By Richard Locker - The Commercial Appeal -

NASHVILLE -- Gov. Bill Haslam appointed a panel of educators and legislators Thursday to study and make recommendations on a potential school-voucher program for Tennessee, which would allow parents to pay private school tuition with public education funding.

But he gave the panel until next fall to present its findings and said the legislature shouldn't pursue a voucher bill in its upcoming session. The House sponsor of a voucher bill, Rep. Bill Dunn, R-Knoxville, said he's willing to wait, effectively delaying passage until at least 2013.

Voucher proposals have generated intense controversy. All four of the state's urban school boards, including the new unified Shelby County board, passed resolutions opposing voucher programs after the state Senate approved a bill this year. It stalled in the House, but is pending review.

Earlier Thursday, Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey said he supports a more limited voucher bill than the one sponsored by Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, that won Senate approval. Ramsey said he favors a program that would allow only students in public schools designated by the state as "failing" to go to any private or parochial school of their parents' choice, at least partially at taxpayers' expense.

Both Haslam and Ramsey now are focused on limiting vouchers -- or what they call "opportunity scholarships" -- to low-income students who attend failing public schools, at least as a first step.

The Kelsey bill approved by the Senate would apply to students eligible for free and reduced-price lunches in Shelby, Davidson, Knox and Hamilton counties. It would permit their parents to take half the public money that the state and local school systems spend per child to a private, independent or parochial school.

In Memphis, 88 percent of city school students would be eligible, and vouchers would be worth about $5,400 a year -- far less than tuition rates at many private schools. But private schools could provide additional aid to students.

"I support school choice options and believe that opportunity scholarships could be an impactful tool in Tennessee," Haslam said. "We should offer alternatives to low-income students and their parents who may feel stuck in failing schools."

The new task force's mission, he said, is to "make recommendations on what an opportunity scholarship initiative might look like in Tennessee based on the best available research," and to look at "how a program would fit into Tennessee's overall education reform strategy."

Members of the Governor's Task Force on Opportunity Scholarships for Tennessee include: Kelsey; state Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman; Chris Barbic, state Achievement School District superintendent; Gary Nixon, executive director of the State Board of Education; Ron Zimmer, associate professor of public policy and education at Vanderbilt University; state Rep. Richard Montgomery, R-Sevierville; Jamie Woodson, a former state senator who is now president of State Collaborative on Reforming Education; and representatives of the Coalition of Large School Systems and the independent school community.

Kelsey did not return a reporter's telephone calls but issued a statement saying he is "pleased that the governor feels that this bill is important enough to perfect through meaningful discussion."

Dunn said he is disappointed there will be no legislative action for another year, but is glad that Haslam recognizes the importance of the issue and presumably will present a plan he can back in 2013.

Ramsey was vocal on the subject during a news conference before the governor's announcement.

"I am for a system, on a limited basis to see how this works, that these kids trapped in these failing schools will have the opportunity to take the money and go somewhere else," Ramsey said.