School choice programs divide Republicans as Trump moves to eliminate Department of Education
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to reduce the Department of Education to its essential functions. The directive tells what's left of the agency to prioritize sending money to school choice programs across America.
These programs -- which are also referred to as school vouchers and school freedom -- allow parents to take tax dollars allocated for their children to attend public schools and, in most cases, use that money to send them to private schools.
The argument supporting this movement is that private schools often provide a better education for children.
In Tennessee, where supporters of the programs refer to them as scholarships, State House Rep. Todd Warner is a proud product of rural public schools. He's a self-described "die-hard Republican," but told ABC News that he believes what some conservatives are currently trying to do to education is wrong.
"Public schools are the backbone of the community," Warner said. "On Friday nights, Friday night lights, the football game. It's where everybody comes together. It's where we tailgate and see each other's family before the game. It's where we cheer each other's children on."
For the past four years at the Tennessee Statehouse, Warner represented what he refers to as "country folk" from counties so red that Confederate flags continue to fly over a few homes and monuments.
"I'm in favor of reducing the Department of Education on the federal level," Warner said. "I would love to see President Trump send more money back to the states. I'm good with that, but I don't want to see that go to the private sector. I want to see it help our public schools."
But in February, Gov. Bill Lee signed Tennessee’s universal school choice program into law. It joined at least 29 states that allow some form of school vouchers, including about 15 states that do not consider parental wealth.
Warner is currently working to limit the number of vouchers in Tennessee.
He may have a life size Trump cutout in his office and hang his red hat on the wall above a dead buck, but Warner told ABC News that he doesn't mind being called a sellout in Nashville because he knows that at home in the district he represents south of the city, his constituents know that isn't who he is.
"You know, the best memories in life that I have," Warner said. "Some of them are in the public school, in high school, you know, with those teachers, with those coaches. And it's that way in a lot of rural Tennessee. I mean, it's the public school or it's nothing."
