This is a great letter from a teacher to the state board of education on Tennessee:
“Dr. Nixon,
Speaking from 32 years of experience in education–both public and private–I beg you, implore you–yes, perhaps even grovel to you–to do your best to put to rest the issue of tying license renewal to student test scores. As I have never contacted the State Board of Education since I moved to Tennessee in 1988, I hope you will give me the courtesy of three minutes to hear me out.
“I have no problem with Common Core. I have no problem with the TEAM evaluation tool. I have no problem with eliminating poor teachers. I do, however, have a problem with the too rapid implementation of these initiatives. Common Core implementation should take three to five years. (I read the manual.) Tennessee has attempted to do it in 18 months. TEAM is an excellent tool when used for the purpose that it was developed, the growth of teachers, but not when it is used as a stick to turn observations into Whack-a-Mole to see how many rubrics a teacher can hit in order to get a score to keep a job.
This final move to tie the ability to continue in one’s profession to a growth outcome based on a matrix that no one can adequately explain smacks of yet another attempt to paint teachers as the problem with education. In the dark of the confessional, both you and I know that this is egregiously untrue. The demoralizing effect this potential act can have on our teachers is one growth measure I feel I can adequately explain. In recent weeks I have listened to gifted teachers—yes, GIFTED teachers–who are talking of exiting the profession early. To quote one teacher, “I’m just so tired. If they would just leave me alone and let me teach the kids, I can do that.” This is a math teacher, an area Tennessee certainly cannot afford to drive away.
“I am not sure when it became a badge of shame to be a “professional educator.” Based on what we have seen in education in Tennessee in the last three years, I seriously look for the eradication of of colleges of education at our universities. We could certainly save money as a state, and if the present leadership in the Department of Education is any indication, a teaching degree is not necessary to teach; anyone can do it. Following this train of thought, I’ve been to a doctor’s office. I know what happens in a doctor’s office. I think I’ll practice medicine for a couple of years when I retire. Maybe I’ll even teach in a medical school and train doctors.
“As a former English teacher, a Tennessee citizen, a voter, a taxpayer, and one who is passionate about seeing children have opportunities to improve their lives through education, I pray fervently that you and the entire Board will bring this runaway train to a screeching halt and vote down this measure.
“Sincerely,
“[A Tennessee educator]”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Dear NY Commissioner John King:
Please read the outstanding letter above.
Love those rubrics. Our district began using them and allow almost no leeway for experienced teachers, saying we should be “excellent” in all areas … Without having gone through Praxis training the Domains.
I can’t tell you how poorly our principal would have rated on random evaluations of her domains! And, somewhere along the line teachers became non-humans with no differentiations for our specific strengths and needs.
What this teacher is missing is that getting rid of him and just about every other teacher (except for those that tow the line) and replace them with low paying Teach For America brainwashed drones is the plan. Turning every public school into a Charter School with no elected school board (to totally strip local and parental control) is also part of the plan. Look at who is the Director for the Achievement School District in TN (this is where all the failing schools will go and there will huge numbers falling into this group) Chris Barbic……he is a Broad graduate (2011). Broad is all about privatization of public education….and this is why Chris Barbic is where he is….he is there to do the dirty work of the rich and demented. Barbic also worked at TFA. Kevin Huffman…..TFA for 10 years. He also was involved in an accounting scandal in which the money has never been accounted for nor was it returned to TFA……and now he controls billions of dollars in TN. He just gave a $6 million dollar no bid contract to TFA. Do you see the picture yet??? There is only one answer. STOP writing letters and begging these criminals to do the right thing. EVERY parent in Tennessee that has children in the Public School system needs to pull them out TODAY!!! Every teacher needs to walk off the job. Create such chaos that the system will either listen to us or go bankrupt. What will you do with your kids? Figure it out. Where there is a will there is always a way. Believe me in a week the state will be on their knees and ready to comply. Anything less will see the future of your grandchildren to be one of total government control. We have already given up education to the federal government and you are being lied to. Ask Kevin Huffman if he can CHANGE the CC standards. Change even one word. He cannot. NGA and CCSSO own the copyright to the standards. All changes requested by the state must go through the US Dept of Education. Does that sound like the state is still in control?? WAKE UP. Teachers unite………Parents unite. The time for talking to these criminals is OVER. Time to take action…..serious action. Writing a letter begging like a fool is taking the easy way out. I can hear it now……oh well I wrote a letter and they didn’t listen to me……wah, wah, wah. Take action it is the only answer we have. Time is not on our side in this battle.
I have a friend who wants to live in TN because she says they have no state income tax. Is that true? How do they fund basic education there?
Property tax. TN has a high sales tax. 9.25% and they tax everything. Food and clothes…everything. There are other states that do not have an income tax other than TN. FL has no income tax either.
TN has a sales tax on all goods & products sold but no income tax. The state sales tax is set at 7% and local cities or counties add additional sales tax that funds education. Many counties impose an additional tax raising it up to about 10.24%. TN funding for education is the lowest in the nation and teachers here are accustomed to participating in multiple fundraisers (coupon books, cookie dough, candy, wrapping paper, you name- kids & teachers have sold it) to get supplies or take kids on field trips.
Not having a state income tax is not an advantage. Rural counties with high unemployment are some of the poorest in the country and would not survive without public schools, prisons, law enforcement & the post office.
That is what I assumed. Isn’t a sales tax regressive? So, in areas where the poor live, there wouldn’t be much money for the schools and those who can least afford it must pay the same amount as those who can afford it. I guess education isn’t a priority in those areas. But, my friend is a tax resenter. She’d find a way to pay less sales tax if she had to buy out of state. Anything to save “her” tax money. Strange world out there.
What so many tax regressives don’t understand is if they are not in the upper 5 % income bracket, they pay HIGHER taxes relative to a percentage of their salaries. Every time food, housing, clothing & energy prices rise we loose more & more of our income just to buy necessities of life.
Texas has no state income tax.
I agree withh Karen Bracken. I am afraid by the time teachers awaken to this truth it will be too late.
I think eventually we are all going to have to look at some type of radical disruption to get our point across as Karen Bracken said. The list of offenders and their offenses just keep going on and on like a broken record – Bennett, Rhee, Huffman, King, Chicago it is the same story over and over. At what point do we say we are not going to allow this to happen to education? To our children?