KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — At the beginning of this year, we asked East Tennesseans what they wanted state lawmakers to focus on and accomplish during the 2024 legislative session by asking them to answer which topics they felt were important to them.
Out of the more than 1,000 responses we received, people said school safety (94%), education (93%), and roads and infrastructure (91%) were important to them. Also topping the list were healthcare costs (88%), protecting democracy (88%), crime (85%), housing costs (77%) and gun safety (75%).
One of the more divisive issues -- abortion access -- garnered a higher number of people saying it was important to them. Nearly 50% of respondents said it was the most important issue to them with another 17% saying it was important. On the opposing side, 20% said abortion access was the least important issue for them and 14% said it was not important.
At the very bottom of the list of people's priorities for this session: school vouchers. A majority of the responses -- more than 60% -- said it was not important or the least important issue to them. Out of all the topics, it also had the highest number of people saying it was the least important issue for them at nearly 34% of the more than 1,000 responses.
Nearly 600 people provided direct comments to the survey, and all but one of the dozens of respondents who commented specifically about school vouchers said they felt the state should not consider the program and should instead work on reinforcing the public school system. One person commented to say they supported the voucher program.
Earlier this month, Gov. Bill Lee proposed spending at least $141 million to expand the state's taxpayer-funded school voucher program during his State of the State address. It would allow 20,000 students to receive $7,000 to spend on private school tuition, transportation and textbooks. Critics of school vouchers said the proposal would take public funds away from public schools, and several boards of education passed symbolic resolutions condemning the proposal.
The 2024 legislative session is currently underway in Nashville -- so now we want to find out how you think the current legislative session is going. Do you think lawmakers are focusing on the issues you care about most? If not, do you have confidence that they will eventually? You can give us your answers in the survey below.
The 2024 legislative session survey mentioned in this story is also still active. You can take that survey below and provide feedback on what you feel is most important this legislative session.