Chalkbeat reports the likelihood of a legal challenge to any voucher bill in Tennessee if State Senate passes one as House did yesterday in a contentious proceeding.

Read the details here.

Categories Privatization, Religion, Separation of church and state, Tennessee, Vouchers

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Chiara says:

April 25, 2019 at 9:17 am

“But instead of immediately ordering the vote to be tallied on the House’s electronic board as is customary, Casada paused the proceedings without explanation and spoke with lawmakers from both parties on a back porch behind the House chamber. When the speaker returned 38 minutes later, Rep. Jason Zachary, who was part of those discussions, flipped his vote from “no” to “yes” to break the tie and pass the governor’s signature education initiative.”

Vouchers are so incredibly popular, in such huge “demand”, he had to pull the lawmakers onto the back porch to give the voucher lobbyists some privacy to strong arm them.

I wonder if it was carrots or sticks. Oh, well. The upshot is no one in state government in Tennessee offered anything to public school students or families, so the big losers are the neglected and ignored public school students who attend ideologically incorrect “government schools”. Now they’ll devote the next six months of “work” to selling the vouchers.

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- Máté Wierdl says:
  
  April 26, 2019 at 6:09 pm
  
  “I wonder if it was carrots or sticks. ”
  
  Both. We stiil can spank is schools too in TN.
  
  But the Governor immediately supported some bills sponsored by those lining up behind his voucher plan, and withdrew his support from those who dared to oppose him.
  
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Linda says:

April 25, 2019 at 9:21 am

Republicans respecting the Constitution- Koch style.

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- Yvonne says:
  
  April 25, 2019 at 9:25 am
  
  Wonder if Republicans comprehend rather than just sound of words? If all the GOP does is sound out words, then there’s a LOT of room for misunderstanding. Words are not isolated from other words.
  
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Chiara says:

April 25, 2019 at 9:23 am

The lawmaker who flipped his vote under lobbyists pressure actually said his district would be “held harmless” under the new voucher law.

Tennessee maybe should think about hiring some politicians who do more for public schools than reluctantly agreeing not to harm them. I could even imagine hiring some people who actually provide some benefit or added value to public schools. That’s doable.

We really don’t have to accept “As your representative, I agree not to harm your schools this term”. Talk about “low expectations”. Demand more than that.

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- Máté Wierdl says:
  
  April 26, 2019 at 6:17 pm
  
  Well, that representative said this “If you promise me not to harm my district with vouchers, I vote to harm other districts with vouchers.”
  
  They even have these discussions on video, and nobody makes faces a’la Anthony Cody.
  
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Chiara says:

April 25, 2019 at 9:34 am

“WSJopinion op-ed from Mary Landrieu:
Democrats, Support Charter Schools
Progressives should join forces to protect and improve public education everywhere.”

This is a very nice sentiment, but the truth is ed reformers do absolutely nothing on behalf of public schools. The only reason there was any attention to public schools at all this past year is teachers went on strike. Without them we would have had yet another solid year of charter and voucher promotion.

They didn’t even advocate at the federal level to stop the Trump Administration cuts to public schools. They didn’t bother because they knew they had secured twice the funding for charters. All DeVos had to do was dangle more and more charter funding and push a giant federal voucher program and she co-opted the entire echo chamber.

We need our own advocates and policy people. People who don’t support public schools shouldn’t run public school policy. It hasn’t worked out well for public school students.

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retired teacher says:

April 25, 2019 at 9:59 am

It is great to see a grassroots group like the Pastors for Children fighting for public schools. Chiara is right. Where are the advocates for public education? The only defenders of public schools seem to be in the courts.

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- ciedie aech says:
  
  April 26, 2019 at 12:41 pm
  
  annually frustrating to watch teachers ACT across the nation now, but to see national teachers’ union leadership still tentative on aggressive public school support
  
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Charles says:

April 25, 2019 at 12:44 pm

.

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