14th District State House candidate Amanda Collins calls Gov. Bill Lee’s recent executive order on gun violence “performative paperwork.”
My statement on Governor Lee's Executive Order that he signed earlier today. As a parent, I am scared for the safety of my children and angry at do-nothing politicians. pic.twitter.com/YrBOx0KkSZ
— Amanda Collins TN HD14 (@amandafortn) June 6, 2022
Lee issued the order in the wake of the Uvalde shooting. He also indicated in an interview with Chalkbeat that he’s open to arming teachers.
Gov. Bill Lee indicated this week that he’s open to legislation that would arm Tennessee teachers in the wake of the most recent school shooting in Uvalde, TX.
Lee made the remarks in an interview with Chalkbeat.
Q: After the 2018 mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, several Tennessee lawmakers proposed letting some teachers carry guns at school. The bills generally stalled, but there’s talk again of turning some teachers into armed security guards. Would you support such legislation?
A: I have said before that I would be in favor of a strategy that includes training and vetting and a very strategic and appropriate plan for (arming teachers). There are a lot of details that have to be right for that to be considered. But if lawmakers brought it forth, I would certainly consider it.
In related news, a group of pastors this week delivered a letter to Lee’s office calling for action to curb gun violence.
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The Tennessee General Assembly passed Gov. Bill Lee’s school funding reform plan this past legislative session. The new scheme, TISA, will take effect in the 2023-24 school year.
What does TISA mean for local school districts? How will it impact the schools in your district?
A group known as “Tennessee for All” is holding a virtual forum on June 16th to explore these questions.
Here’s what they have to say about TISA:
Whether we’re from Nashville or Kingsport, we all want our kids to have a great education. And yet, while our state government hands out millions of dollars to corporations and sits on billions in reserves, this new education plan locks in underfunding for nearly every school. It picks winners and losers, forcing some counties to pay higher property taxes to close the funding gap.
In short, they’re not fans. However, the forum will be a great opportunity to learn more about just how TISA impacts funding.
The spectacular failure that is Tennessee’s statewide testing system for students (TNReady) just continues to fail. So much so that when districts announce that TNReady scores won’t be factored into student grades yet AGAIN, it’s not even a major news story.
Sure, the state pays in excess of $100 million for the test and yes, teachers are evaluated based on the results, but the test is a colossal waste of time year after year after year.
Here’s a recent announcement from Sumner County Schools about this year’s test scores:
Dear Parents,
Earlier this week, we were informed by the Tennessee Department of Education that the TNReady scores for third, fourth and fifth grade were incorrect for several elementary schools and were scored again by the state. The new scores were not returned before final report cards were sent home on Thursday. TNReady scores for grades 6–8 were received 3.5 school days before report cards were issued.State law requires TNReady testing to count a minimum of 15% of a student’s grade. School Board Policy 4.600 states that in the event of testing modifications by the state, such as a delay in scores being returned to the district, Sumner County Schools can waive the 15% TNReady grade. Due to this issue in testing, we will not include the TNReady score in your student’s final report card. Your student’s grade will be calculated by averaging the final grade from the first and second semester.In the fall, you will receive your child’s full TNReady scores
And here’s a notice from Metro Nashville Public Schools about TNReady:
I’m sure similar notices went out in other districts across the state.
So, the state spends millions on the test, schools spend hours prepping for it, students spend days taking the exams, and then — NOTHING. No score that is useful for grades, no return of data in a timely fashion.
In fact, TNReady has failed so often and in so many ways, the clown show is now just accepted as an annual rite of passage. We’ll give the test because the state can’t imagine NOT testing every year and then we’ll fully expect there to be one or several problems. A surprising TNReady year would be one in which there were no problems with administration AND the results came back on time.
It’s bad public policy when the bare minimum acceptable outcome IS the surprising outcome. Alas, that’s the case with TNReady.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
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