Mayor of Maury County’s largest city questions need for Michigan-based charter school
Columbia Mayor Chaz Molder says Maury County does not need a charter school – and especially not one backed by Michigan-based Hillsdale College.
Molder notes:
American Classical Education, a charter operator affiliated with Michigan-based Hillsdale College, is proposing to create taxpayer-funded privately run charters in Middle and West Tennessee. They’ve cherry-picked the counties where they believe they have the easiest path for approval, and Maury County was a direct target. ACE’s preferred instructional approach: A national curriculum known as Core Knowledge, which shares “connective tissue” with Common Core, according to the conservative Fordham Institute think tank.
Our local school board wisely rejected ACE in April, despite significant lobbying, if not bullying by ACE representatives and partisan board members who seem to be more interested in scoring a business or political win than solving the many pressing issues we have facing our local school system, and public education as a whole. Public education is in a crisis in this state. And, it’s not because of the quality of our teachers, or the promise of our youth.
Hillsdale has been the subject of controversy since not long after Gov. Bill Lee announced plans to allow the private college to open 50 charter schools in the state – handing over access to millions in local tax dollars with little accountability.
More on Hillsdale
Hillsdale’s Quest for Tennessee Tax Dollars
A Violent Revolution to Overthrow Public Schools?
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport