. Funeral homes have implemented creative solutions to aid families in new ways. Visitations often are conducted in drive-through fashion - no reassuring handshakes and hugs. Many families have opted to forgo immediate funerals in favor of later memorial services at undetermined dates.
These unusual circumstances have been especially hard on some families whose lost loved ones served this country in the armed services. As Staff Writer Jonathan Roberts reported in Sunday’s edition, committal services - including honor guards and renditions of Taps - have been significantly curtailed or eliminated altogether at the 142 cemeteries operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs since late March. This includes Mountain Home National Cemetery in Johnson City, where at least 17 veterans had been interred without the traditional ceremonies.
Anyone who has attended a military funeral knows what a reverent ceremony is involved. The resonant sounds of Taps and a 21-gun salute bring a solemn and moving tone to the proceedings and a sense of resolute respect for the deceased. The folding and presentation of the American flag rarely leaves a dry eye.
Mountain Home Director Kirk Leopard told Roberts the cemetery staff plans to offer each family the option to host a ceremony at a later date. He suspects “we’ll be doing committal services all day every day for a while.”
These are not mere traditions. They are threads in the American fabric.
COVID-19 is not strong enough to rip that fabric. Yes, the virus has taken more than 100,000 American lives and counting while damaging the economic stability of millions. Sooner or later, though, science, ingenuity and perseverance will win the day.
So Taps will resume at Mountain Home some day with renewed importance - not just for the families who’ve had to wait but for all who value the nation’s culture.
Online: https://www.johnsoncitypress.com/
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May 27
The Kingsport Times-News on mail-in voting:
Underpinning our constitutional republic is the election process, which determines who will lead us. The legitimacy of that process must be beyond dispute, but in recent national elections that has not been the case for quite sometime. It seems the loser always cries foul. Heck, sometimes even the winner cries foul, though that is a recent, puzzling phenomenon.
But now we stand in the middle of a pandemic that has some calling for a November election that allows mail-in voting for a greater degree of health and safety. Others are already preparing judicial challenges to that idea on the premise that it opens the process up to a wide range of fraudulent practices.
Here’s the sticking point - both camps are right in some aspects.
Mail-in voting would certainly be safer from a health standpoint. But in-person voting that follows CDC-recommended guidelines will be difficult at best. Not impossible, but certainly difficult. And even with protections in place, will likely voters stay away simply out of fear? Those advocating for voting by mail say voters shouldn’t be faced with a choice between protecting their health and exercising the most important right in a democracy. It’s a legitimate concern.
Those opposing mail-in voting also have legitimate concerns such as theft and forgery. Then again, theft and forgery happen in every election, not to mention the regular phenomenon of dead voters casting ballots.
But let’s just be frank here: Our election process has never been 100% secure and likely never will be. As long as the unscrupulous walk among us, there will be those looking for - and finding - ways to cheat the system. Whether it’s altering a mail-in ballot or “assisting the impoverished” with a ride to the polls (always a favorite, devious tactic in rural and poor areas), those looking to wrongly manipulate the system will find a way.
But how often is there enough voter fraud volume to materially change the outcome of an election? To say it’s rare would give “rare” a longer time period than it deserves in this case. Cases of proven voter fraud are well-documented. Cases of alleged voter fraud number in the thousands. Contrived fear of voter fraud runs rampant every election year.
But cases of voter fraud that actually impact an election outcome are rare.
There is a legitimate case to be made both for and against mail-in voting, no matter the environment. The current pandemic complicates matters but points us to a broader conversation about the legitimacy of various voting methods.
What say you? Are you OK with going to the polls in person, or would you prefer a mail-in ballot? We welcome your thoughts at letters@timesnews.net.
Online: https://www.timesnews.net/
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