NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The governor’s education voucher scholarship is out. It would establish a scholarship of over $7,000 for any student who wants to attend a private school, starting in the 2025-2026 school year. That would follow a rollout for 20,000 students in the 2024-2025 school year.

The funding in Gov. Bill Lee’s (R-Tennessee) plan would come outside Tennessee’s TISA model, which funds public schools.

“I think we probably consider that to be Amendment I,” Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) said. “That’ll kind of be the starting place, if you will, as proposed by the governor.”

Not long after the governor’s amendment came out, lawmakers released a separate amendment in the Senate. It includes accountability measures, while also using Tennessee’s TISA public school funding model to pay for vouchers.

“Accountability, I think, is critical because, frankly, three to five years from now, we need to say, ‘How is it working and what are the results?” Sen. Jon Lundberg (R-Bristol) said. “We need to show it.”

But why are there two different versions of the bill?

“Candidly, we didn’t have legislation from the governor, so we hadn’t seen it and said, ‘let’s start crafting what we think would be the best policy for this state,’” said Lundberg, the Senate Education Chair.

The difference is just the latest in the legislative cold war between Republicans in the House, Senate and governor’s office that started back with last year’s special session. Though lawmakers downplayed it Thursday.

“I don’t think it’s a cold war,” Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) said. “I just think you have 132 total people sitting here trying to make a decision.”

The House has yet to release its own amendment at this point. But leadership says it will be what’s known as an omnibus bill, packed with many other components like pay raises and more insurance funding for teachers.

“You’re going to see us do a lot of things that teachers have been asking about that Leader [William] Lamberth’s talked about, things that the school systems have talked about and things that superintendents have talked about on funding mechanisms and funding models,” Sexton said. “It’s an all-encompassing approach from us. It’s not just about choice, it’s about K-12 education.”

Democrats slammed that notion, criticizing House Republicans for not splitting the voucher scholarship into its own bill.

“They’re trying to use all those things not to benefit our public schools or to benefit teachers,” House Democratic Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons (D-Nashville) said. “They’re trying to buy votes.”

Other Democrats pointed to the fact that it’s an election year.

“Teachers aren’t dumb,” Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) said. “Teachers know that they’re dangling these carrots.”

Johnson is also running for a United States Senate seat.