Bill Lee, the newly elected Republican Governor of Tennessee, appears to be bad news for public schools.
“A product of public schools who chose a mix of public, private, and homeschooling for his own kids, Lee also talked about giving parents more choices for their children. He bolstered that talk — and raised eyebrows among traditional public education diehards — with his pick of Tony Niknejad as policy director for his campaign. Niknejad is the former state director of the American Federation for Children, a pro-school voucher group once chaired by former U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
“Still, Lee offered few outright promises or details on such policies during his months of campaigning.”
I hope I’m wrong.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
You have to hand it to the ed reform governors, though. They really go out of their way not to mention the vast, vast majority of students and families in their states.
Nothing for the public schools, governor? Not even a mention of those families and students? No, I guess not. The majority of his constituents are simply ignored.
He takes them for granted. They’re the “default” families- not worth addressing.
It’s our own fault, really. Public school families demand so little of them- we’re elaborately grateful if they agree to allow our schools to continue to exist. Low expectations.
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“I hope I’m wrong.”
I dunno, Diane, after this many years, I think you have a nose for these things. If it quacks like a duck….
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Was thinking the same thing. When was the last time instincts were wrong about a Reform-minded politician?
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I live in Tennessee and have been watching education policy for several years now. I think he is bad news. I’m very worried, however voters inthisnState continue to vote against their own self interest. We need you to come back for another presentation. Thx
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You keep fighting and developing the grassroots leadership to protect and improve your schools.
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Thank you. I’m trying
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The news report claims that Tennesse Schools are just short of wonderful–climed in national rankings. Someone is fact challenged for certain here are the report card by subjects and levels of achievement. ( See below)
Tennesse teachers and parents need to protect and secure sustained funding for their schools and stop the endless experiments with reforms that are exhausting and do not work. Good to see most!B paying attention.
https://www.tn.gov/education/data/report-card.html
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Tennessee education reformers are coming from all directions. Improvements on test scores can be easily explained the same way they always are, by economics. We have stable families moving in from other parts of the country, and we have some improvement on test scores. Where there is privation, test scores are low. Yawn. No news here.
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