Roughly a year after Governor Bill Haslam promised to make Tennessee the fastest-improving state in teacher pay, he now seems uncertain about the idea. In a recent story in the Tennessean about a conflict between legislative Democrats and Haslam on Pre-K expansion, Haslam said:
“The key is like everything else: ‘Should we do Pre-k?’ ‘It might be a good idea.’ ‘Should we pay teachers more?’ ‘It might be a good idea.’ I could keep going with that list. It’s more a question of, given the reality of a limited budget that we have and are always going to have, should that be a priority for funding?”
This certainly doesn’t sound like a leader who is planning to move forward on improving teacher pay anytime soon. This in spite of early indicators that doing so may well be fiscally viable.
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Haslam is mad at teachers for voting against common core and for pointing out the flaws work his reforms. He won’t pay them a penny more, even if there is plenty of money available to do so. His contempt for teachers and public schools is hard to hide.
He would give a pay raise to Kevin Huffman before he would do anything nice for teachers.
I have not always been in education. For 15 years after graduating college I worked in the agribusiness world. Since becoming a teacher I have learned just how unappreciated and underpaid we teachers are. We are some of the most highly educated people in this state given the responsibility of educating our youth yet we don’t make enough money to send our own children to college without help. Bill has lam and Kevin huffman are concerned about their own bank accounts not the future of our children.
Teachers have not voted against Common Core. I am a public high school teacher and no one has solicited votes for or against the standards from us. Next year, when the assessment is aligned, the majority of teachers will support Common Core. The reason some do not support it now is because the assessment is not aligned and our evaluations are based on test scores. Teachers in TN support higher standards!
These standards ignore decades of solid research. There is zero research or evidence to support them. Of the 135 writers of the standards, ZERO had any experience or expertise in any field of early childhood. These standards for early primary are harmful to children. Finally, why have none, not one, of the writers of these standards come forward to defend them? They have been asked by various groups and legislative bodies across the country yet they decline. I will tell you why, they signed a confidentiality agreement that they would not discuss their work on the standards. If these standards are everything they claim, why were they asked to remain silent? What are they hiding?
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