Gov. Bill Lee is proposing to hand over millions in Tennessee tax dollars to a private, Christian college in Michigan to run between 50-100 “charter schools” in the state.
Lee wants charter schools because they won’t need a voucher plan to be funded – they can just apply for charters (possibly directly from a state charter authorizer, bypassing local school boards) – and then receive public money.
Sure, handing over public money to a private entity to run schools is problematic. But what is Hillsdale all about? I mean, if TN is going to go down this road, we should certainly understand more about the college that has been chosen by Lee to run schools.
Good news! Peter Greene digs into Hillsdale and offers a useful exploration of the history of Hillsdale and how it runs the schools it runs.
Here are some highlights:
[Hillsdale President Larry] Arnn has been a Trump supporter, and the college has fallen right into MAGAland as well. Or as Politico Magazine put it in 2018Trump University never died. It’s located in the middle of bucolic southern Michigan, halfway between Lansing and Fort Wayne, 100 miles and a world away from Detroit.
The college uses Trump mailing lists to raise money. They used to sponsor Rush Limbaugh’s show. They get grads placed on the staff of legislators such as Jim Jordan and Kevin McCarthy. In 2017, for some reason, Senator Pat Toomey created a little piece of tax reform that would have carved out a tax treat for Hillsdale alone.
If you want to see Hillsdale really letting its freak flag fly, scan through its newsletter Imprimis, with articles like “The Disaster at Our Southern Border” (VP Harris’s report is “bunk”), “The January 6 Insurrection Hoax” (Donald Trump was awesome and robbed and Jan 6 has been overhyped as part of a vast conspiracy), and an explanation of inflation that rests on Milton Friedman’s awesomeness. All of these, it should be noted, are versions of lectures delivered at the college.
This line from Politico may more clearly explain Lee’s enthusiasm for Hillsdale:
Trump University never died. It’s located in the middle of bucolic southern Michigan, halfway between Lansing and Fort Wayne, 100 miles and a world away from Detroit.
READ MORE from Greene on the Hillsdale experiment Bill Lee wants in Tennessee.
Gov. Bill Lee made clear in his State of the State that he is a proponent of an alternative history known as “American exceptionalism.”
This theory is grounded in a sort of American evangelicalism – and certainly has strong ties to far-right Christian movements. To advance his “exceptionalism agenda” Lee has announced a partnership with conservative Hillsdale College – a private, Christian school in Michigan. Yes, Tennessee is such a great example of exceptionalism that we have to turn to a private college from Michigan to “properly” teach history.
Here’s a note on that from Lee’s speech:
Two years ago, I traveled to Hillsdale College to participate in a Presidents Day celebration and spend time with champions of American exceptionalism.
For decades, Hillsdale College has been the standard bearer in quality curriculum and the responsibility of preserving American liberty.
I believe their efforts are a good fit for Tennessee, and we are formalizing a partnership with Hillsdale to expand their approach to civics education and K-12 education.
WPLN reports that public education advocates are raising concerns about the transfer of Tennessee tax dollars to a private, religious institution:
Lee has made a deal with a conservative college to open about 50 charter schools in the state.
Lee has made a deal with Hillsdale College, a small Christian liberal arts school in Michigan, to bring their civic education and K-12 curriculum to Tennessee.
Beth Brown, the [Tennessee Education] association’s president, says there is no need to bring in outsiders to implement a new curriculum or to set aside $32 million for new charter schools, a key element in the proposal.
“The concern is that we’re taking taxpayer dollars and we’re going to take those taxpayer dollars away from our public schools and give them to private entities,” said Brown.
It’s noteworthy, too, that Lee cited Ronald Reagan in his address:
I recently watched President Reagan’s farewell address, made just before he left office in January of 1989.
As many other Presidents have done, his farewell address includes a warning to the American people.
He reminds us that what we want to have in this country is “informed patriotism.”
Lee claims that he has been inspired by Reagan’s words. This inspiration is ostensibly the impetus for the focus on an American exceptionalism curriculum from Hillsdale College.
Of course, Reagan is no stranger to efforts to dismantle public education and turn schools over to those on the extreme right of the political spectrum.
In fact, a June piece in the San Francisco Chronicle by education journalists Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider point out that today’s privatization movement has roots in Reaganism:
This crusade against public higher education eerily presaged today’s school culture wars. Where Reagan made a target of ethnic studies and tried to keep Angela Davis, a member of the Communist Party, from teaching philosophy at UCLA, today’s bogeyman is critical race theory or CRT — a legal theory that has become a vague catchall for grievances of the sort that Reagan weaponized so effectively. To date, laws aimed at restricting how public school teachers talk about race and racism have been proposed in 22 states and signed into law in five.
Public schools, GOP leaders have argued, are teaching children to believe that the country is inherently bad. But just as Reagan used his anti-campus campaign to undermine support for public higher education, his disciples are motivated by a similar cause. For a Republican party that has grown increasingly hostile to public education, the K-12 culture war is also an opportunity to advance the cause of school privatization.
State legislators, meanwhile, have introduced a flurry of bills aimed at cutting funds from schools with curricula that the GOP deems unacceptable. In Michigan, a proposed measure would cut 5% of funding if school districts teach “anti-American” ideas about race in America, material from the 1619 Project, or critical race theory. In Tennessee, a new law empowers the state’s education chief to withhold funds from schools found to be teaching components of critical race theory.
The constant drumbeat that public schools are indoctrinating children, however, serves as a powerful nudge to parents to flee them. If their tax dollars are paying for something they’re opposed to, then maybe privatization isn’t such a terrible idea after all. This was Reagan’s move.
This, then, gets to the heart of Lee’s education “reform” agenda. He’s overhauling the school funding formula (BEP) to make it “student-centered.” While his voucher scheme languishes in the courts, Lee is taking the first steps to create a new funding formula that builds a bridge to vouchers. Don’t like all the “indoctrination” at your local school? Take that state money and hand it over to a Hillsdale charter school that proudly evangelizes about America’s “good old days.”
Here’s how he phrases it in the speech:
I’m proposing an innovative approach that sets aside dollars for each student, based on their individual needs, and these dollars will be used in whatever public school they attend.
Guess what? Hillsdale’s charter schools would be public schools under Tennessee law – Lee is proposing handing over state money to a private, religious college to run “public” schools.
Ronald Reagan would most certainly be very proud of the division and discord Lee is sowing in the name of turning public money over to private, right-wing Christian school operators.
The Nashville Public Education Foundation (NPEF) has been closely following Gov. Bill Lee’s proposed reform of the state’s school funding formula. Following the State of the State, NPEF has some questions about how Lee’s proposal will impact Nashville. Here are some highlights:
Will there be bi-partisan, transparent legislation that guides leaders across our state? Or will decisions be delegated to the Tennessee Department of Education or State Board of Education?
If a detailed law is not codified by the Tennessee General Assembly, how can we ensure that future changes to the formula are transparent and not made arbitrarily?
It’s possible Lee could ask the legislature to codify broad parameters for funding reform and leave the details to the rulemaking process. That could mean the public is not fully included in a transparent process.
Given Nashville’s considerably higher cost of living and the state’s low minimum requirement for teacher salaries, we already pay a much higher average teacher salary than the state requires. Because of this disparity, it’s unclear how Nashville teachers would benefit from any increase.
Governor Lee has given a nod to this challenge in his comments: “Historically, funds put into the salary pool don’t always make it to deserving teachers, and when we say teachers are getting a raise, there should be no bureaucratic workaround to prevent that. So in our updated funding formula, we will ensure that a teacher raise is a teacher raise.” (The Tennessean)Will these new teacher salary dollars simply raise an already low minimum state salary scale? If so, Nashville’s teachers will likely not see a substantial increase.
It’s worth noting here that the reason a “raise is not a raise” is because the state drastically underfunds the number of teachers needed to fully staff schools. This means state salary pool dollars must stretch to cover needed positions and less money is left for raises. Unless Lee’s new formula adds between 7000-10,000 new teachers, any increase in teacher salary money will come up short when (or if) it hits paychecks.
In his State of the State Address, Gov. Bill Lee had this to say about funds he’s dedicating to teacher compensation:
We should raise teacher pay this year by $125 million, which is a well-deserved increase into the teacher salary pool.
Historically, funds put in the salary pool don’t always make it to deserving teachers. When we say teachers are getting a raise, there should be no bureaucratic workaround to prevent that.
This statement implies that there is some sort of trickery going on at the local level to divert state dollars intended for teacher pay. It’s deflection and blame-shifting. The reality is that the state underfunds teaching positions. By a lot.
In fact, as Lee surely knows, the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) issued a report suggesting the state underfunds schools by $1.7 billion.
That report noted:
“In fiscal year 2018-19, the BEP funding formula generated a total of 62,888 licensed instructional positions, but school systems employed a total of 69,633 with state and local revenue.”
“Although the changes made in 1992 and since have resulted in substantial increases in funding to support the BEP, meeting local needs and the requirements imposed by the state and federal governments often requires more resources than the BEP funding formula alone provides. Consequently, state and local funding in fiscal year 2017-18 totaled $2.1 billion over and above what was required by the BEP formula, including a total of $1.7 billion in local revenue.”
In other words, Lee knows that adding $125 million to teacher compensation WITHOUT also increasing the total number of positions funded means that money won’t result in a meaningful raise for current teachers. Instead, districts will use the teacher compensation money to fund positions NOT contemplated by the current formula.
So, here’s the real question: Will Lee’s proposed new formula result in the addition of 7,000-10,000 MORE teachers?
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
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The following post is a submitted guest column by Greg O’Loughlin
Last Saturday, some teacher friends and I were having lunch, and the conversation turned to the conditions required for students to trust their teachers with questions about racism, equity, and justice.
One of the teachers was recounting a recent experience with some of her students who were discussing the use of a racial epithet by some other students. Some were quoting recent headlines and others were using it in full while questioning appropriate usage. It sounded very much like kids playing with fire – it was dangerous, potentially harmful, and if things got out of hand, there was the risk that people would be hurt. Lines were crossed and confusion was leading to injury, so they came to this teacher seeking some help and guidance.
She shared the details of the conversation she facilitated with them, in between classes, in the hallway, then later in the day for some follow up. It was tricky and sensitive, and it worked – everyone involved in the conversation reported leaving it with a better understanding of the risks, the consequences, and the humanity involved.
A member of our party asked, “How did those students know that they could trust you with questions like that? Why did they know that they could turn to an older White lady with questions about the N-word? I don’t think I would have trusted a teacher with a question that was so full of emotion and vulnerability.”
The teacher reflected for a moment and said, “I think it’s because I’ve been in that school for so long. I taught their older brothers, and I’ve taught so many siblings, I guess I have a reputation as being trustworthy and safe and engaged in the work of exploring topics like that one. I know all the families, and they know me. We don’t always see eye to eye but we feel connected and like we’re part of the larger community, and we trust one another.”
She was trusted because she had spent countless hours investing in the community building and relationship building that is essential to effective teaching and learning.
That’s not something that’s covered in most analysis and discussion of teaching and teachers. Teachers are leaving at unprecedented rates and the harm this is causing in our communities cannot be addressed by simply replacing them.
Recent news about the growth of a program that will bring new teachers into the profession is welcome. Teachers have been sounding the alarm for far too long about the need for more adults in the building and more teachers in classrooms, and it’s good to see people in positions around the state deciding to do something about that. But who will be on the faculties of the schools when these new teachers arrive for the first day of school?
Will these new teachers arrive at school buildings where the majority of the faculty know the families, the siblings, and surrounding community? Or will these new teachers arrive at schools with dozens of other new teachers, lacking the relationships that are essential for effective teaching and learning?
A study by the University of Pennsylvania found that in 1987-1988, the average American teacher had approximately 15 years of experience in the classroom. By 2016, the average was less than 3 years. Nearly 50% of new teachers quit teaching in the first 5 years in the classroom. The kinds of relationships my friend described as being essential to her ability to connect with her students and their families take time. Learning takes time. Community building takes time. If we can’t keep teachers in the classroom, we are not providing them or their students with the necessary components of teaching and learning.
It’s a good idea to hire more teachers, and plans for how to do so are clear, celebrated, and well funded. Teachers in the classroom now deserve at least the same. A failure to address the specific needs of teachers is a failure to support the students. Bringing thousands of new teachers to a system that does not effectively support current teachers with well-defined and effective retention efforts is a short-sighted idea that could prove to be more harmful than good.
Let’s be sure that our most creative and concerted efforts are oriented toward retaining teachers. It’s what EdCo does, and we know it makes a difference in the lives of teachers, students, and communities.
Greg O’Loughlin, Founder and Director of The Educators’ Cooperative, a nonprofit based in Nashville that supports ALL educators with workshops and resources that result in longer, healthier, and more effective careers in the classroom.
Last night, Gov. Bill Lee delivered his State of the State Address and revealed at least some details related to school funding formula reform. Of note is the promise to increase state investment in public schools by $1 billion effective in the 2024 fiscal year and contingent on a new funding formula. This year, teachers will see $125 million in new money for salaries, which equates to a roughly 5% pay raise – or, at least a 5% increase in what is provided to local government for teacher compensation. Effectively, this will result in a salary increase of 2-3%.
$1 billion in new money is long overdue. It’s also about half of what the state needs to adequately fund public schools. Depending on how it is distributed in any new formula, it could amount to little in terms of significant improvement. Then again, it very well could be the start of something positive. Those who watch Tennessee education policy over time (like me) are likely skeptical. As always, the devil is in the details.
In fact, Tennessee Education Association President Beth Brown issued a statement on the proposal:
“Any increase in K12 spending is a step in the right direction. TEA is eager to see more details on the $1 billion in new recurring spending on public education Gov. Lee announced in his State of the State address. It is a needed and warranted increase, but we do not yet see that reflected in the budget document released today.
Our students and educators are struggling right now because of a lack of resources. State leaders must stop stuffing cash into mattresses while students go without materials and programs they need for a quality education and underpaid educators are asked to do the job of six people while also buying their own classroom supplies.
It does not have to be this way and we are hopeful the governor’s remarks tonight indicate a shift from the chronic underfunding that has plagued public education in our state. Tennessee can afford a significant increase in recurring investment in our students, educators and public schools immediately, without raising taxes.”
If the $1 billion does materialize, it should be noted that not only is it significantly less than what is needed, but also that our state has the funds ($3 billion+ surplus) to fully close the funding gap. That Lee is not proposing $2 billion in more in funding when that money is absolutely available may well indicate that our state will continue its historic pattern of underfunded public schools.
The Wall Street Journalreports that the current teacher shortage is occurring at the same time private sector businesses are eager to hire new employees. That is, teachers are done with teaching and there are plenty of opportunities for them to land new jobs.
The rate of people quitting jobs in educational services rose more than in any other industry in 2021, according to federal data. Many of those are teachers exhausted from toggling between online and classroom teaching instruction, shifting Covid-19 protocols and dealing with challenging students, parents and administrators.
Quits in the educational services sector rose 148% in that time frame, while quits in states and local education rose 40%, according to federal data. By comparison, quits in retail trade rose 27% in the same time frame. According to LinkedIn, the share of teachers on the site who left for a new career increased by 62% last year.
In states like Tennessee, it’s no mystery why teachers are leaving. The pay is not great and the demands are ever-increasing.
It will be interesting to see what happens in the days following Gov. Bill Lee’s State of the State. Will there be new investment in public schools? Will the state take action to stem the tide of Tennessee teachers leaving the field?
The Tennessee Public Education Coalition and Pastors for Tennessee’s Children have an OpEd out explaining how Gov. Bill Lee’s lack of action on school funding means a tax increase for Tennessee families.
In the piece, the two groups repeat a familiar refrain: Tennessee schools are underfunded by $1.7 billion. Then, they note what that means for Tennessee families and communities:
a Tennessee family of four, on average, pays over $1,000 a year in additional local taxes to offset the state’s ongoing underfunding of K-12 education
Even with those local funds, Tennessee spends $4,300 less per student than the national average.
Lee’s reliance on local property tax revenue to fund schools is not surprising given his 2018 campaign based on privatizing public education. What should have county commissions and school boards screaming, though, is that our state is sitting on a giant surplus.
The two groups also explain why the current formula comes up short:
For instance, the BEP does not provide enough to cover teacher pay. TACIR and the Comptroller have pointed out that the BEP does not fund the actual number of teachers required for state-mandated class sizes leaving approximately 11,000 Tennessee teachers to be covered exclusively by local taxpayers, with no state contribution.
In addition, the BEP Review Committee, which provides lawmakers with a list of funding deficiencies every year, reports that the 2021 average Tennessee teacher salary was $55,917, but the BEP funds only $48,330 per teacher, resulting in a $7,587 gap in state funding per teacher.
This means local taxpayers cover both the cost of an additional 11,000 teachers outside the BEP, and the $7,587 shortage in funding per teacher.
Tennessee is NOT investing in teachers – the essential component of public education. There are not enough teachers to meet local needs and the funds from the state fail to provide adequate salaries. This begins to explain the current teacher shortage crisis.
While districts and public education advocates continue to highlight the unfairness and inadequacy of the current system, Lee is busy giving huge raises to corrections officers – sure, that’s a pay raise that’s needed, but it leaves teachers behind.
The current state minimum salary schedule for teachers sets the minimum salary for a Tennessee teacher at $38,000.
A Tennessee teacher with a bachelor’s degree would need to work for 10 years in order to achieve a mandated minimum salary above $44,000.
Now, however, brand new correctional officers will earn more than teachers with 10 years of experience. Yes, corrections officers deserve a raise.
Your taxes are higher to pay for Bill Lee’s refusal to invest in schools. Schools can’t find or keep teachers because Bill Lee refuses to use a $3 billion+ budget surplus to invest in schools. Bill Lee’s campaign in 2018 promised privatization paid for by local taxes – on this, he’s delivered.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
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The Tennessee Hollerreports that the McMinn County School Board voted to ban the Pulitzer-winning graphic novel “Maus.” Here’s more from the Holler’s Twitter feed and from related tweets:
NEW: The MCMINN COUNTY school board has just BANNED “MAUS”, the Pulitzer-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust — citing 8 curse words and an illustration of a woman that was objected to, with a 10-0 vote. https://t.co/QytgY3CJ5v
My 12 year old read this last year, and we were able to have great conversations about it. I would have loved for him to read it in school and have those conversations with his peers. This is outrageous. https://t.co/JvzHx0pWs1
Fox 17 in Nashville reports that the state’s Achievement School District (ASD) has been a $1 billion failed experiment.
Four Tennessee schools are now returning to local control after getting taken over by the state ten years ago. The Memphis-area schools were brought into the Achievement School District with the promise from state leaders to turn things around.
The latest data from the Department of Education shows each of the four schools report less than five percent of students performing at grade level. ASD as a whole reports just 4.5 percent of students performing at grade level.
That’s lower than Shelby County schools, with 11 percent of students testing at grade level.
Just to be clear: The state started the ASD with the idea of taking schools on the priority list – schools from the bottom 5 percent in the state in terms of student achievement – and moving them into the top 25%. Most of the schools came from Shelby County. However, after a decade, the ASD schools are still NOT out of the bottom 5 percent – and are performing at a lower rate than schools in their home district.
In 2020, New York City math teacher and popular blogger Gary Rubinstein, who tracked the ASD from its inception, reported the ASD’s “initial promise” to take over the bottom 5 percent of schools and “catapult them into the top 25 percent in five years” had “completely failed . . . . Chris Barbic resigned, Kevin Huffman resigned, Barbic’s replacement resigned. Of the thirty schools, they nearly all stayed in the bottom 5 percent except a few that catapulted into the bottom 10 percent.”
When Barbic resigned after just a few years on the job, Chalkbeatreported, he “offered a dim prognosis” on the fate of the ASD. “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.”
Despite the repeated failings of the ASD, Gov. Bill Lee pumped another $25 million into the district this fiscal year, Fox 17 reports.
