The Education Report

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Back to School 2022

theeducationreport.substack.com

Back to School 2022

Teacher shortage looms large, privatization push continues

Andy Spears
Aug 1, 2022
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Share this post

Back to School 2022

theeducationreport.substack.com

Today, my daughter goes back to school. She’s a junior in high school and she’s driving now. A lot has changed since she started school all the way back in 2011.

Districts across Tennessee and around the country will also be back to school this week or in coming weeks. In many cases, the opening of school will be greeted with a severe shortage of teachers.

The Education Report
Completely Predictable Crisis
Emily West from Nashville’s NewsChannel5 reports that a teacher shortage crisis is hitting Middle Tennessee counties hard. A NewsChannel 5 analysis shows more than 1,000 teacher openings during the first week of July. During the 2021-2022 school year, the state had 1,024 unfilled vacancies, according to data from the Tennessee Department of Education. F…
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8 months ago · 1 like · 4 comments · Andy Spears

I’ve been writing The Education Report since early 2021. The goal was and is to report on the politics of K-12 education and to continue to make the case for defending public education. Further, I aim to expose privatization schemes and highlight successes of groups and communities fighting for their public schools.

In recent weeks, I’ve seen a number of new paid subscribers. I appreciate each of you.

While The Education Report is offered at no charge, it is paid support that allows me the time to find and share critical education policy news.

If you’re already a subscriber and want to upgrade to paid (just $5/month or $50/year), you can click the button below.

If you’re not yet a subscriber, please consider subscribing now - and please also share this publication with friends you know support public schools.


While The Education Report is fairly new, I’ve been publishing education news at Tennessee Education Report since 2013.

Tennessee is one of many states moving aggressively to privatize public education. In fact, Gov. Bill Lee is moving ahead with plans to partner with private, Christian Hillsdale College to open a network of charter schools in the state.

I’ve written a summary of what’s going on with Hillsdale here:

The Education Report
This One's About Hillsdale College
There’s been a lot in the news lately about Hillsdale College following the school’s President making disparaging remarks about teachers at a private event featuring Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee. Now, not only has Lee defended Arnn’s remarks and refused to apologize for his complicity in an attack on the teaching profession, but also Arnn has penned a piece …
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8 months ago · 1 like · 3 comments · Andy Spears

And on the topic of privatization, a recent piece in The Hechinger Report by a Michigan State professor exposes the reality of vouchers. That is: They don’t work.

Here’s more:

Vouchers are dangerous to American education. They promise an all-too-simple solution to tough problems like unequal access to high-quality schools, segregation and even school safety. In small doses, years ago, vouchers seemed like they might work, but as more states have created more and larger voucher programs, experts like me have learned enough to say that these programs on balance can severely hinder academic growth — especially for vulnerable kids.

Back to School chalk
Photo by Deleece Cook on Unsplash

If you want regular updates on education news in Tennessee and around the country, take a moment and subscribe - and take another moment to consider becoming a paid supporter of The Education Report.

If you have a story to share or a topic you’d like covered, send me an email.

I publish two to three times a week, so you can expect regular updates on the politics of education.

Welcome back to school!

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Back to School 2022

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