A new statewide group of teachers is “ready for action,” including a strike, if necessary. The Memphis Commercial Appeal has more: 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 […]
If you are wondering what it looks like when school privatizers are close to total victory, Tennessee is a prime example. Here, the forces that want to take public money and hand it over to private entities are on the verge of completing their conquest. Tennessee’s current legislative session features a range of attacks on […]
Tennessee teacher and education blogger Mike Stein offers his take on Gov. Bill Lee’s latest run at school vouchers. This time, Lee’s plan appears to be to use the state’s school funding formula (BEP) to create a voucher scheme. Here are some highlights from Stein’s piece, written after he’d been to one of TN DOE’s […]
A note from Jeremy Mohler of In the Public Interest: A groundbreaking new studyabout something you’ve likely never heard of might be the biggest education story so far this year. For the past four years, Rand Corp. has studied New York City’s innovative Community Schools Initiative. It found that, in 113 public schools using the “community school” model, […]
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 […]
On the heels of a call by some teachers in Tennessee for a sick out to protest bad education policy in the state, a group of parents is planning a major announcement at an event on Tuesday, April 9th in Nashville. Here’s more from a press release from the group, calling itself Tennessee Strong and […]
A Tennessee teacher writes about the education policies that make her sick. I’m sick. Sick of my students being over-tested and our schools being underfunded. Sick of teachers leaving the profession because they are underpaid and undervalued. Sick of Tennessee being 45th in the nation in per pupil funding. Sick of being disrespected by a Governor who has proposed increasing state funding for unaccountable charter schools […]
Nashville teacher JH Rogen offers a Twitter thread on the entirely predictable teacher pay crisis facing Nashville (and, frankly, the rest of Tennessee). It starts like this: I’m starting a business and looking for workers. The work is intense, so the workers should be highly skilled. Experience preferred. Starting salary is 40k with the opportunity […]
Readers may remember that last year, after Governor Bill Haslam and the Tennessee General Assembly provided funds equivalent to a four percent increase in the BEP salary allocation, the State Board of Education accepted Commissioner Candice McQueen’s recommendation to increase the state’s salary schedule by two percent. As McQueen wrote at the time: We believe this proposal […]
The recently released results of a study of Tennessee’s Voluntary Pre-K program conducted by researchers at Vanderbilt has some Tennessee policymakers suggesting the state back off support for or expansion of the early education program. The results of this study are similar to those of a study on Pre-K commissioned by the Comptroller’s office. And here’s […]