Monthly Archives: September 2024

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JD Vance and Christian Nationalism

Vance advances school privatization agenda in PA event

Peter Greene reports in detail on JD Vance’s comments accusing public school teachers of being Marxist indoctrinators who don’t teach math or reading but are big on teaching America hating.

As Greene notes:

Vance just spoke at a Christian nationalist rally in Monroeville (a Pittsburgh suburb), and some of it was about education.

Greene notes the following remarks from Vance’s appearance:

Some of the stuff that they’re teaching in American schools in 2024, that that’s not just liberalism that is crazy and we’ve got to get it out of our schools or it’s going to poison the minds of our young people.

And, well, it’s just bizarre.

But not if you take it in the context of JD Vance and Donald Trump advancing a Christian Nationalist agenda.

Not because either of them actually care about advancing a Christian takeover of American institutions – but because acting like they are all-in helps them win the votes of the evangelicals that do.

MORE EDUCATION NEWS

Christian Nationalism and the School Privatization Agenda

Kamala Harris on Education

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The End for Ed Secretary?

Cardona will likely move on in 2025

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona seems likely to move on after the election. After all, there will be a new President. And, even though Cardona is a member of the Biden-Harris team, his track record does not seem to suggest reason to keep him on should Harris win in November.

To be fair, he came in as Team Biden was leading an effort to return to normalcy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A recent piece in Politico takes a look at the challenges Cardona has faced – and notes a lack of action on what was once a bold vision for public education:

But he’s run out of time to build a post-pandemic vision that draws absent students back to classrooms, boosts lagging test scores, and reshapes American education. Despite a recent flurry of travel and fiery speeches championing Democratic issues, Cardona’s uneven tenure has clouded his prospects to influence the education industry or a potential Harris administration.

Cardona’s track record is more complicated. After pushing to reopen schools with $122 billion in expiring federal aid, the department is scrambling to recover from a botched debut of college financial aid forms that threatens to upend enrollment. Courts have scrapped affirmative action, stymied Biden’s efforts to cancel student loan debt, and blocked rules that extend campus discrimination protections to transgender students. Congressional Republicans have even called for Cardona’s resignation after he declined to condemn pro-Palestinian protest chants on college campuses.

Harris, who has close ties to teacher’s unions, seems likely to select a more vocal advocate for the concerns of educators. And, well, Trump isn’t exactly interested in education.

MORE EDUCATION NEWS

On the Alarming Advance of the Teacher Pay Penalty

Kamala Harris on Education

MORE Tennessee News

Nashville Lawmakers Take on Corporate Groceries

Why Didn’t Anyone Vote in the TN Primary?

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Investing in Teachers: It’s Not a Dream in Washington State

But Tennessee teachers face a low-pay nightmare

Tennessee teachers are some of the lowest-paid in the nation – and among the lowest-paid in the Southeast.

In fact, only 25% of Tennessee teachers earn more than $60,000/year.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

In fact, in Washington State, it’s not.

I took a look at teacher pay in Olympia – starting teachers there can expect to earn $60,000 with a bachelor’s degree. Pay goes up to $120,000 depending on years of experience and education level.

In other words, it doesn’t have to be this way.

As I’ve written before, Tennessee continues to make policy choices indicating that the priorities of Gov. Bill Lee and his legislative allies are NOT investing in public education or public school educators.

The state spent $500 million to help build a new stadium for the Tennessee Titans.

The state in this past legislative session passed a $1.6 billion corporate tax break.

Past legislators have eliminated the Inheritance Tax and the Hall Tax on investment income.

For just a little more of what state taxpayers (at the behest of Lee and lawmakers) gifted the Titans, we could give all teachers a 20% raise.

Making that an ongoing commitment would be simple: Just repeal the ridiculous corporate tax giveaway the legislature just passed.

Tennessee policymakers could make investing in schools a priority – but they persist in choosing not to.

MORE Education News

On the Ridiculous Idea of Rejecting Federal Education Funding

School Lunch Should be Free for Every Kid, Every Day

MORE Tennessee News

Behn, Oliver Push Back on Price Gouging

The Impact of Project 2025

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Let’s Talk About Money

Teacher pay matters – TN policymakers don’t get it

Yes, it’s about money.

Despite Gov. Bill Lee and his GOP allies claiming to invest in teachers, average teacher pay in the state is still among the lowest in the nation.

From National Education Association analysis of teacher pay

And a new report suggests the teacher pay penalty – the gap between teacher pay and the pay of other comparably-educated professionals – is at an all-time high.

The latest data says the “teacher pay penalty” – the gap between teacher compensation and the pay of other professionals – is now at an all-time high – 27%.

Of further concern:

Young people’s interest in education continues to slide as they recognize “many downsides” to teaching, including its unattractive pay. 

Why Don’t They Want to Teach?

Since 2009, Tennessee has identified shortages in the overall numbers of K-12 teachers needed for public schools as well as teachers for specific subjects. There is a critical need in the state for STEM teachers, as well as shortages in high school English, social studies, world languages, Pre-K through high school special education, and English as a second language.

In short, policymakers have been aware of this problem for a long, long time.

Now, the crisis is acute – and nothing is being done.

MORE Education News

Teacher Burnout Leads to Teaching Exodus

Tennessee’s Voucher Wars

MORE Tennessee News

Pushing Back Against Price Gouging

Project 2025 and The Environment: A Warning

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Is Summer Break Too Long?

The case for changing the school calendar

Summer is long.

And hot.

Especially in Tennessee.

And then there’s the issue of “lost” learning – kids needing to catch up and rebuild skills when they return from a summer break that is 10 weeks or longer.

Thus, a renewed argument for a year-round school calendar – one with a shorter summer break and more breaks throughout the year.

Another argument against summer break is that while it may not have emerged to meet the needs of the bygone agricultural era, our economic and social structures have indeed changed dramatically and made summer less practical than it once was.

And:

Brookings Institution’s Megan Kuhfeld and Karyn Lewis analyzed summer slide research in 2023, finding that “a long line of research on learning and cognition has shown that procedural skills and those that involve a number of steps tend to rapidly deteriorate in the absence of practice or other reinforcement.” They note that learning loss is especially detectable in the span from 3rd grade through 8th grade.

What do you think? Should long summer breaks be eliminated from the school calendar?

MORE Education News

Vouchers Bust Local Budgets in Indiana

Kentucky Voters to Decide on School Vouchers

MORE Tennessee News

Fighting Corporate Grocery Giants

Low Voter Turnout Plagues TN Elections

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When School Choice Isn’t About Choice at All

The people pushing “school choice” actually want only one choice

The same people banning books from schools and seeking to ban Pride flags are the ones pushing “school choice.”

Thing is, they don’t want actual choices. They want all schools to conform to their narrow vision.

Peter Greene offers some insight:

This is not about choice. It’s about capturing the education system so that young humans can be taught the correct way to behave and think. It’s about trying to eradicate a way of thinking and being that folks on the right disapprove of. 

He adds:

And there’s an absolutely ridiculous piece of “scholarship” from the Heritage Foundation trying to discredit charter schools for being woker than public schools, because choice is supposed to provide a variety of educational viewpoints, except not Those Viewpoints.

When someone like Ron DeSantis or Ryan Walters tells you that he favors school choice and he also favors making illegal all references to certain “divisive topics” and gender stuff, he is telling you that all his talk about school choice is bullshit. 

See also: Tennessee’s Gov. Bill Lee:

Exceptionally Bad

Lee made clear his preference for Christian Nationalism as the driving force for education “reform” in Tennessee in his 2022 State of the State Address.

Since then, he’s tried to force Hillsdale College-affiliated charter schools on Tennessee communities – and thanks to his hand-picked Charter School Commission, he’s succeeded in some cases.

The challenge here is not just the transfer of public money to private school operators. It’s also the use of public money for one very specific worldview – to the exclusion of all others.

Lee and his Christian Nationalist allies – some of whom have called for violent revolution in order to impose their vision on public schools – have decided they know best.

As Greene puts it:

This is not fond hopes for the day when dozens of different sorts of schools bloom and everyone can pick the one that best suits them. 

MORE Education News

School Vouchers Threaten to Bust Budgets in Indiana

The Road to the White House and Free School Lunch

MORE Tennessee News

Taking on Corporate Grocery Price Gouging

Project 2025 Threatens Environment

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Are Cell Phone Bans On the Way?

Cell phones will be banned in L.A. classrooms starting in January

Peter Greene wrote earlier this year about the challenge presented by cell phones in school.

When phones first became ubiquitous, schools tried to ban them during class time. Then sought to use them as a learning tool, but restrict their use otherwise. Then faced parent pressure to allow the use of phones so parents could always be in touch.

Now, we’re back at banning them during the school day.

At least, that’s what’s happening in Los Angeles starting in January.

Los Angeles Unified teachers,  parents and students expressed support for the district’s upcoming cell phone ban — but with some concerns about the details. 

The new policy, set to roll out in January, is being created in response to a school board resolution.   

Studies show the unregulated use of phones on campus can harm students’ academic progress and cause harm to kids’ mental health.

As the article notes, there’s broad support for the plan – but the actual response to implementation is not yet clear.

How will parents – accustomed to getting real-time updates from their kids – respond to not having constant access to them?

In what ways will students attempt to skirt the policy?

What will enforcement look like? Will phones be confiscated for periods of time?

What is clear, though, is that cell phone use at school presents a range of challenges – from being a distraction to learning to being a source of anxiety for students.

It will be interesting to see how this policy plays out – and what other districts do in terms of cell phone policy in the near future.

exterior of school building in daytime
Photo by Mary Taylor on Pexels.com

MORE Education News

Vouchers Die in South Carolina Court

On the Pain of Teacher Burnout

MORE Tennessee News

Lawmakers Push Back on Grocery Price Gouging

Condemning Project 2025

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Rocky Mountain High

A school voucher story

Colorado voters will decide a ballot measure that would amend the state’s Constitution to allow school vouchers. And, well, it does a lot of other stuff. Or, it could.

It’s not clear the drafters understood the full implications of the proposed change.

The wording essentially makes school choice the right of every child in the state. It also explicitly gives parents the right to “direct their child’s education.”

As Peter Greene notes, this presents some interesting challenges:

Wouldn’t this language amount to a state takeover of all charter and private schools? 

And that’s not all. Wouldn’t this amendment also allow parents to intrude into every classroom? If I have a constitutional right to direct my child’s education, does that not mean that I can tell my child’s science teacher to stop teaching evolution? Or start teaching evolution? Can I demand a different approach to teaching American history? How about prepositions? And how will a classroom teacher even function if every child in the classroom comes with a parent who has a constitutional right to direct their education?

It’s not clear there’s momentum for the proposed changes to pass. But, if they did, Colorado schools – both public and private – could be in for some unpleasant surprises.

MORE Education News

Growing Concern Over Teacher Burnout

Christian Nationalism and the School Privatization Agenda

MORE Tennessee News

Persistent Push to Pummel Price Gouging

Doctors Expose Harms of Tennessee’s Abortion Ban

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A Map to Vouchers

The right-wing plot to privatize public schools runs through Tennessee

Peter Greene reports on efforts by right-wing bill mill ALEC – American Legislative Exchange Council – to implement vouchers in 25 states by 2025.

No surprise, Tennessee is on the map.

ALEC’s map of school privatization targets

As Greene notes:

ALEC has set a new goal– 25 by 2025. That means having 25 states adopt school voucher programs by the end of next year. To push that goal, ALEC has a new initiative called the Education Freedom Alliance, and it is a scary crew.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee pushed an effort for universal vouchers this past legislative session – despite his past promises that he wanted to see results from the state’s pilot program before making the scheme universal.

Freedom from Vouchers

The effort failed in 2024, but as you can see, Tennessee is a 2025 target. Lee and his legislative allies have pledged to push vouchers again next session.

Of course, Lee has long sought to extract public funds for the benefit of school privatizers.

SHOCKING!
Gov. Bill Lee promoting school privatization

MORE Education News

Vouchers Killed in South Carolina

Kentucky’s Voucher Dilemma

MORE Tennessee News

Behn, Oliver Continue Push to Stop Price Gouging

“With a grocery store executive recently admitting that their company gouged shoppers on select items above inflation, it’s clear we need accountability measures to address corporate greed and protect working families from undue financial strain, especially in Tennessee where families are the hardest hit,” Rep. Behn added.

Project 2025 Would Harm Environment

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Shot Down in Flames

Vouchers killed by South Carolina Supreme Court

You can’t use public money to fund private or religious schools.

By a 3-2 margin, the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that the words in the South Carolina Constitution actually mean what they say.

The words in question?

No money shall be paid from public funds nor shall the credit of the State or any of its political subdivisions be used for the direct benefit of any religious or other private educational institution.

Yep. That’s it.

The surprise is not that the majority agreed with the plain language. Rather, it’s surprising that these word could be read in such a way as to allow state money to flow to anything other than public schools in South Carolina.

exterior of school building in daytime
Photo by Mary Taylor on Pexels.com

MORE Education News

Indiana’s Budget-Busting Voucher Scheme

On the Perils of Teacher Burnout

MORE Tennessee News

Oliver, Behn Keep Pressing on Price Gouging

A Warning on Project 2025