Monthly Archives: June 2025

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New Leadership at NPEF

Nashville Public Education Foundation names Dr. Diarese George next CEO

The Nashville Public Education Foundation (NPEF) announced that Dr. Diarese George will be the organization’s next President and CEO.

From a press release:

“From direct experience, including time as a teacher, Dr. George understands the challenges and opportunities in Nashville’s public education system,” said Ralph Davis, chair of the NPEF Board of Directors. “He brings passion and data-driven insight to his work and we are excited about what NPEF will accomplish under Dr. George’s leadership.”

“As a former teacher, nonprofit founder, and advocate, I know the power and exponential impact that great schools and great educators make in a student’s life,” said Dr. George. “I’m honored to lead NPEF into its next chapter and advance its strong legacy of building connections and partnerships that ensure every student in Nashville has the opportunity and access to succeed.”

Before leading TECA, Dr. George served as director of recruitment for the Nashville Teacher Residency, where he drove efforts to diversify the educator workforce by recruiting more people of color into the profession. Prior to that, he was a high school business teacher in the Clarksville/Montgomery County school district. Known for his deep networking and relationship-building skills, Dr. George has held several national and statewide fellowships, including Education Pioneers’ Summer Fellowship, the Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) Educator Fellowship, Hope Street Group Teacher Fellowship, and the Mosaic Fellowship, which empowers education leaders of color across Tennessee. His passion for advancing education is further reflected in his service on statewide councils, boards, and committees.

Dr. Diarese George

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Vouchers Kill Local Schools

Christian Nationalism, Trump, and Schools

MORE TENNESSEE NEWS

TN Pastors Back Birthright Citizenship

A Call to Reject the “Big, Beautiful Bill”

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Why Bother Tracking Vouchers?

The State of Tennessee has said it will not keep track of whether recipients of the state’s new, universal school vouchers are currently enrolled in private schools. In other states (like Arizona), as many as 75% of school voucher recipients were already enrolled in private schools BEFORE receiving a state-funded discount coupon.

These numbers would indicate that vouchers are not so much about school choice as they are about subsidizing private schools – and, ultimately, privatizing the delivery of public education.

More from Chalkbeat:

As Tennessee lawmakers debated a new universal voucher program earlier this year, one financial analysis projected that 65% of vouchers would go to students already enrolled in private schools.

Now, it will be impossible to determine whether that projection was accurate.

Tennessee families do not have to report their previous school enrollment in the new statewide voucher program application, a gap that will leave Tennesseans in the dark about whether the program will significantly expand private school access for public school students or send millions in public funds to students already enrolled in private schools.

The expected cost of the state’s voucher program at full implementation exceeds $1 billion. If fiscal analysts and trends in other states are an accurate predictor, Tennessee will essentially be funding an entirely separate school system – in addition to the woefully underfunded public K-12 system. Tennessee currently ranks last among Southeastern states in investment in public schools.

Gov. Bill Lee promoting school privatization

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How School Vouchers Destroy State Budgets

Kentucky’s Teacher Pension Problem

MORE TENNESSEE NEWS

Faith Leaders Seek Justice, Fairness for Immigrants

Tennessee Doctors Call on Blackburn, Hagerty to Oppose Devastating Budget Moves

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Grundy County Says “NO” to Teacher Bonuses

One Tennessee school district is leaving free money for teacher pay on the table. The Grundy County School Board has decided not to accept the state’s $2000 bonus for teachers that was provided as part of the universal school voucher bill that passed this year.

Chattanooga’s NewsChannel9 has more:

“. . . the Grundy County school board did not approve thousands of dollars from the state for teacher bonuses.

Those $2,000 bonuses were tied to the Education Freedom Act and school vouchers.

After the votes failed last week, one board member said he voted against the bonuses because he believes vouchers are wrong.

But another board member said not accepting that money only hurts the county, no matter what strings may be attached.

The strings included passing a supportive resolution to accept the funds that some perceived as a tacit endorsement of Gov. Bill Lee’s voucher scheme.

crop man getting dollars from wallet
Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

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Kentucky Faces School Funding Shortfall

How Vouchers Eat State Budgets

MORE TENNESSEE NEWS

TN Pastors Challenge Anti-Immigrant Law

A Call to Reject the “Big, Beautiful Bill”

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Public Schools Hall of Fame

From an email from Nashville Public Education Foundation (NPEF):

We are looking forward to the annual Public Schools Hall of Fame event on September 30, 2025, where we will honor outstanding educators, nonprofits, and leaders in our community. This year’s honorees represent exceptional dedication and expertise and have shown tremendous commitment to our public schools, students, teachers, and families. We invite you to visit our website to learn more about the event, meet the honorees, and save the date to join us.

cityscape of nashville tennessee at dawn
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Kentucky’s School Funding Shortfall

Bill Lee: A Legacy of Kids Left Behind

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JT Moore Band Saved by Ramsey Foundation

From a release provided to the media:

On Tuesday, June 24, Old Dominion’s Matthew Ramsey presents a donation of $50,000
on behalf of The Ramsey Foundation to the “BAND TOGETHER” fundraiser to help save the
concert band program at J.T. Moore Middle School in Nashville, TN.

On March 28, 2025, it was announced that J.T. Moore Middle School’s long-standing
band program would be eliminated for the 2025–2026 school year. In response, a passionate
group of parents launched the “BAND TOGETHER” campaign with the mission to save the
school’s concert band program and keep music education alive. With generous support from
Matthew Ramsey and The Ramsey Foundation, the campaign has raised over $65,000, enough
to hire a part-time band director for the upcoming year. The campaign’s goal is to reach
$92,000 by June 30 to fund a full-time band teacher and keep the music alive for all grades.

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Mississippi and the Fight for Public Schools

Utah Judge Rejects Vouchers

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Defending Public Education in Mississippi

School privatizers are persistent – they work and work and work to obtain access to public funds. They work to reduce accountability. They work to profit from what should be a public good.

Two public education advocates share their story of fighting (and so far, winning) for public schools in Mississippi:

Defeating vouchers is a priority because vouchers provide a direct funding stream to private schools that takes funding away from our public schools. Private schools are not designed to be a public good. They want to be able to select the students that they educate and are not open to all students. Because they have a selective admission process, they can refuse any child for any reason. And they operate outside of the public eye. We don’t know what the standards are that they are purporting to meet. We don’t have any accountability for the quality of education that they are providing.

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A Federal School Voucher Scheme

Bill Lee Helps TN Win Race to the Bottom

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On the Many Forms of School Privatization

Wherein Pennsylvania provides an example of the damage caused by cyber charters:

The district is among the vast number of Pennsylvania districts that has come out in favor of funding reform in the state. In Pennsylvania we still fund cyber charters by means laid out for bricks and mortar charters over twenty years ago. It’s nonsensical, inconsistent, and highly profitable, which is probably why Pennsylvania is the cyber capital of the country.

bitcoins and u s dollar bills
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Kentucky’s Teacher Pension Problem

How Vouchers Eat State Budgets

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Educators’ Cooperative Celebrates Summer

In their recent newsletter, Educators’ Cooperative hyped up their summer:

At EdCo, we’ve been reflecting on the end of this school year and celebrating the huge impact we were able to make due to our new Program Coordinator, Virginia Henry.

Thanks to her expertise and work ethic, our “EdCo in the Classroom” Programs were able to triple the delivery of in-class support to schools all over Nashville from Q3-Q4!

Looking forward, EdCo is excitedly preparing for our 11th Annual Summer Workshop.

We’ve been reviewing teacher-applications and selecting candidates for EdCo’s 11th Cohort. Summer Workshop is where they’ll come together for the first time as a class of our newest Members and learn how to use (and contribute to) EdCo’s mutual aid network.

We can’t wait to graduate them as official Members of our Educators’ Cooperative!

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Kentucky Teachers Face Low Pay, Shrinking Pensions

A Legacy of Kids Left Behind

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Bill Lee vs. Sun Bucks

One more story on Gov. Bill Lee letting TN kids go hungry:

For the first time in five years, the majority of low-income students across Tennessee will not receive supplemental grocery funds this summer to help bridge the months when they aren’t receiving school meals.

This is because Lee rejected federal support of Summer EBT – and instead, created a new, TN-funded program. The new program will serve only 25,000 kids in just 15 counties – down from the 700,000 kids served in all 95 counties since 2020.

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How Vouchers Eat State Budgets

Winning the Race to the Bottom

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Voucher Wisdom from Utah

The decision by a Utah judge that a school voucher scheme violates that state’s constitution is a win for defenders of public education.

“This decision protects the integrity of public education, ensuring critical funding remains in schools that serve 90% of Utah’s children and prioritize equitable, inclusive opportunities for every student to succeed,” said the Utah Education Association. “It reinforces the belief that public education is a cornerstone of opportunity for everyone, regardless of their background or circumstances.”

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The Federal School Voucher Scheme

Hungry Kids, Underfunded Schools