I recently spoke to In the Public Interest about education policy – in Tennessee and nationally.
A big concern? School vouchers.
National privatization groups like the School Freedom Fund (a group largely funded by billionaire Jeff Yass), spent big to change the makeup of Tennessee’s legislature. They got what they wanted—a full menu of privatization options.
This past year, the legislature also removed the accountability guardrails—no state testing for voucher students. The largest group of students taking the vouchers in Tennessee come from families earning nearly $200,000 a year. Four out of five students receiving a voucher were already enrolled in private schools.
The state is now effectively running a nearly $500 million private school discount coupon program. This is what privatizers want to export to every state—and it’s what the federal vouchers are designed to help facilitate.
