Category Archives: Bill Lee

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Throwin’ It All Away

Pro-voucher lawmaker wants to “blow-up” state’s “terrible” school system

Rep. Scott Cepicky made it clear that the motive behind Gov. Bill Lee’s signature public policy initiative, school vouchers, is tearing down the state’s public school system.

SHOCKING!

Nashville’s NewsChannel5 has more on Cepicky’s revelation:

The lead sponsor pushing school vouchers in the Tennessee state House says his goal with Tennessee’s public education system is to “throw the whole freaking system in the trash,” according to a recording obtained by NewsChannel 5.

Rep. Scott Cepicky, R-Culleoka, whose children attend a private religious school in Columbia, said he believes that “blow[ing] it all back up” is the only way to “fix” the state’s public schools, which he describes as “terrible.”

MORE TENNESSEE NEWS

School Board Candidate Opposes Arming Teachers

Lee Engineers Takeover of TSU

Gov. Bill Lee promoting school privatization
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TN Lawmakers Could Cancel School Lunch Debt

But that’s not on the agenda

Tweet from TN Holler

As lawmakers continue maneuvering to secure passage of legislation that would transfer hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to unaccountable private schools, they also continue ignoring a glaring need.

School lunch debt.

According to a recent article in Salon, students in K-12 public schools in Tennessee owe a total of more than $50 million in school lunch debt.

“. . . according to 2024 statistics from the Education Data Center, on a state-level, Tennessee has $51,610,062 in student lunch debt and about 285,770 food insecure students.”

If we have $144 million for school vouchers, we have $50 million to cancel school lunch debt.

The total projected cost of the voucher program at full implementation is in excess of $700 million a year.

You know what else would cost just over $700 million a year?

Providing free breakfast and lunch to all Tennessee K-12 students every day.

MORE TENNESSEE NEWS

Lee, Lawmakers Abuse Power in TSU Takeover

Bill Lee’s Corporate Tax Giveaway: $2 Billion

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Board Room Makeover

Bill Lee replaces entire TSU Board of Trustees

Gov. Bill Lee has completed his planned takeover of the Tennessee’s only state-supported HBCU, Tennessee State University.

His new Board of Trustees appointees include:

  • Trevia Chatman, President, Bank of America Memphis
  • Jeffery Norfleet, Provost and Vice President for Administration, Shorter College
  • Marquita Qualls, Founder and Principal, Entropia Consulting
  • Terica Smith, Deputy Mayor and Director of Human Resources, Madison County
  • Charles Traughber, General Counsel, Division of Real Estate, Retail, and Financial Services at Bridgestone Americas
  • Dwayne Tucker, CEO of LEAD Public Schools
  • Kevin Williams, President and CEO of GAA Manufacturing
  • Dakasha Winton, Senior Vice President and Chief Government Relations Officer at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee

MORE TENNESSEE NEWS

Fighting for Truth in Education

Anti-Corruption Legislation

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TSU Takeover

Lawmakers, Lee replace Tennessee State’s Board of Trustees

Almost immediately after the General Assembly gave final approval to legislation vacating the Tennessee State University Board of Trustees, Gov. Bill Lee appointed an entirely new board.

The move comes after several years of lawmakers issuing complaints about inadequacies at TSU, the state’s only state-supported HBCU.

A federal inquiry found the state has underfunded TSU by $2.1 billion over the past 30 years, and TSU leaders have been pressing legislators to devise a plan to correct the shortfall.

Following the takeover vote, advocates spoke out about Lee’s power grab:

Rev. Wesley King, a Disciples of Christ pastor in Nashville, said:

“I’m horrified but unfortunately not surprised by the atrocious vote of the Tennessee Supermajority today to vacate the entire Tennessee State University board. Instead of addressing the historic underfunding of TSU, the TN Supermajority has decided that they will use their ‘power’ as a legislative body to replace the board of trustees and take over the decision making power of the University.

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Photo by Olya Kobruseva on Pexels.com

MORE TENNESSEE NEWS

Uniting Against Vouchers

Lee Pushes Tax Giveaway

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Sometimes Led to Declines

School vouchers don’t help kids but Gov. Lee wants them anyway

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has long been a staunch supporter of using public money to support private schools.

SHOCKING!

It seems this legislative session, he may be on the verge of achieving his ultimate goal: privatizing public education in the Volunteer State by way of a school voucher scheme.

Chalkbeat has a timeline of the march toward vouchers, and the details are quite interesting.

Here’s the key takeaway:

Also, the research hasn’t supported the case for vouchers as a way to improve academic outcomes. Recent studies find little evidence that vouchers improve test scores. In fact, they’ve sometimes led to declines.

Even now, big questions loom about the cost, impact, and legal merits of a program that threatens to destabilize Tennessee’s public education system.

A program that’s very expensive, doesn’t improve academic outcomes, and has “sometimes led to declines” is Gov. Bill Lee’s signature policy initiative.

MORE TENNESSEE NEWS

School Board Candidates Unite Against Vouchers

Behn, Oliver Push Free Pre-K for All

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Another Warning from Arizona

Bill Lee has a longstanding affinity for privatization Arizona-style

Back in 2017, I warned that plans to voucherize Tennessee’s public schools sounded eerily like the voucher scam in Arizona.

Vouchers: A Warning from Arizona

That scheme led Arizona to a huge budget hole created by vouchers. It only took seven years to get there.

A few years later, I noted that Lee’s charter commission plans also mimicked a scheme taking shape in Arizona.

Bill Lee’s Arizona Dream

Now, news out of Arizona regarding fraud in that state’s voucher program should give Tennessee policymakers pause.

Three former Arizona Department of Education employees were indicted on conspiracy and money laundering charges in what prosecutors say was a scheme to defraud more than $600,000 from an education voucher program that has drawn criticism for its skyrocketing costs and lax regulation by the state.

The scheme saw employees create fake student profiles and approve the “ghost” students for vouchers – funds that were then paid to DOE employees.

Tennessee’s proposed school voucher scheme has come under fire for its lack of accountability. Without strict tracking of both expenditures and student performance, fraud along the lines of what has happened in Arizona is quite possible.

More Tennessee News

Exposing the Harms of School Vouchers

A Focus on Making Childcare Affordable

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Pastors Lament Lee’s Voucher Push

Southern Christian Coalition expresses concerns about Lee’s voucher plan

The Southern Christian Coalition is speaking out against Gov. Bill Lee’s school voucher expansion plan. Lee gave additional details about the plan in his State of the State address last night. The scheme, as announced, would cost a projected $141 million in the first year of operation.

McIntyre said Gov. Lee’s voucher plan would harm our state’s public schools.

“Instead of trying to make the situation better and choosing to fully fund our public schools, Governor Lee is publicly promoting his voucher scheme, which we only take funds from school districts the state doesn’t already adequately fund, and instead funnel money to his friends and donors in the private school sphere.”

Of Vouchers and Inequality
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Pastors Call for Investment in Public Schools

Southern Christian Coalition calls for rejection of voucher scheme

A group of Tennessee pastors is calling on the General Assembly to reject Gov. Bill Lee’s proposed expansion of the state’s school voucher program.

Rev. Brandon Berg of Anderson County and a member of the Southern Christian Coalition said Lee’s plan does not reflect support for public education and instead could lead to using public funds for schools with zero accountability.

Instead, in spite of his constituents’ concerns, he insists on pushing his voucher plan that will bleed funding from our already underfunded, hyperscrutinized public schools and divert it to private schools with far weaker accountability. In fact, Lee and the other supporters of vouchers refuse to answer questions about accountability for those schools.

The group has previously spoken out against the voucher scheme:

Pastors Speak Out on Immorality of Vouchers
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A Question of Qualifications

Relative to the Commissioner of Education

The Tennessee Journal reports that questions are being raised about whether Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds meets the minimum standard to hold the position to which she’s been appointed.

The issue is whether Reynolds qualifies to hold the post under Tennessee Code Annotated 4-3-802, which first became law nearly a century ago.

“The commissioner shall be a person of literary and scientific attainments and of skill and experience in school administration,” according to the law. “The commissioner shall also be qualified to teach in the school of the highest standing over which the commissioner has authority.”

Lee’s press secretary, Elizabeth L. Johnson, said in a statement to The Tennessee Journal that “Commissioner Reynold’s credentials and professional experience qualify her to serve as TDOE commissioner.”

The problem is that Reynolds doesn’t have a teaching degree and has never taught in a public or other school. She doesn’t have an active teaching license in Tennessee or any other state.

In other words, she could only teach in a Tennessee public school under a waiver or emergency certificate.

Previous Commissioners with backgrounds in politics and policy also had at least some teaching experience and an active teaching license. Penny Schwinn, the Commissioner just before Reynolds, taught high school in Maryland before her career in policy.

Kevin Huffman, an appointee of Bill Haslam’s, had experience in the classroom as a Teach for America teacher.

Here’s more on Reynolds:

A Policy of Privatization
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Extreme Collaboration

Moms for Liberty teams up with Hillsdale College on charter schools

It seems that Moms for Liberty and Hillsdale College are joining forces for an extreme collaboration that could turn into a nightmare.

Over in South Carolina, the two groups are working together to secure public funds to operate a charter school. Moms for Liberty runs the school using Hillsdale’s curriculum.

Thanks to Gov. Bill Lee’s school privatization push, Moms for Liberty may soon be able to secure public money and a partnership with Hillsdale College in service of an extreme agenda.