On Friday the Great Schools Partnership hosted a legislative breakfast. It brought together the Knox County Board of Education and state legislators ahead of the upcoming legislative session.
"One of the hot topics for the legislature this year is going to be the vouchers," Knox County Board of Education Chair, Terry Hill, said. "Knox County has in the past and continues to oppose school vouchers, we feel that this is taking away from public education."
The school voucher legislation, supported by Governor-elect Bill Lee, would provide publicly funded scholarships for students to attend private schools.
Such legislation has been proposed many times before in the general assembly, but has never gained enough traction to pass.
Those in favor of a voucher system say it gives families a greater range of choices when it comes to providing an education for their children.
However, opponents believe such a system would lead to greater problems for public schools and teachers in Tennessee if taxpayer dollars are diverted and given to private schools.
Senator Becky Massey weighed in on the issue as well.
"I have in the past opposed school vouchers because I feel like our funding needs to go into public education and we need to make it the best it can be," Massey said. "But there are good arguments on both sides.
Representative Bill Dunn had a different take on the vouchers.
"It works great in higher education, why not give parents and children the same opportunity in K through 12," he said.
The group also touched on teacher salary.
"We certainly are prepared to ask for teacher raises and this is a high priority for us," Hill said. "So the time has come for us to really get serious about taking care of our teachers."
The board asked legislators to continue thinking about helping the district with more mental health resources for students as well. Representative Dunn said a lot of these issues depend on where the money can be spent.
►RELATED: 6 laws that go into effect on Jan. 1
"Well, so much of education depends on how much money we have -- so we've got limited resources. We've got to make sure where we do spend it we get the best results for the money we spend," Dunn said.
The next legislative session starts January 8.
