The latest results from Shelby County brought the total to 134:
The third and last batch of water sample tests brings the total number of Memphis schools affected to 39, representing about 2% of water sources in the district’s 165 school buildings and facilities. Charter schools and state-run schools in Memphis will test their water separately, Shelby County Schools officials said.
As Chalkbeat notes, the testing came about due to a new state law:
The tests were the first under a new Tennessee law requiring school districts to test water sources such as water fountains and sinks for lead at least every two years.
The alarming statewide results indicate a need for serious investment in capital improvements at school facilities across the state.
While there is a clear statewide need for school infrastructure funding, Gov. Bill Lee’s charter school slush fund began doling out millions of dollars this week and plans to award millions more in competitive grants to charter schools in districts across the state. Meanwhile, a new report indicates Tennessee remains at the bottom in nation in both funding of schools and funding effort (use of available resources to support investment in schools).
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
This Facebook post from Ellen Zinkiewicz is an effective open letter to Bill Lee on what needs to be done for our schools (and students):
Dear Gov. Lee, all week we’ve been having a conversation (albeit one sided) about how to disrupt the education system to help improve achievement scores.
I’ve had suggestions from around the State on ways to use our existing and unspent Federal TANF and child care reimbursement money and fairly straightforward legislation to impact Tennessee’s education test scores by focusing on poverty reduction strategies. I keep mentioning poverty. And keep mentioning poverty; and keep mentioning poverty, because poor kids, hungry kids, transient kids, and homeless kids don’t do well on standardized tests. And Tennessee has a lot of these kids.
More than 1 in 4 Tennessee kids lives in poverty, and a bunch more who aren’t technically “poor” are still economically struggling. You have high schools asking their PTOs for washing machines because so many of their kids are homeless and don’t come to school with clean clothes. You have schools sending kids home with food on Fridays so they will have something to eat over the weekends. You have schools with mobility rates of over 100% meaning families can’t afford housing so they bounce around from place to stay to place to stay and that takes them from school zone to school zone.
Gov. Lee, until we help working families find some economic stability, nothing we do to the education system will transform test-readiness.
Poverty is the enemy here, Sir. And I hope you can lead our State in focusing on the disruptive effort of eliminating it, if for no other reason than to see test scores go up.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
That’s the grade Tennessee gets from the Education Law Center’s latest report on school funding in the United States. To be clear, Tennessee earned an F in both funding level and funding effort. We earned a C in distribution of the paltry sum our state dedicates to schools.
Here’s how Education Law Center defines those terms:
Funding Level – the cost-adjusted, per-pupil revenue from state and local sources
Funding Distribution – the extent to which additional funds are distributed to school districts with high levels of student poverty
Funding Effort – the level of investment in K-12 public education as a percentage of state wealth (GDP) allocated to maintain and support the state school system
The report notes that Tennessee is 43rd in the nation in overall funding level and 47th in effort. The effort category is of particular interest because it indicates that Tennessee has significant room for improvement in terms of funding level. That is, there are untapped resources Tennessee is NOT using to fund schools.
Shorter: Funding schools is NOT a key policy priority in Tennessee.
Additional evidence for this can be found in graphics shared by Think Tennessee earlier this year:
Tennessee is (and has been) at or near the bottom in school funding and even in funding effort. That’s not changing. Instead, Governor Lee and his policy acolytes are diverting education dollars to voucher schemes and charter schools.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
While Tennessee languishes near the bottom of all states in school funding, one Presidential candidate is laying out a plan to make a massive federal investment in schools — especially those with high numbers of low income kids (like so many in Tennessee). Here’s more on Elizabeth Warren’s education funding plan:
Warren unveils education plan quadrupling federal funding for public schools. The Hill: “Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a leading Democratic presidential candidate, is proposing a plan to quadruple federal funding for public schools with incentives for states to fund poor and rich schools more equally. Warren has often campaigned off her personal history as a public school teacher and the importance of reforming the system. Her education plan released Monday comes after much of the primary field has already released such proposals. Warren’s plan would quadruple Title I funding — equivalent to an additional $450 billion — over the next 10 years for pre-K-12 public schools. Warren also plans to invest an additional $100 billion over ten years in ‘excellence grants’ to public schools, and an additional $50 billion in repairing and upgrading school buildings. In an effort to incentivize states to fund schools more equally, the new Title I funding would be conditioned on states ‘chipping in more funding and adopting and implementing more progressive funding formulas, so that more resources go to the schools and students that really need them.’ The plan is financed by Warren’s signature wealth tax on net incomes over $50 million, as are many of her plans.”
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
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A funding dispute between the School Board and County Commission in Sullivan County threatens to result in the temporary closure of schools, according to WCYB:
A potential lack of funding to Sullivan County Public Schools could cause the school system to temporarily close. An email detailing the situation was sent to system employees Thursday evening.
Sullivan County Director of Schools David Cox told News 5, the system has not received more than $800,000 in funding from the county. As a result, the General Purpose School Fund is now below the Maintenance of Effort Test from the Tennessee Department of Education.
The Maintenance of Effort Test requires that local fund does not drop lower than per pupil revenue. This means that, if the school system doesn’t receive the money from the county, the system would lose more than $4 million in state funding per month.
News 5 spoke with Sullivan County Commissioner Mark Vance by phone. He said the commission is at an impasse with the county BOE and the state department of education over the budget.
While disputes among school boards (which run schools) and county commissions (which provide funding) are not new, closing schools, even temporarily, is a fairly unusual occurrence.
It’s worth noting that if the state fully-funded the BEP 2.0 formula, Sullivan County would stand to gain some $5 million per year. Unfortunately, former Governor Bill Haslam froze BEP 2.0 and current Governor Bill Lee has chosen to fund a voucher scheme rather than invest significantly in public schools.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
Here are some interesting facts about Wisconsin’s school voucher program. These could be relevant here as Tennessee’s plan is estimated to cost as much as $300 million when fully implemented. Ask yourself: What happens when $300 million is no longer available for the BEP?
2019: 38,862 students at 284 schools statewide receive publicly funded vouchers to attend private schools in 2018-2019. Total cost: $311,470,259.04 (estimated).
Compare to 2018: 35,420 students at 240 school statewide received vouchers in 2017-2018. Total cost of vouchers in 2017-2018: 274,003,172.65 (estimated).
Over 55% of the entire student population of participating schools receive vouchers in 2018.
Only 28% of students receiving vouchers ever attended a public school.
Every year, the enrollment cap is increased by 1% of the local public school district’s enrollment, allowing more students to enter the program. In the 2026 school year, that cap is set in state law to come off entirely.
Students receiving vouchers in 2018-2019 must qualify by income. For the statewide program, that’s 220% of poverty; for the Milwaukee and Racine programs, it’s 300% of poverty. In contrast, students who qualify for Free & Reduced Lunch in public schools must meet at 185% poverty threshold.
Read to be Ready is a statewide reading initiative focused on early grades. The Tennessee Department of Education describes the importance of the initiative this way:
Tennessee has made tremendous gains in student performance over the past several years – except in reading. Despite our educators’ best efforts, reading skills in elementary school learners have failed to improve, and in some cases have even declined. But these abilities are some of the most important ones our students need, and they are foundational to their success.
In discussing the urgency around improving reading results, the DOE says:
We have different vision for the future. We not only want to teach our children to read – we want to develop them into the thinkers, problem-solvers, lifelong learners, and future leaders of Tennessee. And it will take all of us to get there.
All of this sounds great — and reading is certainly very important for all students. Here’s a rubric for a first grade end-of-unit task:
Now, let’s imagine what would happen if first-graders gave honest answers in this brochure. For example, let’s think about the section that “explains the responsibilities of different leaders in Tennessee’s government.”
A first grade student from Franklin might write:
My state representative is Glen Casada. He used to be the Speaker with the big gavel. Then, he resigned because he framed a civil rights activist. He also hired a Chief of Staff who did cocaine on his desk at 10 AM on a Tuesday and had sex in a hot chicken restaurant for about a minute.
Meanwhile, a first-grader from Waynesboro could note:
My state representative is David Byrd. He was a teacher who admitted to inappropriate sexual contact with his students. They let him keep teaching and he even chaired a committee on education policy. People here re-elected him because he goes to the nice church and has the letter “R” after his name. I’ve heard he’s friends with a guy named Casada.
Over in Hohenwald, students in first grade could laud the exploits of state Senator Joey Hensley:
My Senator has been married four times and he got in trouble because he liked a girl who was also his second cousin. He even gave her drugs.
In Cleveland, a first grader might say:
My Congressman is a man named Scott Desjarlais. He’s had many mistresses and even though he says he’s “Pro-Life,” he’s supported abortions for the women he sleeps with.
Anywhere in Tennessee, first-graders could suggest:
Tennessee’s Governor is a man named Bill Lee who fixes air conditioners. He likes to wear plaid shirts a lot and pretend to care about rural Tennessee — like where I live. But, he’s supporting plans to underfund rural schools by sending money to vouchers. He also doesn’t seem to mind that hospitals all across our state are closing.
When discussing all the things Tennessee produces, students might say:
Our state is a national leader. We’re the best in rural hospital closures, we have the highest rate of medical debt, and we have more people working at the minimum wage (like my parents) than anywhere else.
We’re first in a lot of categories like that. We also do a lot to make sure it’s difficult for people to vote.
Oh, and 21 of our counties don’t even have an emergency room — that must be great, to not have any emergencies there.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
Tennessee is making some lists in the education world, and where we fall is disappointing, if not surprising. While Tennessee is among the states with the lowest investment in public schools, we are also one of the worst states to be a teacher. Here’s more from HeyTutor and Business Insider:
Tennessee is near the bottom in investment in public schools, according to data published here:
Tennessee
Total spending per student: $9,184
Instructional spending per student: $5,584
Support services spending per student: $3,090
Total spending: $9.27 billion
Average teacher salary: $48,456
Graduation rate: 89.8%
Academic performance: Below average
Tennessee is also one of the worst places in the country to be a teacher, according to Business Insider:
Tennessee: One-third of teachers in the state would leave the profession for something with higher pay, a 2019 survey found.
And, here’s a friendly reminder:
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A recently released study on student achievement confirms what any teacher will tell you: Poverty matters. In fact, it matters a great deal. It seems the only people who don’t realize this are those making education policy — and Tennessee’s policy makers are among the worst at denying the reality of the situation.
Here’s more from the Washington Post:
High concentrations of poverty, not racial segregation, entirely account for the racial achievement gap in U.S. schools, a new study finds.
The research, released Monday, looked at the achievement gap between white students, who tend to have higher scores, and black and Hispanic students, who tend to have lower scores. Researchers with Stanford University wanted to know whether those gaps are driven by widespread segregation in schools or something else.
They found that the gaps were “completely accounted for” by poverty, with students in high-poverty schools performing worse than those from schools with children from wealthier families.
This isn’t actually news — but it is interesting to have such a comprehensive academic study confirming the importance of addressing poverty as a key driver of improving education outcomes.
I’ve written about this on a Tennessee-specific level before, especially as it relates to state testing and the ACT:
An analysis of TCAP performance over time indicates that those school systems with consistently high levels of poverty tend to have consistently low scores on TCAP. Likewise, those systems with the least amount of poverty tend to have consistently higher scores on TCAP.
One possible explanation for the expanding achievement gap is the investment gap among districts. That is, those districts with lower levels of poverty (the ones scoring higher on TCAP) also tend to invest funds in their schools well above what the state funding formula (BEP) generates. The top ten districts on TCAP performance spend 20% or more above what the BEP formula generates. By contrast, the bottom 10 districts spend 5% or less above the formula dollars.
In other words, money matters. Districts with concentrated poverty face two challenges: Students with significant economic needs AND the inability of the district to generate the revenue necessary to adequately invest in schools.
The Achievement School District’s first Superintendent, Chris Barbic, referenced this challenge as he was leaving the job:
As part of his announcement, he had this to say about turning around high-poverty, district schools:
In his email early Friday, Barbic offered a dim prognosis on that pioneering approach. “As a charter school founder, I did my fair share of chest pounding over great results,” he wrote. “I’ve learned that getting these same results in a zoned neighborhood school environment is much harder.”
While state policymakers adopt misguided “reforms” like A-F school report cards and expensive voucher schemes, children in poverty remain in poverty. Interestingly, the State Report Card holds schools accountable for closing achievement gaps:
Under Tennessee’s accountability system, districts must increase achievement levels for all students and show faster growth in achievement for the students who are furthest behind in order to narrow achievement gaps.
At best, this policy is well-intentioned but misguided. A more cynical look at the policy reality would conclude that legislators simply don’t want to admit the real problem because dealing with it would be politically difficult.
Addressing poverty would mean providing access to jobs that pay a living wage as well as ensuring every Tennessean had access to health care. Our state leads the nation in number of people working at the minimum wage. We lead the nation in medical debt. We continue to refuse Medicaid expansion and most of our elected leaders at the federal level are resisting the push for Medicare for All.
Governor Bill Lee’s idea is to provide vouchers. Of course, all the evidence indicates vouchers just don’t work — they don’t improve student achievement. They do, however, take money from the public schools.
Bill Lee and his legislative allies are the latest to stick their heads in the sand and ignore the plight of the least among us. All the while, these same leaders expect teachers and school districts to do more with nothing.
Sadly, ignoring the problem won’t make it go away. Instead, like yet another disappointing UT football season, it will just keep getting worse.
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While Tennessee’s two largest school districts (Nashville and Memphis) are suing the state arguing the BEP funding formula is not adequate, new concerns are being raised about the equity of current funding. Three previous lawsuits (the “Small Schools” suits) challenged the state funding formula and each time, the Tennessee Supreme Court directed the state to take action to improve funding and make it more equitable for rural districts.
Despite these changes, it seems familiar concerns are being raised about funding distribution to rural districts. Chalkbeat has more:
But a new report says rural schools also face significant challenges in providing an equitable education to a third of the state’s students, all while serving a growing Latino population drawn to those areas mostly by agricultural work.
High poverty rates, lower median household income, opioid addiction, and limited access to technology and healthcare are among the issues in rural Tennessee, where fewer people are likely to attend college and more are likely to receive food stamps than their urban counterparts, according to economic research.
And with less industry and lower local tax bases to support their schools, rural districts also struggle to recruit, support, and retain effective educators.
Governor Bill Lee inherited this problem, and so far has done nothing to help it. Instead, his push for vouchers could end up hurting rural school systems by taking as much as $300 million out of the state funding formula for public schools.
Additionally, for years, the BEP formula has been broken, failing to deliver needed funds to districts at even a basic level. Now, the state’s Comptroller suggests Tennessee would need at least $500 million a year in new investments to properly fund schools.
So far, there has been zero indication Lee has any desire or inclination to address the funding shortfall that disproportionately impacts the state’s rural schools. Sure, he dresses up like a farmer every weekend and records neat videos, but that’s not doing anything to put dollars into the schools that need them most.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
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