On Thursday the Beacon Center of Tennessee filed a motion to intervene in Nashville Democratic Mayor John Cooper’s lawsuit to strike down Education Savings Accounts (ESAs).
This, according to a press release Beacon put out Thursday.
Beacon is a Nashville-based free market think tank.
Beacon is filing to protect the program on behalf of Nashville mothers Bria Davis and Star Brumfield, whose children Beacon says would benefit from the recently enacted program.
“It is unfathomable that Mayor Cooper would spend precious taxpayer resources to prevent Nashville’s children from obtaining a better education, all at a time when our city has no money to spend. Instead of siding with low-income families who just want to give their children a quality education, the city of Nashville has decided to stand with special interest groups that care more about what’s best for adults than what’s best for kids,” the press release quoted Beacon CEO Justin Owen as saying.
“Despite the mayor’s claims, this program is constitutional, and we will do everything in our power to make sure families can benefit from it starting this fall. When it comes to receiving a quality education, our kids cannot wait. The families we are representing are the most impacted by this program, and their voices should be heard.”
As The Tennessee Star reported last week, Metro Nashville Law Director Bob Cooper filed a 44-page legal complaint in Davidson County Chancery Court to fight Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s Education Savings Account Pilot Program.
Members of the Tennessee General Assembly passed the program into law last year.
Cooper filed the complaint with the blessing of Mayor John Cooper.
Bob Cooper and John Cooper announced their plans at a Metro Nashville School Board meeting. Metro Nashville Interim Director of Schools Adrienne Battle called it “an unprecedented meeting.”
After the end of the nearly 30-minute meeting, school board members unanimously adopted a motion to formally support Bob Cooper’s complaint.
Bob Cooper filed the complaint on behalf of three plaintiffs: the Metro Government, the Metro Nashville School Board, and the Shelby County government.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
