The newly elected Governor Of Tennessee, Bill Lee, has selected the former director of Betsy DeVos’s Tennessee Federation for Children as his education Policy Advisor.
DeVos founded the American Federation for Children, which has numerous state affiliates.
The DeVos groups advocate for public funding of religious schools, homeschooling, cyberschooling, and anything other than public schooling.
If the people of Tennessee want to keep their public schools, they will have to persuade their state legislators to oppose the new Governor’s education agenda.
The linked article in Chalkbeat says that students in voucher schools get lower test scores, which is true. It also says that kids who use vouchers have higher graduation rates, which is not true, because the dropout rate from voucher schools is very high, and the “graduation rate” does not include the large number that left and returned to public school. If it did, the voucher schools would have a far lower graduation rate than local public schools. The first such study, from Milwaukee, reported that 44% of the voucher students dropped out to return to public schools, but were not included in the denominator when the voucher schools’ graduation rate was calculated. Only the survivors were counted.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
” The first such study, from Milwaukee, reported that 44% of the voucher students dropped out to return to public schools, but were not included in the denominator when the voucher schools’ graduation rate was calculated. Only the survivors were counted.”
And the unfashionable public schools that were there to take those kids were neglected, ignored and denigrated while the voucher schools were endlessly promoted and celebrated in article after article and hundreds of ed reform marketing campaigns and speeches.
They take our schools for granted- the disfavored public system that exists only to make the choice experiments possible.
How are Milwaukee PUBLIC schools doing, by the way? Has anyone lifted a finger for them in the last 20 years? Those schools must still be full of students, right? Why don’t those kids matter?
Where’s the university study on privatization effects on PUBLIC schools? There’s a study Gates and Walton won’t be funding.
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Lee has publically stated his desire to improve tech Ed in our state. I am with him on this, provided it is do one through opportunity scholarships at existing and expanded tech schools. The ones we have here are exceptional and have been for years, inspite of the over two decades of ignoring that has been heaped on them to the detriment of the students who are going into the trades and know it. What I fear is that he will open the gates for private tech schools to get state money producing unprepared graduates who have big debts and no skills. The private tech school,is already a problem.
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Google ALEC and Education and workforce. The legisilation is ALEC. I feel like Lee is in this to make a buck.
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Yeah, we make this mistake over and over: we like a word reformers use, and we think, it has the same meaning for us as for them. They do this on purpose to fool us.
We always have to look at the intended endgame, and see if we like that too.
The typical word they use is “choice”. I think Americans are born with liking the word because it is associated with freedoms—another word they like. But we now start seeing that choice and freedom usually means “choice and freedom for the 1%”.
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I live in Tennessee, I’m completely discouraged. I feel like we have no one in power who actually supports Public Education. The district I live is touted as a top performing district, however, the local County Commission refuses to raise property taxes, if vouchers pass, we will have VERY bad funding problems. AND wouldn’t you know it, this county with great Public Schools voted for him, but not me! In addition, a few years ago, Americans for Prosperity dumped campaign money into the school board election to “GET RID” of common core. Education is a mess in Tennessee right now and the State just voted in the wrong candidate!
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There was no getting rid of common corpse. They renamed it instead. Meanwhile we are being forced to teach all ninth graders algebra, regardless of whether teachers think they are ready for it.
I must say that I share your pessimism. We have thus far defeated the attempts at funding vouchers here. How long can we hold out?
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Oh I know they renamed it, they fooled everyone, Americans for Prosperity helped in writing the bill to change TN Standards to reflect TN “values”. Incredibly frustrated right now and very sick of it.
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Roy,
Good one … “common corpse.”
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Well, perhaps this will help your pessimism a bit
Shelby County Schools board may call for elimination of TNReady
(TNReady is the year end NCLB/ESSA mandated standardized test in TN)
https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/education/2018/11/27/shelby-county-schools-board-eliminate-tnready/
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But no doubt, we cannot expect anything good from TN politicians after these midterm elections. Resistance has to come from lower ranks—like schoolboards and teachers.
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Q If the people of Tennessee want to keep their public schools, they will have to persuade their state legislators to oppose the new Governor’s education agenda. END Q
I used to live in Tennessee. Why do you think this? Has the new governor advocated demolishing or phasing out the public schools there?
Every state, that has school choice/vouchers, also has public schools. Even Indiana, where virtually every family can opt-out of the public system, continues to have functioning public schools.
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Vouchers and charters drain funding from public schools.
95% of kids lose arts and other subjects and get larger classes so that 5% can go to religious schools
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We used to have a moderate electorate in Tennessee. Back in the 48 democratic convention, when the Dixiecrats walked out, Tennessee had two courageous senators, Estes Kefauver and Albert Gore Sr., who refused to go along with the bigots at the risk of their own careers. Even in recent years, privatization schemes have repeatedly been defeated in a legislature dominated by republicans.
This cycle, however, has indicated a push for more conservative candidates, with moderate Bredesen being defeated by Blackburn, who moved to the radical right to get elected. Some in our electorate would roast students on a spit if it would keep their taxes low.
Without strong action, we will see the Floridification of our state educational efforts, with money going to half-baked schools with underpaid teachers in a revolving door atmosphere.
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Tennessee does not have the tax base to support choice like Indiana. Indiana has higher property taxes and a State income tax. I would not say the Indiana Public Schools have benefited from choice. There are districts in which public schools have literally shut down. IN Superintendents are begging for better funding.
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Charles, stop wasting your time.
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Another thing we need to keep an eye on in TN education is higher ed. We have to see how the new governor will start using (“free”) community colleges to train workers for corporation through “partnerships”, and how the seven 4 year public universities would get “transformed” after each of their boards were personally appointed by the current governor.
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