Despite being represented by top voucher advocate Jack Johnson, the Franklin Special School District is speaking out against vouchers. Johnson, best known for his poor math skills and penchant for hypocrisy, is taking the lead in pushing forward Governor Bill Lee’s “Education Savings Account” proposals. Education Savings Accounts, or ESAs, are simply a nicer way to explain the process of taking money from public schools and funneling it to unaccountable private schools.
The Franklin Special School District Board of Education approved unanimously, by consent agenda, a resolution opposing the governor’s Education Savings Account (ESA) proposal, or voucher program, that would use public education dollars to fund private school education.
During his first State of the State address earlier this month, Gov. Bill Lee-R, proposed state funding of an Education Savings Account (ESA), or voucher, program that would allow qualifying parents to use public school funds to enroll their children in a private school, or non-public entity.
In recent days, both Eric Welch and Brad Fiscus of the Williamson County School Board have made their opposition to vouchers known.
While no one should be shocked that Bill Lee supports efforts to dismantle our public schools by way of both vouchers and rapid expansion of charter schools, what’s suprising to me is the number of school board members I talk with who supported Lee. It’s difficult to square support of Lee with support of public education in our state. Lee made clear both during the campaign and by his past involvement in voucher efforts that he is a proponent of using public money to fund private schools.
I suppose some of these same school board members are voting in favor of resolutions opposing vouchers. Perhaps if voucher legislation passes, they’ll explain to their constituents why a local property tax increase is necessary not to support any improvements in what’s offered, but to make up for lost revenue due to an ever-expanding voucher school district.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
Williamson County School Board member Brad Fiscus offers thoughts on vouchers.
During Tennessee’s State of the State address, Governor Bill Lee made it clear that privatizing public education would be a significant initiative of his legislative agenda. While he professed his support for public schools, he also laid out his plan to strip away funding from public schools.
The
Governor’s plan proposes vouchers that would eliminate public accountability by
channeling tax dollars into private schools or home school programs that do not
face state-approved academic standards. Private schools do not publicly report
on student achievement and do not meet the public accountability requirements
outlined in major federal laws– including laws which protect students with
special needs. Vouchers are an easy, yet ineffective “out” for our
legislators– relieving our state leaders of their responsibility to provide
oversight and accountability for public schools as demanded by our state
constitution.
Governor Lee
has promised to restrict his “Education Savings Accounts” (ESA) to use by
students from low-income families from the lowest performing schools. These
Education Savings Accounts or education scholarship accounts or individual
education savings accounts or education scholarship tax credits are euphemisms
for vouchers.
In Indiana
in 2011, while now-Vice-President Mike Pence was Governor, vouchers were
approved. Similar to Governor Lee’s proposal, Indiana’s program initially
limited ESAs to 7500 students from low-income families in low performing
districts. As of 2018, over 35,000 students now utilize taxpayer money intended
for public education to pay private school fees. Indiana has spent a combined
$685 million on this publicly-funded private-school experiment. However, a
significant number of participating students were already attending private
schools or participating in homeschool programs. What’s more, studies reveal
these students are not improving academically. Voucher programs don’t work. Imagine
the benefit if Indiana had invested an additional $685 million in its public
schools, instead of subsidizing private schools.
Contrary to what proponents purport, voucher
programs do not support parent and student choice. Instead of voucher programs
providing options for parents and students, private schools have the chance to
choose which students will be accepted, while public education districts are
expected to provide a local system of free public education for all children.
Governor
Lee’s misguided plan will undermine the very schools the State of Tennessee
should be supporting. Until we address the socio-economic conditions that are
predominant in neighborhoods where underperforming schools operate, we will not
solve the issue of suboptimal school performance. We must invest in systems of
support and training, such as mentorship and literacy programs, that have been
proven effective with underserved children and youth, instead of taking
financial resources away.
In
Williamson County, a district with some of the highest performing schools in
the state despite some of the lowest per-student funding, we’re being told by
Senator Jack Johnson and House Speaker Glen Casada that “vouchers won’t affect
us because we have strong schools.” We have been told we “shouldn’t be
worried.” Why would the state’s top-ranked county want to ensure they are not
affected if vouchers are good for public education?
If Indiana’s
experience with vouchers is any indication, we can be sure this plan will
affect Williamson County schools. Even if it doesn’t, shouldn’t we care enough
about public education in other parts of Tennessee to prevent this program from
happening there?
Tell your legislators and our Governor that vouchers are not welcome in our state.
Brad Fiscus is a veteran teacher, a leader in the Tennessee Conference of The United Methodist Church, and a member of the Williamson County Board of Education, the following Op-Ed is his personal views and does not represent the thoughts or opinions of Williamson County Schools or the Board of Education.
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In an absolutely epic Twitter thread, Williamson County School Board member Eric Welch makes a case for vouchers. Actually, he makes a case for voucher-level funding for public schools. Welch uses math to make his case. Here are some examples:
Per the @Tennessean, @GovBillLee will provide $7,300 per student in the form of a state-funded voucher for use at for-profit private schools able to discriminate on the basis of special needs, academic achievement, religion, disciplinary concerns, religious views, etc (3)
In fact, let’s do the math. $7,300-$3,410=$3,890 per student funding difference. 40,811 enrolled students X $3,890 = $158,754,790 in additional funding if @GovBillLee’s budget funded @WCSedu as equitably as it proposes to fund for-profit schools (5)
So maybe a voucher for public schools is what students like mine need. Because frankly, what our state currently provides (45th nationally in education funding) isn’t cutting it and it’s not sustainable. (16)
Welch notes the significant funding gap between vouchers and the dollar amount per student Williamson County receives from the state based on the BEP formula. This is an important distinction. The BEP formula generates a per student dollar amount (currently $7300) and then devises an amount owed to local districts based on each district’s ability to pay. So, in some districts, the state sends a lot of money and in others, like Williamson, not so much.
Factors involved in generating the total number are based on a school system’s average daily attendance. That number then generates a number of teachers, administrators, and other positions. The state funds each system’s BEP teacher number at 70% — that is, the state sends 70% of the average weighted salary (around $45,000 currently) to the district for each teaching position generated by the BEP.
Let’s be clear: The BEP is inadequate. Every single district hires more teachers (and other positions) than generated by the BEP. Local districts fund 100% of those costs.
Before the state was taken to court over inadequate funding, the BEP Review Committee used to list a series of recommendations on ways to improve the funding formula to adequately meet the needs of our state’s public schools.
While routinely ignored by policymakers, this list provided a guide to where Tennessee should be investing money to improve the overall public education offered in our state.
Here are some examples from the most recent version of this list:
Fund ELL Teachers 1:20 — COST: $28,709,000
Fund ELL Translators 1:200 COST: $2,866,000
Instructional Component at funded at 75% by State COST: $153,448,000
Insurance at 50% COST: $26,110,000
BEP 2.0 Fully Implemented COST: $133,910,000
Some notes here –
First, BEP 2.0 was frozen by Governor Haslam as he “re-worked” funding distribution and supposedly focused on teacher pay.
Next, the state currently provides districts 45% of employee health insurance for ONLY the BEP -generated positions. Districts must fund 100% of the benefit cost for teachers hired about the BEP number.
Finally, beefing up the instructional component by 5% as recommended here would mean significant new dollars available for either hiring teachers or boosting teacher pay or both.
Here are some “wish list” items on teacher pay, which reflect that our state has long known we’re not paying our teachers well:
BEP Salary at $45,447 COST: $266,165,000
BEP Salary at $50,447 COST: $532,324,000
BEP Salary at Southeastern average $50,359 COST: $527,646,000
BEP Salary at State average (FY14) $50,116 COST: $514,703,000
These are FY14 numbers — so, that’s been a few years. Still, funding teacher pay at the actual average spent by districts (just over $50,000 a year) would mean significant new funding for schools that could be invested in teacher salaries. We don’t fund teacher pay at the actual average, though, we fund it at a “weighted” average that is thousands less than this actual number. Then, districts receive only 70% of that weighted number per BEP position.
Making the large scale jump necessary to truly help direct state BEP dollars into teacher paychecks and provide a much-needed boost to salaries would cost close to $500 million. Bill Lee’s budget this year provides a paltry $71 million, continuing the tradition of talking a good game while letting teacher pay in our state continue to stagnate.
Here are some other recommendations — ideas that Welch suggests districts could pursue if only they were funded at the same level Bill Lee is proposing for private schools:
Change funding ratio for psychologists from 1:2,500 to 1:500 $57,518,000
Change funding ratio for elementary counselors from 1:500 to 1:250 $39,409,000
Change funding ratio for secondary counselors from 1:350 to 1:250 $18,079,000
Change funding ratio for all counselors to 1:250 $57,497,000
Change Assistant Principal ratio to SACS standard $11,739,000
Change 7-12 funding ratios, including CTE, by 3 students $87,928,000
New BEP Component for Mentors (1:12 new professional positions) $17,670,000
Professional Development (1% of instructional salaries) $25,576,000
Change funding ratios for nurses from 1:3,000 to 1:1,500 $12,194,000
Change funding ratios for Technology Coordinators from 1:6,400 to 1:3,200 $4,150,000
Increase Funding for teacher materials and supplies by $100 $6,336,000
Instructional Technology Coordinator (1 per LEA) $5,268,000
If you look at these numbers, you see that a state committee of professional educators (the BEP Review Committee) has been telling state policymakers that Tennessee needs to do more.
They’ve been saying it for years.
Now, we have a Governor who is suggesting that instead of spending state dollars to meet these needs, we’re going to spend them to prop up private schools with little to no accountability.
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It should come as no surprise that Governor Bill Lee is pursuing an aggressive agenda of school privatization complete with a fast-growing voucher program, additional money for charter schools, and a way for charter operators to bypass the accountability of local school boards. Now, however, it seems Lee has enlisted co-conspirators from the school district likely to be most negatively impacted by his agenda.
Senator Brian Kelsey and Rep. Mark White have agreed to carry Lee’s legislation creating a state charter authorizer. It’s a bill some critics are calling the worst charter legislation in the nation.
State Sen. Brian Kelsey, a Germantown Republican, and State Rep. Mark White, a Memphis Republican who chairs the House Education Committee, are carrying Senate Bill 796 and House Bill 940, one of the signature pieces of Gov. Bill Lee’s K-12 education initiative.
White didn’t want to use the word “bypass” but acknowledged the legislation would remove the step for charter applicants to go to the Tennessee Board of Education if turned down by local boards.
“But basically, yeah, you would come to the state without going through that process,” White said.
The change is significant because current law requires a charter operator to first apply to the local board of education to determine if the proposed charter is a good fit for the district. The case of Rocketship in Nashville is a good example:
In summary, with no additional state accountability data to consider, and no compelling evidence presented that provides confidence in the review team, converting an existing low-performing school before Rocketship has demonstrated academic success on state accountability measures would not be in the best interests of the students, the district, or the community.
If Governor Lee’s proposal is successful, schools like Rocketship will now be able to circumvent local input altogether. In this case, MNPS identified key problems with Rocketship and decided an expansion was not in the best interests of the students of the district.
It’s not yet clear whether there is broad support for circumventing local school boards. The legislation did pass a hurdle today, clearing a House subcommittee and moving forward in the process.
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A new group aims to unify Tennessee teachers in advocating for public education, following a blueprint that led to teacher strikes that rocked states like Arizona, Kentucky and West Virginia.
They are following a blueprint established by teachers in states like West Virginia, Kentucky and Arizona where grassroots efforts outside of union organization resulted in massive teacher work stoppages.
The article notes the group includes current TEA local affiliate leader Tikeila Rucker of Memphis as well as former Knox County Education Association President Lauren Sorenson and Amanda Kail, a candidate for President of Metro Nashville Education Association.
While the three leaders say they aren’t necessarily planning a strike, they indicated that as the group grows, a strike may be an option.
Issues such as persistently low teacher pay, over-testing, and the diversion of public funds to private schools by way of vouchers have caused concerns among teachers.
Tennessee Teachers United plans to raise these issues with key policymakers while organizing across the state to build support among teachers.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
The Tennessee Education Association is raising concerns about Gov. Bill Lee’s school privatization agenda. More from a recent article posted on the TEA website:
In his State of the State address, Gov. Bill Lee announced his intent to allocate more than one-fifth of his K-12 education budget to advance privatization in Tennessee. His proposed budget includes more than $25 million for education savings accounts and $12 million for a charter school building slush fund.
“TEA has serious concerns about the governor’s plan to fund a program that is essentially private school vouchers with even less accountability that are more susceptible to fraud and abuse,” said TEA President Beth Brown. “At a time when classrooms lack needed resources and teachers are digging into their own pockets to buy classroom supplies, it is discouraging to see funding going to something proven to harm student achievement in other states.”
The increase in the building fund for private charter operators is partnered with a proposal to make it easier for new charter schools to be approved. While details on this are still not final, TEA strongly opposes any charter legislation that limits the authority of the locally elected school board to be the final voice on new charter school applications.
“Charter schools need to be a local decision, because local taxpayers bear a majority of the costs,” Brown said. “Also, local boards of education better understand the needs of their district and are better equipped to make the right decision for the students they serve.”
Both charter schools and any form of private school vouchers have proven to destabilize public school budgets and negatively impact existing classrooms. These privatization schemes also have a track record of harming student achievement.
“We have seen in other states where students in voucher programs and unaccountable charter schools are not keeping up with their peers in traditional public schools,” Brown said. “There are many proven ways to improve public education for all schools; unfortunately, the governor is choosing to invest significant resources in two dangerous paths.”
The more than $35 million currently slated for education savings accounts and rapid charter expansion would be better used in ways proven to increase student performance, like reducing class sizes and updating text books and classroom technology.
“As a rural educator, I understand the assumption that these risks will only impact metro areas, but that is simply untrue,” said Brown. “Educators and public education advocates from every corner of the state need to stand together to defeat every single attempt to privatize education. If passed, these proposals would erode the foundation of all public schools.”
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Below is the official position statement of the Tennessee PTA on Trauma Informed Communities:
As the momentum grows for Tennessee to be a trauma informed state and build awareness within our communities about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), Tennessee PTA is supportive of the efforts our state government, business world, advocates, insurers, and academia and nonprofit foundations for the initiative of our state to be a national model of how a state can promote culture change.
Tennessee PTA board of managers believes that any substantiated or admitted allegations of sexual misconduct, spouse abuse, or habitual drug abuser of any member of a decision-making body in educational affairs cannot participate and are not allowed to be a part of the process that contributes to the welfare, health, safety and education of children. This perspective aids in focusing on the root causes of the systemic issues that run rampant through individuals, families and communities when the issues go unaddressed.
Tennessee PTA board of managers believes the exploitation of youth degrades humans and damages the cognitive, social and emotional development of the individual and has adverse consequences for the individual, family and community in which citizens live.
As a state who is working toward leading a National Model of being trauma informed about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) we must be mindful of the collective affects the community has on individual situations that lead to Adverse Community Environments.
Tennessee PTA board of managers advocates for policies and programs to help meet the basic needs of children and families. We promote research, training and public education to strengthen proactive and responsive factors that buffer indicators for sexual abuse while also directly addressing the root causes of individual situations.
As a major advocacy agent for youth, parents and educators we applaud the state in the progressive strides of raising awareness and implementing strategies that support appropriate responses to ACEs.
We continue to encourage our state government and all individuals in the educational arena to reflect the ideals of the true nature of appropriately responding to the root causes and publicly mirroring those behaviors in order to model the desired behaviors this state is aiming to provide for the Nation.
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A new organization of Tennessee teachers has formed in response to persistent underfunding of schools and over-testing of students. Chris Brooks of Labor Notes has more:
Tennessee teachers have taken a pummeling over the years.
They’re
grossly underpaid and their professional autonomy has been stripped away. Their
students are over-tested and their schools underfunded.
But
what has been the collective response?
To
lie low.
Keep
their heads down.
This
is especially true of the leadership in their union, the Tennessee Education
Association. They’ve pursued a strategy of “it’s better to be at the table than
on the menu.”
This
strategy emphasizes access over confrontation. They hope that small incremental
change will be possible through a combination of lobbying and writing checks to
political campaigns. And since the union isn’t being adversarial, isn’t pushing
too hard or too fast, they hope they won’t be a target for political
retribution.
Those
hopes have been misplaced.
Across
the state, conditions in schools have only gotten worse. Tennessee consistently
ranks near the bottom of the country in per-pupil spending. Experienced and
qualified teachers are leaving the profession in droves.
Now,
newly elected Governor Bill Lee is taking direct aim at public education. He
just announced a state budget that doubles funding for charter schools and is pushing lawmakers to approve $25 million for vouchers. Governor Lee’s disastrous
privatization agenda will further drain resources from schools that are already
struggling to get by.
The
lesson here is that we can’t incrementally lobby our way out of the hole we are
in.
Lying
low doesn’t work, but there is another way.
All
across the country, teachers are supercharging the routine of lobbying and
elections with a far more powerful tool: they are going out on strike.
Teachers
in West Virginia, Arizona, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Kentucky have used
collective action to transform the political landscape. They’ve decimated
charter and voucher legislation, stopped further spending cuts, and pushed
policies that actually benefit student outcomes: lower class sizes, more nurses
and counselors, an end to toxic testing, and paying teachers adequately so
school systems can retain them for more than a few years.
There
is clear tangible evidence that strikes work. A new report from the Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities found
that “protests by teachers and others last year helped lead to
substantial increases in school funding in Arizona, North Carolina, Oklahoma,
and West Virginia.”
It
didn’t matter that striking is illegal in many of these states or that the
state government is dominated by anti-union Republicans.
When
teachers found the courage to strike they found out that the community—and often
even their boss—had their back
With
so many school districts struggling to make ends meet, striking teachers found
that their demands for increased state funding had the support of their local administrators.
Because superintendents closed their schools during the nine-day West Virginia
strike, teachers didn’t lose pay and the strike rolled on.
Parents
know that issues like class size and funding matter. It’s common sense. Would
you rather your child be in a classroom with twenty other students or forty? Do
you want your child to be taught by a capable, qualified professional or to be
endlessly drilled in preparation for a high-stakes test?
Unsurprisingly,
teachers everywhere have received an outpouring of support from parents and
community members when they hit the picket lines.
“This
group is for any public school educator who is tired of their students’ needs
being put last and is tired of their voices being ignored,” said Lauren
Sorensen, a second grade teacher at Halls Elementary School in Knox County and a
longtime leader in her local union. “If you are ready to organize and act, then
join us.”
The
group was formed following a video call organized by Labor
Notes
between Tennessee teacher activists and two of the rank-and-file organizers of
the statewide walkouts in Arizona and West Virginia (see video below).
Tennessee
teachers face the same issues and challenges as teachers in West Virginia and
Arizona—and they are just as resourceful.
They just have to ask themselves: are they going to keep lying low or are they going to start fighting back?
Chris Brooks is a former organizer with the Tennessee Education Association and currently works as an organizer and staff writer for Labor Notes.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
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That’s how Nashville school board member Will Pinkston describes Gov. Bill Lee’s proposals to expand charter schools and enact a voucher program. Pinkston’s comments come via The Washington Post and the education column of Valerie Strauss.
Here’s some of what Pinkston has to say:
In Tennessee, our state constitution guarantees “a system of free public schools” — not a system of taxpayer-funded private schools, which is what you’d be creating with vouchers. Setting aside the unconstitutional nature of vouchers, it’s just bad policy at a time when the state is already underfunding our public schools. If your plan is enacted, it will likely end up in court.
Gov. Lee: Tennessee is ranked in the bottom seven states in America when it comes to per-pupil funding. Let’s instead have a conversation focused on large-scale priorities like dramatically improving teacher pay, expanding early childhood education, and committing to adequate funding for all public schools — not privatizing our school systems vis-à-vis charters and vouchers.
It’s time for testing in Tennessee again. Or, at least, it’s time for schools to begin the time-honored tradition of having students take practice tests to ensure that the state’s testing vendor is getting the job done and the online testing system will work.
Surprising exactly no one, some schools are reporting problems with the testing platform as their students begin practice testing. At least one school reported that at least half the students were unable to access the TNReady test during practice today.
This should definitely encourage students, teachers, and parents as we approach the test-heavy month of April.
Last year, we heard about dump trucks and hackers causing TNReady problems. It’s not clear what the planned excuses are this year.
Certainly, our new Commissioner of Education is working with her team of school choice advocates to devise this year’s round of fake TNReady stories. Then, they’ll come up with lies to tell the General Assembly so no real policy change takes place.
Seriously, though, if your school is or has been engaged in TNReady practice testing, I’d love to know how it’s going. Are you having problems? What are they? Let me know at andy@tnedreport.com
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