A Predictable Appeal
Tennessee and the battle Christian Nationalists are waging to takeover public education
Hillsdale College has gotten a lot of attention recently as a result of comments made by its President, Larry Arnn, at an event featuring Tennessee’s Gov. Bill Lee. Arnn attacked teachers as “dumb” and proceeded to disparage colleges of education and the teaching profession, all while Gov. Lee simply sat by and watched.
Lee subsequently said Arnn didn’t say what he clearly said and then Arnn issued an unapologetic apology.
Since then, Lee has responded to additional backlash by claiming it was “not his vision” to turn Tennessee public schools over to Hillsdale.
This despite Lee laying out a clear vision of doing just that in his State of the State back in January.
Two years ago, I traveled to Hillsdale College to participate in a Presidents Day celebration and spend time with champions of American exceptionalism.
For decades, Hillsdale College has been the standard bearer in quality curriculum and the responsibility of preserving American liberty.
I believe their efforts are a good fit for Tennessee, and we are formalizing a partnership with Hillsdale to expand their approach to civics education and K-12 education.
While all of this has been playing out, American Classical Academy - a charter school operator affiliated with Hillsdale - has been applying to local school boards to open K-12 charter schools. All three local school boards rejected the applications.
However, that’s not the end of the story. Now, American Classical is appealing to Gov. Lee’s State Charter Commission to overturn the local decisions and force the charters on these communities in 2023.
Here’s more on that:
And, as Williams notes, while the school claims to be “separate” from Hillsdale, the top three proposed board members (Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary) are all current employees of Hillsdale.
I wrote recently about Hillsdale and their persistence in pursuing public dollars to fund their vision of Christian Nationalism.
It seems that despite the backlash - even from Republicans - Hillsdale is not stopping and one in the state with authority to do so is pushing back or cutting ties.
A recent piece in Slate from Molly Olmstead explains that while Tennessee is a reliably red state, the attacks on local public schools may have gone too far. The question, though, is will this actually stop Hillsdale? Unless the State Charter Commission stands in the way, it seems inevitable that three Hillsdale charters will be opening soon in the state.
Still, Olmstead’s piece offers some insight as to how local and state public education advocates might effectively push back against Lee’s privatization agenda.
Arnn may have gotten so caught up in national-level culture wars that he forgot that on a local level, people don’t envision the boogeymen of Libs of TikTok when they think of teachers; they think of neighbors and friends. “The mistake Hillsdale made is assuming that ‘teachers’ fit this preconception of a liberal union member,” said Kent Syler, a professor of political science at Middle Tennessee State University. “I would venture to say that the majority of Tennessee teachers are Republicans.”
The situation was made worse by Lee’s handling of the backlash. He was basically silent about it.
It’s also worth noting that what’s happening in Tennessee is happening across the country. This CNN piece about two Texas GOP megadonors highlights the ultimate goal:
Former associates of Dunn and Wilks who spoke to CNN said the billionaires are both especially focused on education issues, and their ultimate goal is to replace public education with private, Christian schooling.
And, as I noted in a recent piece in The Progressive, Hillsdale is a force not only in Tennessee, but also in Florida and even in California.
While I’d love to write a follow-up article that says Tennessee actually rejected Hillsdale and turned their charters away, that seems unlikely to happen. Instead, it seems three local school districts will have Hillsdale thrust upon them - meaning public dollars for a decidedly fundamentalist agenda. And also meaning those districts will suffer from reduced funding as money flows to Hillsdale’s coffers.
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