Back to School 2022

Teacher shortage looms large, privatization push continues

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.

Completely Predictable Crisis

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.

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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:

This One's About Hillsdale College

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.

Photo by Deleece Cook on Unsplash

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Welcome back to school!