The Tennessee legislature passed a voucher law. It was declared unconstitutional by lower courts.
However the State Supreme Court will revisit the issue. Voucher advocates are hopeful.
Think of all the low-cost, low-quality religious schools that will drain public dollars away from the state’s public schools.
Vouchers will not only take money away from the public schools, they will lower the overall quality of education in the state. Not a good way to build a better future.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This is good news: “Nashville Law Director Bob Cooper, who argued the case on behalf of the two local governments, said the basis for their case hasn’t changed.” Bob Cooper is an excellent attorney who knows how to argue and win tough cases.
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Do we know the political leanings of the members of the TN supreme court? How many conservatives, how many not so much?
They are here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_Supreme_Court
For example, the justice for the Western section (where Shelby county = Memphis is) was appointed in 2016 by the former governor, Haslam. Not a good sign. Two other judges out of the 5, including the chief justice, were also appointed by Haslam.
Based on the description, I do not have any idea how these judges are selected/elected.
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in 2019, according to the Nation’s Report Card, the NAEP, Tennessee was ranked 30th in both reading and math and its scores were mostly flat.
https://tn.chalkbeat.org/2019/10/29/21109126/tennessee-earns-mostly-flat-scores-on-nation-s-report-card-but-climbs-national-rankings-anyway
And, Building Better Schools reports “Charters Do NOt Perform Better Than Their Public School Counterparts” …
Charter School Stats
“During the past 15 years, 2,500 charter schools have either failed or been closed —impacting 288,000 children. In 2015, there were about 6,500 operating charter schools so the number of failures represents a large amount of disruption when compared to the total number.” …
“Minimal Accountability for Fraud, Mismanagement, or Low Performance
“Despite the fact that most for-profit charters perform abysmally, for-profit charter operators who made substantial political contributions have enjoyed political support in many states.” …
“Charters Drain Funds from Non-Charter Public Schools
“Many charters, even if performing adequately, drain substantial resources from neighborhood public schools or serve as a vehicle for massive privatization schemes.” …
“Charters and Crony Capitalism Create Sweetheart Deals
“Finally, the combined lobbying power of corporations and charters leads to questionable sweetheart deals—bonds for real estate where the public picks up the tab for land acquisition and construction that are ultimately owned by the charter’s sponsor, not the public. The taxpayers also pay for high-priced fees and the interest on these bonds. The accumulated debt owed by public funds is substantial. According to Bruce Baker:” …
http://www.buildingbetterschools.com/charter-schools-are-not-the-key-to-improving-public-education/
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Arne Duncan considered Tennessee the greatest success of Race to the Top. TN got $500 million. $100 million was for Achievement School District, which failed.
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Thanks for the excellent “Building Better Schools” article. The only thing I would add to the article is that public schools are democracy and local governance in action. Public schools help build and strengthen communities, but charters tear them down. When charter schools invade a community, they sometimes take over real estate and harm the existing public schools resulting in the majority of students sacrificing for the whims of a few. The long term erosion from expanding privatization is a massive transfer of wealth from the working class to the already wealthy.
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For those a you whose been thinkin a sending yore children to Bob’s Real Good Flor-uh-duh School, whir students learns HIS-story, jist lettin you know that Bob’s girlfriend Darlene, who rights all the curriculums, has added snake handling to are K-6 warship services. A big Flor-uh-duh gator hug to Dr. Diane Ravitch, who resently pointed out this oversite in are program. Dr. Ravitch: Its corected!!!
So, bring yore child on down to are Enrollmint Jubuhlee this Sunday at the old K-Mart parkin lot on Highway Hootalachee, across from the gun range, between Bob’s Total Landscaping and Wild Rita’s Adult Novelties.
Best of all, you can use your Flor-uh-duh State Educational Scholarship (Voucher) to pay for it, so it’s FREE as a TRUMP pardonee!
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