The right-wing group called ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council) has model legislation to enable a governor to appoint a commission to authorize charter schools, thus bypassing those pesky local school boards that don’t want to bring privately managed schools to their local district. The local school boards are charged with improving their schools, not with dividing up the public funds between their schools and an out-of-state corporation that wants to open a school in its district.
This is the reason for the constitutional amendment that passed in Georgia. The privatizers objected to having to get the consent of local school boards, so they got the governor and legislature to put a measure on the ballot that was inaccurately described (something like “do you want to improve student achievement by opening charter schools,” rather than an honest description of the purpose of the law, which was to remove the powers of the local school boards).
Now in Tennessee, the Republicans have a super-majority (thanks in part to campaign contributions by Michelle Rhee’s StudentsFirst, which invested generously in GOP candidates).
As readers of this blog may recall, the Metro Nashville school board has turned down an Arizona-based charter chain called Great Hearts because it had an inadequate diversity plan.
It turned down Great Hearts four times, and the TFA State Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman (Rhee’s -ex) fined the Nashville schools $3.4 million for not doing what he wanted them to do.
Great Hearts now says it will not apply to the Nashville board again. Instead, it will wait until the state legislature creates an ALEC-style law creating a charter-friendly state board that won’t ask annoying questions about the lack of diversity in most of the Great Hearts charters.
In fact, the leader of Great Hearts said he was too busy to talk to the Metro Nashville board, and if the city’s director of schools wants to talk to him, he can fly to Arizona.
After Great Hearts gets approval from an “impartial” state board, then it will open “multiple” charters in Nashville.
He knows something. He knows that the governors, the state commissioner and the legislature will give him whatever he wants.
In other news from Nashville, the school board voted to close down a charter school with abysmal test scores (but powerhouse athletic teams). A KIPP school in Nashville was also in the bottom 5% in the state, but was not closed.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
All bow to the privatizer god named ALEC (all good and benevolent gods should have nice short names!!).
As a former TN public school sped teacher my heart is breaking for children and families whenever a new corporate deform becomes institutionalized. Children and families hurt the most are those with disabilities and are poor and disenfranchised. The TN lege, with its super majority, will give ALEC and the mogul class whatever they want.
Our unprincipled media will watch silently as TN public money enriches segregationists, whose PR machines will spin false successes and dole out contrived bonuses. Splashed over the front pages of newspapers, leading local TV news stories, are large color photos of “award winning” schools and principals who managed to work miracles. Huffman & Rhee’s lily white Teach for Americans and Achievement, Inc. are saving Memphis City Schools.
SCORE, the governor’s “independent”, bipartisan education task force headed by former senator Bill Frist, MD & former state senator Jamie Woodson, will run around touting the successes of TEAM/TAP/Tiger teacher evaluations, TVAAS, and the Common Core Standards. The men in the Chamber of Commerce will congratulate each other for a job well done. Everyone’s campaign donations will quadruple.
What is NOT in the media are the lived realities of real teachers and real students. TN teachers have no PR spin machine to expose these false images and illusions.
What is NOT in the paper are millions of children being left behind.
What is NOT in the media is TN teachers being told when to begin and when to complete prescribed curriculum units without regard to student understanding. Some kid’s didn’t get it? Too bad. Move on. We have a race to the top.
What is NOT in the media is the privatizers mask hiding the scarred, disfigured face of exclusion.
What’s not analyzed in the media is Woodson’s contempt for poor and disabled children.
What’s NOT in the paper is Woodson’s remark to an experienced teacher who asked her what the state is planning for the children who are experiencing constant failure because the ever increasing standards are too far beyond their developmental levels. How will the state and SCORE respond to the individual needs of children with educational delays?
What is NOT in the media is Woodson’s response: “we” are not going to spend money on kids who can’t meet the standards. (This is a paraphrase of the teacher who asked the question of Woodson and requested anonymity.)
That’s TN edu-reform in a nut shell.
Metro Nashville school board has turned down an Arizona-based charter chain called Great Hearts because it had an inadequate diversity plan.
At least one reader objected that Great Hearts too closely resembled the sort of parochial schools that allowed their Catholic graduates to join the middle class.
The school board video clearly shows concerns with the Great Hills pipeline of liberal arts trained teachers not being replicable in TN.
As to the “inadequate diversity plan,” transportation issues were raised, as well as concerns about replicating Great Hearts’ success in higher poverty areas of the city. It was deemed problematic to locate the school where the demand was.
So Nashville takes a new spin on John Dewey: “What not all parents want for their own children, no parents shall have.”
Great Hearts could have been more responsive to concerns raised by the Metro Nashville board. But they did sketch a first step toward providing a high quality option (in the eyes of some Nashville parents) to some Nashville schoolchildren.
Are we surprised if Nashville elites perceive that excellence is not a goal for the Metro Nashville schools?
“But they did sketch a first step toward providing a high quality option (in the eyes of some Nashville parents) to some Nashville schoolchildren.”
Yes, to those schoolchildren whose parents already have the means to send them to private school if they so desire.
In A democracy without civics? Lee Hamilton and Sandra Day O’Connor note “our schools’ failure when it comes to civic education is especially stark in communities most in need of civic engagement.” Nashville’s response? Perhaps they have their priorities confused. Why isn’t Nashville already offering what the (would-be) Great Hearts parents seek?
Several errors in this blog. Look to the Tennessee Charter Schools website next week for the corrections and clarifications.
Diane,
You’re wrong about KIPP Nashville. It had some of the highest scores in the city in math & reading. And was second in the state for math growth. Might want to check you’re sources an correct the post before slandering KIPP. (I think you’re referring to a sub-group scoring issue)
Important to note that the MNPS board is actually not at all hostile to charter schools. In fact, it approved other charter applications during the same cycle it denied Great Hearts, charter schools that it found met the needs of the community. The important issue here is that the people of Nashville elected our board members to make these decisions about what schools serve the needs of our community. The idea of taking this authority away from elected officials and putting into the hands of a distant, democratically unaccountable set of people is not a popular one.
…charter schools that it found met the needs of the community…
That’s not what the video shows.The MNPS staff and board expressed concerns with Great Hearts ability to replicate their teacher pipeline given TN teacher accreditation laws.
Or are you suggesting that supporters of Great Hearts have a view of high quality public schooling that is inconsistent with “the needs of the community?”