Point is– federal voucher dollars are not going to go to public schools unless the public schools can figure out a way to create the new funding stream for students carrying cash backpacks, and that create a whole new set of issues. If a special tutoring program is available to Susie because she has a backpack of federal voucher money, then why shouldn’t that tutoring be available to any or all students, regardless of backpack status?
Addendum: If a district already has a program that charges fees, then the federal voucher would help families pay that fee, but that would result in zero new revenue for the district.
And, well, while TSS has won a lot of fights, the results aren’t so good for Tennessee schools and communities:
In the decade+ that TSS has been seeking to influence Tennessee education policy, the state has seen the creation of a universal school voucher scheme that costs $300 million, including millions of dollars in payments to a private vendor to administer the program.
Tennessee now ranks last in the nation in investment in public education and would need $1.9 billion to catch up to our neighbors in Mississippi.
Thanks in part to the policies advanced by the lawmakers backed by TSS, Tennessee teachers are now making less (6.5% less) in inflation-adjusted dollars than they were when TSS was just starting.
In fact, the state’s investment in schools in real dollars has dropped by 10% over the past two budget cycles – budgets dominated by education policies championed by TSS.
For years, those of us watching public education have warned of a teacher shortage.
Those warnings were often met with either skepticism or some token gesture. Now, analysis of teacher turnover indicates we are here. At the breaking point.
The shortage is of course a matter of movement into and out of the field. There aren’t enough teachers on the way in: the pipeline is bad as interest in the career has plummeted, with the percent of college grads entering the profession lower than it’s been in a half century.
The unfilled spots that result from turnover and the inability to recruit qualified candidates makes the job harder for teachers who stay. Remaining teachers lose valued and experienced partners, are asked to train replacements, and must provide remediation for students who’ve been taught by a series of substitutes or novice teachers. These teachersaren’t just working harder, they are more stressed, have less time for their students, and can become less effective. It causes some to look toward the exit themselves. Making the job harder, of course, makes it more difficult to recruit.
A Washington County school board member who called a high school student “hot” while sitting next to her at a board meeting lost his bid for re-election last week. He currently faces assault charges as a result of the incident.
WSMV has more:
“God, you’re hot,” he [Board member Kevin Erving] told a female student during an April 2 meeting after she gave a presentation. Community members, including the teen herself, expressed outrage, calling the remarks “sexist” and “derogatory.”
Tennessee’s Governor’s race is set – it will be attorney and Memphis City Councilwoman Jerri Green on the Democratic side and U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn as the GOP nominee.
Blackburn is a staunch supporter of school voucher schemes – she’s voted for Trump’s federal school voucher plan and vows to continue rapid expansion of Tennessee’s school voucher scheme. The current Tennessee private school discount plan costs the state $300 million and diverts millions in taxpayer dollars to a vendor that oversees the program.
The youngest son of Walmart founder Sam Walton is now on the Marsha Blackburn bandwagon.
The latest campaign financial report indicates that pro-Blackburn Team Tennessee PAC received $100,000 from Walton in the last reporting period.
Walton joins payday predators Advance Financial, Pennsylvania billionaire and privatization advocate Jeff Yass, the CEO of Jimmy John’s, and General Motors in supporting Blackburn and her reverse Robinhood economic and education agenda.
Blackburn has pledged to further expand Tennessee’s $300 million school voucher scheme if the 74-year-old career politician wins the Governor’s race.
Yes, there IS a shortage of teachers. No, it’s not going to be easy to solve. Yes, paying more helps. Some. And, yes, the value proposition for teaching is pretty terrible right now.
Barnum and Fernandez note several of the obvious reasons that teaching is a less attractive profession these days. Low pay, especially if you compare it to the pay for similarly-educated professions. The rising tide of bad behavior from students. The onslaught of attention-sapping technology. The insistence that good education is only for the right people and for other people we just need schools to crank out compliant meat widgets to serve corporate overlords.
And, well, there’s a lot of negativity when teaching – formerly one of America’s most revered professions – is discussed:
There is the absolute unrelenting negativity directing at the profession. Twenty years ago, American schools were failing, and it was all teachers’ fault. Then teachers were run down as groomers and pedophiles. Then they were part of the evil conspiracy behind COVID. Commies and traitors! If you aren’t on the ground, in schools, I’m not sure you can really grasp just how relentless and ugly the steady denigration of teachers has been in this country for the past few decades. And the folks who could be the next generation of teachers have had a front row seat.
ThinkTennessee has a new report out analyzing the Tennessee Education Lottery – funds from lottery proceeds go to a generous scholarship program for Tennessee high school graduates.
The report notes: ” . . . the lottery revenue funding most of these scholarships is shrinking even as demand keeps growing. Net lottery proceeds fell between FY2022 and FY2025, and while proceeds are expected to increase in future, they aren’t anticipated to meet projected spending needs through at least FY2030.
“The report also unpacks a recent shift: sports wagering tax revenue that serves as a backstop to shortfalls and provided a surplus of funds is now directed to K-12 school construction instead, narrowing the safety net going forward to just a dollar-for-dollar match (without the surplus).”
School privatization schemes come in a lot of packages – no matter how they are served, though, the results are the same: The schemes cost a lot, leave lots of kids behind, and reduce funds available for traditional public schools.
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The appeal of “school choice,” in which families are permitted to use state funds that would’ve been otherwise spent on public education on non-traditional programs like charter or private schools, is easy to understand. The promise of options and tailored education sounds reasonable in the abstract. But in practice, choice works best for families with the time, information, and flexibility to navigate it, and whose children the private school is willing to choose. For a family in rural Florida or a child with complex disabilities whose needs most private schools won’t accommodate, the marketplace of options is theoretical. The public school is the only institution legally required to educate every child who walks through the door. When it is weakened through funding cuts, the diversion of students and dollars, or a hollowed-out teaching workforce, the consequences fall hardest on the children least able to find alternatives.
WKRN reports that Clarksville’s city government is considering a measure that would reduce the city’s support of Montgomery County Schools.
The City of Clarksville needs more money to keep funding the city, but that could mean taking some tax revenue away from the school system.
Almost 50 years ago, voters approved an increase in the city’s local auction sales tax.
The city and Montgomery County entered into an agreement allowing the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System to keep an additional 20% of that increase.
If they revoke it, Clarksville Mayor Joe Pitts said the city would have $3.4 million per year, which would help offset the rising costs of doing business.
City leaders say Clarksville already spends millions of dollars in support of schools.
WKRN reports on a tenured Sumner County teacher facing potential dismissal over a range of issues, mostly related to classroom management.
Sumner County Schools intends to let a tenured teacher go, in part because of political comments officials claimed she made.
The school board voted last week to dismiss Stephanie Braswell, a Spanish teacher at White House High School.
Langford’s memo lists other alleged issues during Braswell’s teaching tenure, including poor classroom management and interactions with students, delayed grading practices, recording students on video without consent, and being “unprofessional” with parents.
