Supporters of public schools in Tennessee will hold a rally in Nashville today to express opposition to Gov. Bill Lee’s school voucher scam.
Trump Pushes National School Voucher Scam
State Sen. Charlane Oliver of Nashville pulled no punches in calling out Gov. Bill Lee’s school voucher scam.
Tennessee’s public education system is under siege by wealthy conservative oligarchs, including former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who are bankrolling Republican leaders to push school vouchers. Ultra-wealthy conservatives have made dismantling public education their mission, even descending upon Washington ready to disband the U.S. Department of Education.
Arizona Gov. Pushes Back Against School Vouchers
A national expert on education policy warned Tennessee lawmakers to proceed with caution when it comes to Gov. Bill Lee’s voucher scam.
Professor Josh Cowen of Michigan State University spoke at a forum hosted by Sen. Heidi Campbell and Rep. Caleb Hemmer. In his presentation, Cowen discussed his research into voucher programs across the country. Cowen said his findings suggest policymakers should be wary of school vouchers as a policy solution.
“These voucher schemes devastate student learning. The bigger and more recent the voucher system, the worse the results are for kids,” Cowen said. “Over the last decade, we see some of the largest test score drops for kids who transfer from public to private school using a voucher that we’ve seen on any question in the history of education research.”
Kentucky Kids Fight for School Funding
The Tennessee Education Association says in an email that the total estimated cost of school vouchers in Tennessee if Gov. Lee’s universal voucher scheme passes is $861 million over the next five years.
The group notes that not only will vouchers increase state costs, but local taxpayers will also be on the hook for the voucher scheme.
Trump Backs National Voucher Scam
Tennessee’s Persistent Failure to Fund Schools
Less than one year after starting her work as Director of Schools in Memphis-Shelby County, Marie Feagins has been fired.
Chalkbeat reports that by a 6-3 vote, the school board opted to terminate Feagins’ contract.
Marie Feagins was fired Tuesday as superintendent of Memphis-Shelby County Schools, setting the district back to where it has been repeatedly in recent years: searching for leadership.
A bitterly divided school board voted 6-3 to oust Feagins less than 10 months into her tenure, approving a resolution that cited allegations of professional misconduct and poor leadership.
Cost of Florida Voucher Program Explodes
Trump Pushes National School Voucher Scam
A retired teacher from Anderson County spoke to the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge about the reasons she opposes Gov. Bill Lee’s school voucher scam.
Objections to the new bill that lawmakers must ponder this year were presented in a recent talk by Marsha Livingston, a retired teacher from Anderson County Schools.
Based on valid data comparing the educational outcomes of public and private school students in Tennessee the last two years and in other states with large rural populations, she said, student academic achievement based on test scores in public schools generally surpasses that of students in private schools supported by public money.
She quoted Andy Spears, publisher of the Tennessee Education Report, who wrote, “With little data showing any significant positive gains, and new data suggesting possible harms, it’s difficult to understand why policymakers would adopt a voucher system in Tennessee.”
Demanding Fully Funded Schools
Will the Trump Presidency Mean a National Voucher Scam?
Former Tennessee Commissioner of Education Penny Schwinn has been nominated to serve in the Trump Administration as Deputy Secretary of Education. If confirmed, she’ll serve under former WWE CEO Linda McMahon.
Here’s more on Schwinn:
In job after job, Schwinn caused problems and wreaked havoc. Financial mismanagement. Misrepresenting the truth. Carrying the water for a destructive agenda with a smile. Seems she’ll fit right in with the Trump team.
A School Funding Fight in Kentucky
As states and school districts explore and implement bans on smartphones at school, the question remains: Will these bans improve the student learning environment?
The answer: Maybe.
Overall, 68% of US adults responding to a 2024 Pew Research Center survey say they support a ban on middle and high school students using their phones during class. The biggest reasons these Americans gave for backing the move? Fewer distractions (98%), better social skills (91%), less cheating (85%), and reduced bullying (70%).
And, bans are in place in a number of areas of the country:
As of November 4, 2024, eight states — California, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Ohio, South Carolina, and Virginia — have passed policies that ban or restrict phone use in schools. These broadly take effect during the current school year. Twelve more states have introduced such legislation.
Anecdotal evidence suggests some improvement – students actually talking to each other during lunch, for example. Less instances of social media bullying.
Still, the research is uneven in terms of whether these bans will have a long-term, positive effect.
One analysis of studies that analyzed cell phone bans in schools across the globe found:
“Overall, the results indicated that the ban and no ban schools either did not differ significantly, or there were minimal differences, in terms of problematic use of mobile phones, academic engagement, school belonging, and bullying,” the authors reported.
Kentucky Kids to Lawmakers: Fund Our Schools
Today, Gov. Bill Lee called a special legislative session to focus on passage of his school voucher scam.
Today, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced that he will call for the Tennessee General Assembly to convene a special session on Monday, January 27, to pass the Education Freedom Act.
The session will also include a disaster relief package for areas impacted by Hurricane Helene.
Conservative groups are already speaking out against Lee’s voucher scam.
The Tennessee Conservative notes:
• With 10,000 scholarships initially available and expanding by 5,000 each year, the program’s long-term cost could strain Tennessee’s budget, leading to higher taxes for hardworking families.
• Public schools will retain their funding even when students leave, forcing taxpayers to fund both public schools and ESAs simultaneously. This double-dipping could bankrupt our state over time.
The math: TCN says the voucher scheme will cost $268 million in year one – and continue to be a drag on state and local budgets, likely resulting in tax increases:
Another conservative group, Tennessee Stands, says they oppose vouchers because:
Vouchers are wealth distribution. Vouchers are government funds that come with additional regulatory oversight. Vouchers are dangerous for home schools and private education.
Kentucky Kids Call for Fair School Funding
The Real Story of School Funding in Tennessee
A writer tells the story of her own daughter’s math journey – and discusses the implications of middle and high school math choices.
With many colleges dropping standardized testing for applicants, transcripts featuring calculus — preferably Advanced Placement — have come to signify rigor to admissions officers. However, nearly 20% of American high school students have no access to calculus whatsoever. As a result, a scant 2% of science, technology, engineering and math majors who arrive at college needing to take precalculus manage to earn a STEM bachelor’s degree, while those who didn’t progress past algebra 2 in high school have a less than 40% chance of earning any four-year degree whatsoever.’
The point: Unless a student completes Algebra 1 in 8th grade, they won’t be on track to take calculus in high school. And, as the author notes, most kids in 8th grade have little or no idea what they’ll want to do in the future – not offering Algebra 1 to 8th graders limits options.
A National School Voucher Scam
Bill Lee’s Education Policy is Consistently Disappointing