To be clear: The leader of a state that earns an “F” grade in investment in students, is near the bottom in the nation (and the Southeast) for teacher compensation, and consistently fails its most vulnerable students wants to remove all guardrails and just be trusted to “do what’s best?”
While it is not yet clear if Trump will actually dissolve the Department of Education, powering the agency down as he’s suggested could remove key protections for students with disabilities. It could also drastically alter how funding for low-income students is distributed.
In 2018, Arizona voters overwhelmingly rejected school vouchers. On the ballot that year was a measure that would have allowed all parents — even the wealthiest ones — to receive taxpayer money to send their kids to private, typically religious schools.
Arizonans voted no, and it wasn’t close. Even in a right-leaning state, with powerful Republican leaders supporting the initiative, the vote against it was 65% to 35%.
This year, voters in Colorado, Nebraska, and Kentucky rejected vouchers. In Kentucky, the margin was 2-1 against vouchers – and all 120 counties in Kentucky opposed a ballot initiative that would have allowed vouchers.
While the results of last week’s election indicate a closely divided nation on many issues, support for public schools is a consistent winner. And, when asked – in blue states and red states and in rural and urban areas – voters reject school vouchers.
These moves would gut public education, imperil our most vulnerable students, and move us closer to a dystopia in which education is little more than childcare and teaching a low-skilled, low-paid job where EdTech bots “teach” and humans merely supervise.
Quinn wonders what will happen at the end of another four years of Trump:
If the teaching profession is gutted, as it likely will be, and if a mass exodus occurs, which is likely may—what will be left of our education system? And what will happen to our young people in it, the most vulnerable of whom will be most deeply impacted?
Also, will Betsy DeVos come back? Or, will a pro-voucher governor like Bill Lee take on the Ed Secretary role?
Betsy DeVos testifies before the Senate Health, Education and Labor Committee confirmation hearing to be next Secretary of Education on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 17, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
Within hours of the recent election’s conclusion in Tennessee, Gov. Bill Lee’s top legislative allies filed their top priority legislation for 2025: School Vouchers.
This despite vouchers being overwhelmingly rejected by voters in states like Kentucky, Colorado, and Nebraska.
Yes, while Kentucky voted about 2-1 for Donald Trump, they also voted 2-1 AGAINST a ballot initiative that would have allowed public funds to be spent on private schools by way of vouchers.
Vouchers were rejected in all 120 of Kentucky’s counties.
And still, Gov. Lee and his associates continue to push for a universal voucher scheme in our state.
“Once again, Tennessee Republicans are pushing an expansion of their failed private school voucher scheme. This isn’t about improving education; it’s about diverting public dollars away from underfunded public schools to private institutions that are unaccountable to taxpayers and don’t serve every student. Vouchers are a scam — they aren’t working to improve student outcomes here in Tennessee, nor have they succeeded at this scale anywhere else in the country.”
Former Ed Commissioner searches for relevance with worn out ideas
Tennessee’s former Education Commissioner, Kevin Huffman, is still sharking around education waters, peddling terrible ideas and being paid handsomely.
Yes, that Kevin Huffman. He’s now calling for a federal focus on education that would return test-and-punish principles and prescribe teaching methods.
We’ve seen his game before:
That’s right. Kevin Huffman blamed TN’s relatively low ranking on standardized tests on teachers – and not on the state’s chronically low investment in schools. Did nothing to push new investment in schools. Failed to deliver on promised new teacher development programs. Promised teachers a pay raise and then failed to deliver. Pushed a charter advancement agenda that, as Green’s column notes, caused “more harm than good.” Never apologized for any of it.
Yes, vouchers themselves are budget-busters. But, this proposed amendment also includes a key provision that could create headaches for school districts, principals, and teachers.
THAT PARENTS HAVE THE RIGHT TO DIRECT THE EDUCATION OF THEIR CHILDREN
Those are the words causing great concern.
Because, what do they mean? Do words even mean anything?
Here are some of the ways this language might be interpreted:
Wouldn’t this amendment also allow parents to intrude into every classroom? If I have a constitutional right to direct my child’s education, does that not mean that I can tell my child’s science teacher to stop teaching evolution? Or start teaching evolution? Can I demand a different approach to teaching American history? How about prepositions? And how will a classroom teacher even function if every child in the classroom comes with a parent who has a constitutional right to direct their education?
A representative of the state’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA) says the law, if adopted, would amount to chaos.
And it wouldn’t just be limited to chaos in public schools. All parents would have the guaranteed, constitutionally-protected right to “direct” their child’s education – no matter the school setting.
It seems likely that if the law passed, one or several court cases would have to be heard to determine the exact meaning of “directing a child’s learning.”
If I have a right to choose a private school paid for by tax dollars but the private school doesn’t accept my kid, then what? Doesn’t the law say the “choice” is mine – and I’m “directing” the state to use its dollars to educate my child at the school I choose? Which means if the school doesn’t “choose” my kid, they are breaking the law? Infringing on my rights?
I’m not sure this law will pass, but if it does, Colorado will be in for – chaos.
A Kentucky student highlights problems created by school voucher schemes
As Kentucky voters consider a an amendment to the state’s Constitution that would allow the use of public funds to support private K-12 schools, one private school student is speaking out on why that’s a very bad idea.
One of the scariest things about Amendment 2 is that it basically serves as a blank check for vouchers to non-public schools with no clear place for the funding to come from other than public schools.
Tennessee policymakers should remember, too, that just as in Kentucky, the school voucher scheme is likely to funnel tax dollars from rural districts and send them to urban and suburban private schools.
Of course, that won’t stop Gov. Lee from trying again to pass a universal school voucher bill.
Democratic legislative leaders sent an outline of the policy agenda to members of the media. Among the items included are:
Ending the grocery tax
Free school meals for all kids
Expanded access to health coverage
Raising the minimum wage
Democrats have proposed free school meals before, but the proposal typically is shot down by the GOP-majority in committee.
Estimates of past proposals suggest the total cost would be around $500-$700 million a year. For reference, the state provided more than $500 million to the Tennessee Titans to build a new (smaller) stadium. Lawmakers also passed $1.6 billion worth of corporate tax breaks during the last legislative session. And, Gov. Lee insisted that nearly $150 million be “set aside” for his private school voucher proposal, a plan that failed to secure enough votes to advance in the 2024 session.
The point: We can afford to feed every kid who comes to school every day. Gov. Lee and the legislative majority just don’t want to.
A new California law seeks to prohibit “addictive content” from being served to children during school hours via cell phone apps.
Of course, there are all sorts of problems with implementation and enforcement.
But, the passage of this law points to an uncomfortable reality: cell phone addiction is a “new normal.”
We expect kids to be addicted to their phones, and are now entering the phase of attempting to “manage” that addiction.
Last year, Gallup found that over half of U.S. teens ages 13-19 spend an average of 4.8 hours a day on social media. Female teens spend an average of 5.3 each day on social media compared to the 4.4 hours average of teen males. A Common Sense Media Study found that 97% of kids 11 through 17 years old use their phones at school. The most popular usage among teenagers is TikTok at 32%, YouTube at 26%, and gaming at 17%.
Screens are everywhere. Devices – laptops, tablets, phones. Non-stop screen access for students – at home, school, in their rooms, at after-school activities and jobs.
While these devices offer convenience, educators (and some parents) are noting that 24/7 screen access is creating some problems.
I started Everyschool because I have come to believe that educational technology is not the panacea we’ve been told it is, and while some technology is transformative for some students, screens in schools have become yet another source of technology oversaturation in our children’s lives, often resulting in students being less smart, less happy, and less healthy.
She notes:
The reality is that we need to strike a balance. We should invest in technology that provides students with unique, high-level skills, while limiting tech that produces questionable outcomes, impairs human connection, and exposes students to unnecessary screen time. At Everyschool, we focus on identifying and eliminating problematic EdTech, but we also support incorporating transformative technology when developmentally appropriate into education.
