Now that Tennessee is controlled by Republicans who don’t like public schools, the money needed to operate them is slow to reach the districts.
Andy Spears of Tennessee Education Report reports that Sullivan County is contemplating closing its schools, at least temporarily, because the county commission is holding up necessary funding.
Unfortunately, Tennessee has had two consecutive Republican governors who support vouchers and charters, but not public schools.
Former Governor Haslam is now on the board of Teach for America and was a fervent supporter of privatization.
The new Governor Bill Lee pushed through a voucher program, which has not yet been funded.
Spears writes:
While disputes among school boards (which run schools) and county commissions (which provide funding) are not new, closing schools, even temporarily, is a fairly unusual occurrence.
It’s worth noting that if the state fully-funded the BEP 2.0 formula, Sullivan County would stand to gain some $5 million per year. Unfortunately, former Governor Bill Haslam froze BEP 2.0 and current Governor Bill Lee has chosen to fund a voucher scheme rather than invest significantly in public schools.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
What is happening in Tennessee is an example of government refusing to do its job. Privatization is emboldening politicians that are proponents of privatization. They have the power to control the purse strings of the state, and the public schools are at the mercy of biased politicians. This behavior will continue in red states unless the public votes them out or a lawsuit forces the state to release funds.
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and not just red states….
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It’s worth noting that TN plans to do much more against public schools: it will create a separate body, from its dept of education, to oversee charter schools. This new Chater School Commission is packed with charter and voucher supporters.
Tennessee governor appoints members of new state charter school commission
The commission eventually will take charter oversight away from the state Board of Education, which has had that responsibility since Tennessee opened the door to the publicly funded, independently operated schools under a 2002 law. Lee argued that the state needs a single group focused solely on ensuring that high-quality charter schools can open and ineffective ones are closed.
https://www.chalkbeat.org/posts/tn/2019/09/30/tennessee-governor-appoints-members-of-new-state-charter-school-commission/
The commission consists of CEOs, conservative politicians, politicians, charter school board members, none are educators—after all, charter schools are not about education.
Tom Griscom, of Hamilton County, a former director of White House communications under President Ronald Reagan, long-time aide to the late U.S. Sen. Howard Baker of Tennessee, and former executive editor and publisher of the Times Free Press in Chattanooga
David Hanson, of Davidson County, is managing partner of Hillgreen, a private investment firm, and serves on the board for Teach for America and Nashville-based charter network Valor Collegiate Academies.
Alan Levine, of Washington County in East Tennessee, CEO of Ballad Health and a one-time adviser to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush
Terence Patterson, of Shelby County, is the CEO of the Memphis Education Fundand former head of the Downtown Memphis Commission. He was also the chief of staff for Chicago Public Schools, later becoming the director of the Office of New Schools in Chicago, where he managed 113 new charter schools
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Mary Pierce, of Davidson County, was a leading charter school advocate during her one term as a school board member with Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools.
Christine Richards, of Shelby County, a former general counsel for FedEx
Derwin Sisnett, of Shelby County, co-founded Gestalt Community Schools, a Memphis-based charter school network. He is the founder and managing partner of Maslow Development Inc., a nonprofit organization that develops communities around high performing schools.
Eddie Smith of Knox County, is a Republican who served in the Tennessee House of Representatives from 2014 until 2018, when he was ousted by Democrat Gloria Johnson.
Wendy Tucker, of Williamson County, is an attorney and adjunct professor at Vanderbilt School of Law. A member of the state Board of Education since 2014, she has been an advocate of children with special needs.
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