Privatizers Push to Expand Vouchers in Tennessee
Emboldened by election wins, Gov. Lee and allies begin full court press to privatize TN's public schools
I’m pleased to note that The Education Report has surpassed 1800 subscribers! Thank you! I’d love to start 2023 with more than 2000 readers. If you’re already a subscriber, please forward to friends you think would be interested. Also, take a moment to consider the subscription options - while The Education Report is offered free as a way to promote a vigorous defense of public schools, your paid subscription helps support my work. If you’re already a free subscriber, just click on the button below to become a paid supporter! I appreciate all of you who read, share, and support this work.
Just weeks after the November elections returned a GOP supermajority to the legislature and saw Gov. Bill Lee win reelection in a landslide, the purveyors of school privatization are on the march.
First came news that Hillsdale College is back at it - with plans to open five Christian Nationalist charter schools in the state.
Now, there’s news that some in the General Assembly are looking to expand the state’s fledgling voucher program beyond Memphis and Nashville and into Chattanooga.
Chalkbeat reports that Hamilton County state Senator Todd Gardenhire has introduced legislation that would expand the program to schools in Chattanooga.
Sen. Todd Gardenhire, a Chattanooga Republican, wants the legislature to expand the eligibility criteria for the education savings account program to include students in districts with at least five of the state’s lowest-performing schools, as identified in the last three “priority school” cycles since 2015.
Under those criteria, Hamilton County Schools, which is based in Chattanooga, would qualify
Make no mistake – the ultimate goal is full privatization of public education in Tennessee. It has been Gov. Lee’s goal all along.
In 2018, I wrote:
In spite of years of evidence of where Bill Lee stands when it comes to supporting our public schools (he doesn’t), many school board members and county commissioners across the state supported his successful campaign. These local elected officials often touted his business acumen and support of vocational education as reasons to back him. However, it’s difficult to imagine these same officials just “didn’t know” Bill Lee backs a scheme to divert public money to private schools — a scheme that has failed miserably time and again in other states and localities.
More likely, they just didn’t care. Bill Lee was on the right team and spoke the right, religiously tinged words and so earned the support of people who will look at you with a straight face and say they love Tennessee public schools.
Much the same can be said of 2022 – Lee spent four years assaulting public education and yet many local officials stood by him because he wears an “R” on his jersey and is affiliated with a familiar brand of Christianity.
Will these same elected officials be surprised when local taxes rise, and public education is replaced by Hillsdale’s theocracy-promoting charters?
Or is this the future they’ve been waiting for?
Teacher Shortage Taking a Toll
A new report from Economic Policy Institute indicates that an already growing teacher shortage was exacerbated by the pandemic.
This issue is not helped by moves like the one underway in North Carolina to push teachers to an unproven merit pay scheme - and pay pitifully low salaries even then.
The North Carolina situation highlights the primary challenge with changing this situation - policymakers just don’t get it:
An example is what the policy leaders in North Carolina consider “incentive” pay.
I wrote about this before:
Advanced teachers with “adult leadership” responsibilities, such as mentoring early career teachers, could earn up to $72,000. At present, the state salary scale for teachers maxes out at $52,680 per year.
So, these numbers are higher than current teachers in NC earn. But, wow, they are LOW. An advanced teacher with extra responsibilities earns a max of $72,000 under the NEW system. No wonder people aren’t excited about becoming teachers.
It’s as if North Carolina’s policymakers lack both imagination and political will.
And this problem is not just limited to North Carolina - across the country, policymakers continue to advance solutions that are NOT raising pay aggressively to both attract people to the field and keep the teachers we already have.
In short, these aren’t solutions at all.