Tennessee lawmakers on Wednesday approved school voucher legislation that would allow families in two counties and the state-run Achievement School District to use education savings accounts for private school tuition and other education-related expenses.

The program would give participating families debit cards worth up to $7,300 in state education money each year. For the first three years, the state would provide grants to the counties to offset the money leaving local school districts with those students.

The landmark legislation, which evolved from months of deliberation, received final approval after a 100-member committee resolved differences between the House and Senate versions of the measure. A last-minute 24-page amendment exempts home-school students from participating and mandates income verification requirements.

The program would be capped at 15,000 students.

Tennessee would join four other states that allow some sort of education savings accounts: Arizona, Florida, Mississippi and Nevada.

The voucher legislation is now headed to Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, who expected to sign it.

"It's unfortunate, but we saw democracy at work."

Frank Lopez, a parent of a fifth-grader at the Bank of America Learning Academy in Jacksonville, Fla., a specialty school of the Duval County School District. The Duval School Board voted Tuesday to close the school to save $309,000 annually in its $1.7 billion budget. (Source: The Florida Times-Union)

"Sometimes the district that a bureaucrat draws that says you have to go here because it works in my bus route doesn't necessarily translate into academic excellence."

Bill Dunn, a Knoxville, Tenn., Republican who is sponsoring HB 388, a school voucher initiative for low-income students in Tennessee. (Source: News Channel 5)

"The very idea that we continue to restrict children from getting a high-quality education by where they live — and perpetuate Zip Code education — is absolutely senseless."

RiShawn Biddle, editor of Dropout Nation, writing about the move of seven California families who asked a state superior court to bar the Los Angeles Unified School District  from striking a new collective bargaining agreement with the union that fails to consider student test data in teacher evaluations. (Source: Dropout Nation)