Monthly Archives: February 2018

Posted on by

A Taxing Vote

Voters in Williamson County approved a sales tax hike expected to generate some $60 million in revenue dedicated to school construction.

The Tennessean has more:

The tax increase — from 2.25 percent to 2.75 percent — is projected to raise about $60 million over three years to help pay for  school construction.

“Voters overwhelming support public education and have agreed to use sales tax to fund schools,” said Williamson County Director of Schools Mike Looney. “I am surprised at the margin. I thought it would be a tight race but it’s a 2-for-1 margin. This is a huge victory tonight for the commission’s plan for the school district.”

More on Williamson County school funding:

The Williamson County Game

Got mine, want more

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport


 

 

Posted on by

The Schoolhouse Heist

Unifi-Ed out of Chattanooga has this to say about legislation related to Signal Mountain creating an independent school district:

Tennessee Senate Bill 1755 was proposed on January 23, 2018 by State Senator Todd Gardenhire. The bill proposes that all property and assets in a municipality that belong to a county school system would be forcibly transferred to the municipality if it forms an independent school district.

There are a variety of consequences of this bill, if it passes, that run counter to the desires expressed by the Hamilton County community through the recent process of the forming the Action Plan for Educational eXcellence (APEX Project).

Reverse Robin Hood Effect

Under this bill, the state would force the transfer of assets from one entity to another without compensation. Taxpayers own their schools, yet this bill would allow for their property to be seized. Historically across the state, and within our own community today, the municipalities that have formed independent districts have been affluent suburbs.

This situation creates a transfer of wealth from lower income neighborhoods to more prosperous communities. It is, in effect, a “reverse Robin Hood” effect — stealing from the poor to give to the wealthy.

READ MORE on this attempt to force the transfer of school district assets without compensation. The basic premise that the entire county’s taxpayers paid for the buildings would seemingly dictate that any creation of an independent district would result in at least some proportional compensation back to the larger district.

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport


 

Posted on by

The (Under) Achievement School District

Turns out, all that mission creep over at the Achievement School District (ASD) is really just creepy. Oh, and disruptive. And also not really all that helpful for kids. But, hey, they’ve got cool happy hours!

Gary Rubinstein has the latest update on how the ASD is doing relative to stated policy goals. Spoiler alert: Not good.

Here’s some of his analysis:

Though my own calculations made it clear that the six original ASD schools had not made it out of the bottom 5% after six years, it doesn’t become ‘official’ until Tennessee releases its next ‘Priority List’ which it does every three years.  But a few days ago, they released something just as good, the so-called ‘Cusp List’ showing all the schools in the bottom 10% which includes what percentile each school is at.

Here are the results:

School Percentile
Cornerstone 8.2%
Brick Church 4.3%
Humes (closed down and became Frayser Achievement Elementary School 1.3%
Corning 2.2%
Frayser 1.3%
Westside 2.2%

So, yeah. Not really moving the original schools into the top 25% of all Tennessee schools. At all. The best result was a single school moving from the bottom 5% all the way up to the bottom 9%. The other originals? Still in the bottom 5%.

The ASD’s directors, as Rubinstein notes, just keep moving on to new opportunities. The students in the ASD experiment don’t have that option, though.

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport


 

Posted on by

Still Spanking Students?

Even as legislative efforts to limit the use of corporal punishment ramp up, some Tennessee school districts continue to incorporate physical violence against children into their discipline policies.

The Johnson City Press reports:

The Elizabethton Board of Education approved first reading of a disciplinary policy last month that continues to allow corporal punishment in the school system. Final approval of the policy will be made at school board’s next meeting.

As Elizabethton Bureau Chief John Thompson reported in January, the policy says “any principal, assistant principal or teacher may use corporal punishment in a reasonable manner against any student for good cause in order to maintain discipline and order within the public schools.”

The policy goes on to define corporal punishment as “spanking (striking the buttocks with the open hand) and/or paddling (striking the the buttocks with a paddle). All other forms of physical punishment are expressly forbidden.”

Should Rep. Jason Powell’s legislation gain approval, using corporal punishment against children with disabilities will be prohibited.

A report by WSMV-TV Nashville noted:

Rep. Jason Powell, D-Nashville, filed the bill Wednesday, after a News 4 I-Team investigation revealed students with disabilities received corporal punishment at a higher rate than their peers without disabilities at 60 Middle Tennessee schools.

It’s not clear whether the trend of hitting students with disabilities at higher rates extends beyond middle Tennessee. It is clear that School Boards in many Tennessee districts still condone the use of physical violence as a means of disciplining children.

I welcome hearing from school districts that expressly prohibit the use of physical violence (including corporal punishment) against students. Please send an email to andy@tnedreport.com

 

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport


 

 

Posted on by

Grounded

It seems Rocketship Nashville has been grounded. Or, at least it won’t be flying as big a fleet come next school year.

The Tennessean reports:

One of Nashville’s three Achievement School District schools will close at the end of the semester due to low enrollment, just months after it opened.

Rocketship Nashville officials said Wednesday they will shutter Partners Community Prep, which serves grades K-2 and is overseen by the state-run district.

Rocketship has also repeatedly attempted to expand operations in Nashville and been rejected by both the local school board and the State Board of Education.

Then there’s the Achievement School District forcing districts to hand over schools to charters, as in the case of Neely’s Bend Middle School. Before they handed a beloved community school over to a charter network, the ASD set up an epic battle to see which school would survive. Oh, and the ASD has a track record of being not-so-successful.  Oh, and also not very truthful.

All this disruption means that fifty students will be starting at a new school… again. Rocketship leaders say the process was a learning experience for them. Wonder what kind of experience it has been for the students?

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport