Chalkbeat’s Grace Tatter wrote her last piece for the online education news site this week. She’s moving on to Harvard for graduate school.
I could go back and count the number of blog posts of mine that included the words “Grace Tatter reported…” or some variation of that phrase, but that would take too long.
Tatter did an incredible job providing comprehensive coverage of education policy in Tennessee. She was there and wrote about numerous key events.
Her stories were clear, concise, and accessible.
Often, a paragraph from a Grace Tatter story would inspire me to dig a little deeper, find out a little more, and write a post of my own.
So, I say goodbye to Grace Tatter. Your work will be missed. I know the newer faces at Chalkbeat will continue doing sound work, and I look forward to it.
And, one last time, I’ll cite something Grace said to make a point:
Even when stories don’t seem to be about money, they usually are. How much money is being spent on testing, teacher salaries, school discipline reform? How much should be available for wraparound services? Why do some schools have more money than others? Is there enough to go around? Tennessee leaders have steadily upped public education spending, but the state still invests less than most other states, and the disparities among districts are gaping. That’s why more than a handful of school districts are battling with the state in court. Conversations about money are inextricable from conversations about improving schools
Once again, in typical Tatter fashion, she nails it. We can’t have the conversation about improving our schools without the conversation about investing in our schools. Money matters.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
Chalkbeat is biased. It is funded by both the Gates and Walton foundations. I did laugh when I read the comment “Tennessee is being watched by the Nation” It is? Other then the Tenn. Promise there is little to say that with regards to K-12 education it would be a primary on how NOT to do it.
I guess I am the only one who read a comprehensive study about Nashville and its public schools, Unmaking the Great Metropolis that outs the system as shattered beyond belief. Hey but let’s remember outsiders are here to ruin our happy place of denial