Just when you think that things couldn’t get any worse, some legislator comes up with the meanest, cruelest, dumbest idea yet.
Tennessee is considering legislation to cut the welfare benefits to families if their children get low test scores.
Some exceptions are carved out, but the basic idea is that the kids need a carrot and stick approach. Or more likely, a whip. The kids need to be afraid that their family won’t eat.
That’ll fix education.
Who are these people?
Do they have an ounce of charity in their hearts?
Do they have any religion? Any sense of humanity?
Will they sleep well at night knowing that someone went to bed hungry because of a law they passed?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Did the legislators supporting the proposed law see Django Unchained?
Perhaps we ought to reopen the debtor’s prisons, as well. That’ll teach ’em to have children who score poorly.
We already (effectively) have debtor’s prisons for people who can’t pay child support. That’s another discussion for another blog, though.
As if there were not enough incentives for cheating, now this.
It would never survive the courts. But is this the first time someone actually thought about students being responsible for their performance? Obviously they thought about it in a really perverse way, but nobody ever talks about students being accountable.
Failing is a way of being held accountable. Earning less for the rest of your life is another kind of accountability. Not eating is a step too far. That is, in a civilized society.
And this story, breaking on Easter Sunday. Beyond hypocrisy!
“…but nobody ever talks about students being accountable.”
Nobody? Ever? Are you kidding me?
Only when they stand to be retained in a grade level or fail a course. I used to teach kindergarten, and 50% of my last evaluation was based on the kid’s test scores. There was no accountability for the kids. They weren’t going to fail kindergarten, but their scores could have resulted in my firing (after three years of poor test scores for tenured teachers, one year for the new teachers in FL who will never have tenure).
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want kids to fail kindergarten based entirely on test scores, but is it fair to measure my job on a test that they could blow off?
Tcap scores account for 15% and EOC for 20% of the student’s final grade. So, students do have accountability.
Yep. As time goes on this whole thing really is starting to resemble the eugenics movement more and more. Ugly, ugly, ugly.
Same kind of people who complain that parents shouldn’t take their “special” child out in public.
these legislators are just asking for trouble, and they’ll deserve it too.
btw, there is no state permit requirement for the possession of rifles, shotguns, or handguns in Tennessee.
Does reading your post make us co-conspirators? =-o
I know that you are being sarcastic, but in her next post, Diane asks us to call the TN Health Committee So, start calling later today!
I had a very nice e-mail from the teacher who serves on the Health Committee. She encouraged us to contact her fellow committee members and believes that if we do so, the bill has the potential to be stopped. We greatly appreciate any help!
I mean, listen, I can understand the desire to get people more interested in making sure their children succeed. But wouldn’t that be better achieved by giving them more money if their kids make the honor roll or something? Welfare benefits are determined based on what a family of a certain size needs to survive. It’s not like there’s extra money there to spare. I can only imagine what would happen in some families if their benefits get cut because one of the kids failed a math class or something. Also this is really the state contemplating cutting federal benefits. Does the state then get to keep the money it doesn’t give out to poor families because of a kid’s grades?
There are plenty of positive, research-based ways that schools can encourage parental involvement. Obviously the legislators who wrote this bill don’t actually care about improving parent involvement. It’s the same hateful grandstanding for which Sen. Campfield is renowned. He could care less if it harms our most vulnerable children or if it destroys trust between schools and families.
And what about the rich kids who do lousy on test scores? Oh, that’s right, we won’t penalize THEM at all.
I suggest that if a rich kid does badly on tests, their parents lose their cushy tax breaks. No more 15 percent tax rate for hedge fund managers if their kids slack off!
Sounds like this might be another fine piece of legislation from ALEC.
There’s a part of me that thinks even ALEC isn’t this evil and anti-human.
They are the mean, ignorant, republican supermajority. They are constantly coming up with crazy bills which get them in the news as the butt of jokes. The scary thing is that these people have almost dismantled public education with the help of TFA commissioner Huffman and his ex wife.
Wow, we are now entering “The Twilight Zone.”
Well Holly, you can keep those fancy Yankee thoughts to yourself! You and your big words and such! We, in the South, do things differently down here! If the student performs poorly on tests, then we should lock up the parents and send their kids to high performing childless couples. These couples would raise those kids right, and make them forget all about their low-performing ways. In the meantime those “takers” would become “makers” in our penal systems. We could have them assemble I-Pods and such, really bring industry back to the South southern style.
This legislation is too ridiculous to be taken seriously…..okay…it’s April Fool Day.
Why don’t we just put the parents and students, who perform poorly, in a line and stone them out of existence. Do that each year and the problem is solved!
Of course I am being very facetious.
One would be hard pressed to create, for a work of dystopian fiction, an idea this malevolent, this mean spirited. It would be impossible for anyone with normal human decency to conceive of this. Just when one thought it couldn’t possibly get worse. . . .
Take away their help if they are not able to get good scores. Is this “Compassionate Conservatism?” If so they can keep it. We are so twisted when we crush those who are crippled. This kind of thought must be exposed for what it is and that is sociopathic.
I hope this helps people understand that this is what is already being done to teachers. I fear for my job. Without it, I have no income. But at least I’m not a child dealing with the prospect of such a thing.
All legislation has names attached it to it. It would be good to get in the habit of attaching names and districts to legislation proposals.
Here’s the official website with info on the bill and its progress: http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=SB0132
Someone mentioned “carrots and sticks”… I disagree. There are no carrots for the poor in this Republican-controlled state. It’s all sticks, all the time.
An excerpt from the bill summary (there is an exception for kids with IEP):
“Failure to comply with attendance requirements, or to receive a proficient or advanced score or a grade point average sufficient to ascend to the next grade, will be a failure to comply with the personal responsibility plan required by this bill and will result in a 30 percent reduction with regard to the temporary assistance payment until such time as compliance occurs.
This bill increases the percentage reduction from 20 percent to 25 percent for failure to comply with the immunization and health check requirements of (2) above without good cause.”
And these people are supposed to be for small government??? And Christian? Back when I was educated in public Tennessee schools, I seem to remember reading Jonathan Swift…
The political lunacy swamping public education reaches a new low. So many political and corporate forces are feeding on public education that there will soon be nothing left. The basic questions of how children learn and how responsible adults can provide children with they need to learn have been abandoned by those with the power to do anything to improve public education.
I haven’t read the law but am wondering if it was written more to encourage parents to become more involved in their children’s education starting at kindergarten, than to scare children.
Public school students shouldn’t take the fall for poor grades. Legislators should. They allow one teacher to have too many students. Some students are abused and have poor thinking skills. Some have diets high in gmo’ s that don’t feed the brain. Some have sensory issues that interrupt learning. Some need more repetition than others.
Imagine the punishment students would get if the family lost food stamps. I’m quite tired of seeing in how many ways students become scapegoats, once they are corralled into schools. I’m also tired of seeing in how many ways legislators can cut funding to public schools. They already get far less than prisons and military.
You can sign a petition to drop the bill directed to the two co-sponsors of the bill — SB 132 and HB 261 — here at this link: http://bit.ly/XmMcBr. The emails plus any additional comments you may have go directly to State Senator Stacey Campfield (also known for his homophobic comments, btw) and House Representative Vance Dennis.
Sent a letter to Campfield. He responded claiming that the penalty would not impact food assistance (directly). Still, isn’t this act of targeting discriminatory in nature?
From Stacey Campfield:
NOTHING in this bill would touch food stamps, SNAP, WIC, school lunches, housing credits or any of the over 70 charities that give out free food in Knox county alone. This program would only cover a small portion of a straight cash payment.
I think we can both agree the top tickets to break the chain of poverty is education. To achieve a quality education is like a three legged stool. The state has put a lot of responsibility on two legs of the stool, schools and teachers to improve student performance. If the children don’t produce, it could impact the pay of the teacher and the standing of the school with the state. We have pushed for results based scoring of the student performance (teachers and schools) and they are.
While those two legs are important, one other leg has proven to be more important. The third leg has shown to have a greater impact on the children performance than the school, than the teacher, than race of the child, than the income of the parent, than the location of the student.
The third leg of the stool (probably the most important leg) is the parents. We have done little to hold them accountable for their child’s performance. What my bill would do is put some responsibility on parents for their child’s performance.
If your child is failing their classes, if your child is not showing up to school, if your child has quit school. That is unacceptable. It is highly unlikely that child will ever escape poverty. The state can not continue to support the generational cycle of poverty. Just because parents may have quit school does not mean it is acceptable if their child does. Parents are responsible to make sure their kids are ready for school and that they get an education. If parents are not holding up their leg of the job (and your kids are not special needs, learning disabled,etc.) then the state is going to start giving the parents some simple options.
They can enter their child in a FREE tutoring class OR they can begin to tutor the child on their own OR they can enter a FREE parenting class OR they can attend FREE parent teacher conferences OR they can provide proof they have been attending the FREE parent teacher conferences. If the parent refuses to do ANY of these simple and FREE things to help their child get an education so they can break the cycle of poverty then, yes, the state will hold back a portion of the parents cash payment and give that money to a parent who will do those things who can not get on the program now.
The goal is not to punish anyone. No one will necessarily or instantly lose benefits because of this bills passage. The goal is to encourage parents to do what they should already be doing. We have to start breaking the cycle of generational poverty. Any money saved by the state will go back into the program to provide services for those who are taking the steps to improve their situation. I, nor anyone, can assure a perfect 100% solution where everyone gets everything and no one ever loses benefits. but if we can pull 99% out of the cycle of poverty I will take that step.
We know the “just give them a fish a day for the rest of their life” system is not working. Linking benefits to a parent doing some absolute minimum things to help their child’s performance in school is showing incredible results in over 40 countries. I think it’s worth a shot here.
Yours in service,
Sen. Stacey Campfield
My response:
Dear Senator Campfield,
Thank you for your reply.
This is a radical solution for a very important issue. How can anyone reconcile this same targeting strategy for middle and higher income families whose children are in the same academic position?
What is proposed in this bill is discriminatory in that it does not solve academic performance issues by making some rules for some of the people to follow while leaving the others to continually fail in schools. Where is the incentive for middle or upper level income families?
A large concern is for the children at lower income levels who have not yet been identified as having learning disabilities. As you said, no system is 100% perfect, including child study services. Some children may not be identified as learning disabled for years–should their families be punished by this?
I would think a better bill would target the inequality in our economic infrastructure. Apply more oversight to the assistance programs to help people get out of situations of poverty. Provide opportunities for employment, and offer health care for families who struggle. Stop discriminating against the poor and provide solutions to aid in their upward mobility.
If this is about holding parents accountable, why hasn’t this bill been piggy-backed with parental accountability for all income levels? To make any solution about money on all levels is also flawed because people with access to money may try to “buy” results or intimidate those reporting grades. The poor do not have the luxury of “buying” their way out of anything. What your bill proposes is segregating the population into haves and have-nots and then creating different rules for the have-nots. This solves nothing in the way of making positive changes in academic progress.
Instead, hold parents accountable for communicating with schools or attending parent sessions by other means. If a parent is abusive toward a child, there are laws protecting the child. It is difficult to prove if a parent is uninterested in the academic well-being of a child, but perhaps there could be requirements for ALL parents of academically-struggling children by law that do not involve financial burdens.
This bill is anti-American, and should not be pursued. As a public servant, it is your responsibility to find another way to reach these students. Singling out low income families is discrimination, no matter how good the intentions behind the act.
That’s the problem. He isn’t a public servant. He is a servant of Stacey Campfield alone. Thanks for sharing your letters!
Here’s the canned response I received from Vance Dennis, the other sponsor of the bill. He obviously did not read either of my e-mails. He sent the same response to the two e-mails that I sent. Further, I don’t live in his district and he isn’t my representative. I love the part that states, “I will take your concerns under advisement as I learn more about the bill.” Funny since is the bill’s sponsor.
“I want to thank you for your recent email regarding the legislation that will likely come before the Tennessee General Assembly this year. As your state representative I will take your concerns under advisement as I learn more about the bill and the effects it will have on the district.
I expect there to be a thorough discussion on this matter. I would expect no less of the Tennessee House of Representatives. I always welcome your thoughts and concerns. As we move forward on this issue during session I will have a more definitive answer, feel free to contact me with further input.
Sincerely,
Vance Dennis
District 71”
Holly, I can understand the use of canned responses to put out a position en masse, but if a constituent (or any other citizen) continues the dialogue, perhaps that person deserves to have his or her points addressed directly. I can also understand the idea of a citizen utilizing the public forum by attending open legislative sessions, but not all citizens can appear before a state legislature. This is why we send letters.
Dennis should have responded by answering to the points you made directly the second time. Obviously, he must have enough information about the bill as co-sponsor to dialogue intelligently. If not, he isn’t doing his job which is an embarrassment to the position.
Our legislators do not live in some ivory tower of spin even though some may believe that they do. They work FOR the public and, as such, also ought to work WITH the public. How is it that they often get away with forgetting this in between elections?
Heck yeah!! Go TN.