Posted on by

Are Religious Charter Schools Constitutional?

The Supreme Court will soon weigh-in

Thanks to Bill Lee’s unabashed embrace of Christian Nationalism, charter schools affiliated with extremist Hillsdale College are a reality in Tennessee.

Exceptionally Bad

A key question – in TN and elsewhere – is can state funds be used to support explicitly religious charter schools?

In Kentucky, the Supreme Court ruled that charter schools are NOT public schools. Period. So, no state funds may be used to support them.

Now, the U.S. Supreme Court is taking up a case on state funding of religious charter schools. An analysis of the key issues includes:

The third issue that the U.S. Supreme Court must address is that it needs to determine whether those who run charter schools are state or private actors. This is because the vast majority of people who run charter schools are private groups. However, these charters are defined by law as public schools and are supported by tax-payer dollars. If the Court rules that those who operate the charter schools are state actors, then because they must be non-sectarian, religious charter schools will be ruled unconstitutional. However, if the Court rules that charter schools are private actors, then religious charter schools will be ruled constitutional.

In Kentucky, the Commonwealth’s highest court found that because charter schools are operated by private actors, they are essentially private schools. In other states, that has not been the case. It will be interesting to see how the U.S. Supreme Court sorts this out.

MORE EDUCATION NEWS

Teacher Pay Stagnates, Teacher Shortage Grows

Free Lunch and the Race to the White House

MORE TENNESSEE NEWS

On Protecting TN Wetlands

Pushing Back Against Grocery Price Gouging

Posted on by

Teachers vs. Trump

In Omaha, teachers speak out against Trump agenda

Teachers are reacting to proposals by former President Donald Trump to slash federal education funding and/or eliminate the Department of Education.

In Omaha, Nebraska, teachers held a rally to call for supporting public schools:

Education has been a hot topic in Nebraska for months because of school choice legislation, now there is a microscope on it nationally, with the Trump/Vance campaign calling for the closure of the Department of Education. Teachers and education leaders in Omaha spoke out against proposed federal education cuts and elimination of the Department of Education.

In Tennessee, some lawmakers, including Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton, have proposed rejecting billions of dollars in federal education funding.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton has floated the idea of Tennessee rejecting federal education spending because he’s not a fan of the strings attached to the nearly $2 billion the state receives each year to help fund public schools.

When asked to clarify, Sexton revealed that he wasn’t suggesting “doing without,” but rather that the state would simply pick up the tab.

pexels-photo-3483098.jpeg
Photo by John Guccione www.advergroup.com on Pexels.com

MORE Education News

Only 1 in 4 TN Teachers Earns More than 60K

It’s Time to Make School Lunch Free for All Kids

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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?

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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

Posted on by

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