A Whisper Becoming A Prayer
“I know the word "incompetent" from my father. He uses it when there's something political on TV, or when he and Uncle Miki are quarreling about something political they've seen on TV. Incompetence means doing something even though you haven't the faintest idea how to--like governing Yugoslavia, for instance.”
― Saša Stanišić, How the Soldier Repairs the Gramophone
We often hear admonishments against building the plane as we are flying it. I can't find anybody that would advocate for such a strategy. Yet here we are in Tennessee, and that's exactly what legislators are trying to do in an effort to appease a Governor, who by all accounts should be considered a lame duck.
For some godforsaken reason - one only known by himself and Corey DeAngelo - Governor Bill Lee decided that an election year would be the perfect time to run a voucher bill. At a time when divisions are still mending from the last go-around, with indictments still hanging in the wind.
The decision itself might be forgivable, had the Governor not decided to wait until November to make his intent known, leaving legislators to scramble to craft a passable bill. It's been a work in progress ever since. Will changes to the happening weekly, even as we enter the final weeks of session.
Meh. Who needs to campaign when there is a shit sandwich to try and digest?
Actual legislation wasn't even revealed until mid-February. Even then, instead of getting simpler, things only became more complex.
Initially, there were three competing bills - the governors, the House, and the Senate. The Governor's version faded to black pretty quickly, but while the House and Senate versions still exist, are two very different animals.
The Senate remains a straightforward voucher bill that embeds voucher funding in the state's public school funding system (TISA).
The House bill is an education reform bill, chock full of things that will benefit schools, students, and teachers. These are items that come directly from the state's education stakeholders, and there is no reason to believe they would improve students' outcomes. If they stay in the bill.
Personally, I applaud House members for trying to attach needed legislation to an unpopular bill deeply desired by the Governor, Leverage is everything, and they smartly chose to use that leverage to mitigate the potential damage of Lee's voucher vision.
I'm still baffled by the number of long-time politicos who have forgotten that over the last few months. It's all about using the carrot and the stick in equal measure. There is a reason why each party has a designated Whip.
Whether the added items get stripped out of the House bill or not has become the million-dollar question. One acerbated once again, by Governor Lee's unwillingness to fund the amendment that lists those benefits.
Is anybody noticing a trend here?
To fund the amendment, House leaders are proposing raiding the fund dedicated to teacher raises.
"The No. 1 issue they have in a lot of areas is the amount they have to pay for insurance," House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) said of teacher feedback education committee members have received. "We propose to pay 60%, and increase what the state pays with a goal of trying to get to 80%. That would increase the take-home pay of what teachers take, in a lot of instances, and it frees up a lot of money locally that they can put back into teacher increases if they so choose."
House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland) echoed the Speaker.
"When we put teacher raises out there, there are many counties where they’re not getting raises," he's said. "So if you’ll just raise the amount we put towards their health insurance, that actually is money that could go directly into the teacher's pockets and that’s what we want to do.
Fair enough. For years, legislators have been stymied by their ability to increase teachers' salaries. They designate money, and districts divert it to other needs. TISA was supposed to solve that issue but did not.
Despite how it was advertised, TISA, just like the previous BEP, is a funding plan and not a spending plan. Lawmakers have little control over how a district spends its money once it hits their account. Some of that is about to change, but we'll talk more about that soon.
Time now for a little math. We'll use a $22K annual premium as a basis, I don't think that is too far off for most teachers. Save the young single ones.
Currently, the state pays 45% or $9900, which leaves $12,100 for teachers to pick up.
Now let's say the state picks up 60%. That's $13,200 for the state and $8800 for the teacher. A difference of $3300. Divide that up over 20 weeks and you get $165 a paycheck. That's before taxes, realistically it's closer to 100 or $50 a week. Which is about the same as the last few state-granted pay raises.
That's provided the districts actually apply the money to teachers. No guarantee there.
Let's be honest about the 80% and ever getting there. It ain't happening until the next time teachers have a little leverage.
I don't know what leadership is thinking, but nobody is going to embrace this idea, and the optics alone are awful. Who wants to go out and campaign on the argument that teachers benefitted from the General Assembly stealing their money to pass voucher legislation?
Once again, Lee could have supported legislators by funding an amendment that would benefit everyone and instead decided to throw a high pass across the middle. thereby leaving his "friends" exposed once again.
Again, has anyone noticed a pattern? I bet they have on the national stage and it's probably why you haven't heard Lee's name mentioned for any positions.
This week both bills were supposed to be heard in their respective finance committees. Both, instead, have been rolled while leaders convene to try and reach a consensus bill. One that will satisfy enough people in both bodies to support it.
Here we go, breaking out the screw guns and bolts even as the plane heads toward the landing pad.
A little over three weeks left in the session and the legislation is still being written. A law that could ultimately cost the state a billion dollars is still being written on the fly. Maybe the Governor and Legislators need to take a project management class because none of this is considered best practice.
There have been rumblings that if the Hoses can't get the Senate to budge on compromise, the bill will be stripped down to its essence, and run. If it doesn't pass opponents will be targeted during this election season, and next year we'll just do this dance again.
Don't think that won't have repercussions. There is already limited trust in the General Assembly, and they've been saying all along that House leadership was just running a bait-and-switch. Stripping the House bill down will just confirm those accusations.
Ultimately, this could lead to a tougher path to re-election for incumbents.
I'm no News 5 reporter Phil Williams. I don't get all worked up over hardball politics. Remember that carrot and that stick?
Politics is a contact sport, and every decision comes with potential consequences. Any legislator who took office without that realization, probably ain't long for Capital Hill. The question becomes, who has the numbers?
Who has the influence?
Who has the political capital to expend?
Last election cycle the Governor targeted four House members, he only got two of them. With most of his operatives having fled to the private sector, I doubt he's gotten any better at the game.
Americans For Prosperity is out there trying to flex their muscle. How much is bluff and how much is reality remains to be seen.
Their chief advocate, Corey DeAngelo, has been all over social media talking about the election upheaval in Texas where 6 members lost their races in an effort to instill fear. He's also using the carrot by showing repeatedly touting the adoption of Education Freedom accounts in other states.
As far as Texas goes, I doubt those are all the result of single-issue voters, but maybe. Texas ain't Tennessee though.
Tennessee Republicans have bigger issues. This session has seen proposed laws over chemtrails, vegetables, cold beers, marriage between first cousins, and PRIDE flags, along with the inability of anyone in leadership to manage a couple Sophomore House members. There are serious questions about exactly what is going on.
Any incumbent that showed up at my door would be greeted with a, "What the fuck are y'all doing?"
To be perfectly frank, I would marry my first cousin if the state could get food costs under control, get me some tax relief, and fix the roads so I didn't break an axle every time I drove down the highway.
Tennessee has a Republican supermajority, but they have not been acting like conservatives. Where is the support for local control, small government, and personal freedoms?
Instead, they are following the lead of a Governor that seems to be more Democrat than Republican.
Somebody should file a warrant against Lee for arson. Because that's what he commits every day he's in office..
Only it's political capital he's taken a torch to instead of houses and business. It's political careers that he's torching. The amount of air that has been sucked out of the room with his pet project and national pandering is inexcusable.
All in the name of a select number of individuals trying to pry the money out of the hands of a different set of individuals loathe to let a dime go.
I don't believe for one second that vouchers are a transformative idea that will serve as a vehicle for saving kids, any more than I believe vouchers will be the death knell of public education.
I do believe that a voucher program will decrease the number of non-government-controlled education options available to Tennesseans. That's a marketing slogan and an argument to raise prices rolled into one.
In 10 years when we do the autopsy on the public school system, it won't be vouchers, charter schools, or Teach for America who will be the primary culprit. It'll be the system and its failure to treat students and teachers right. It'll be the system's inability to loosen control and adapt that rings the death knell. The signs are everywhere, you just have to be willing to read them.
Over the last few months, everybody has preached about Arizona and the exploding costs associated with their voucher program. Let's look at another state.
Wisconsin has had voucher programs for decades, yet public education is still in existence, albeit with declining enrollment, but arguably thriving.
Between 2020 and 2022, private school enrollment increased by more than 5,000 students statewide. Home school enrollment, meanwhile, soared in fall 2020 by 47.3 percent or 10,234, up to 31,878 students. While those students still represent a small portion of the state's children, they are significant.
When you hear the wealthier districts in Tennessee speak out in opposition to vouchers, rest assured that it's homeschoolers they are scared of.
Last year, 86K Wisconsin students received vouchers, The value of a K-8 voucher jumped from $8,400 to $9,500 per student. For high school students, it jumped from $9,045 to $12,000. That's not insignificant.
Wisconsin also allows children to attend a public school outside of their home district. In the 2023 school year, 73,280 students transferred, up 1,791 students from the previous year.
The Public School Open Enrollment Program is funded by state general equalization aid transfers between sending and receiving school districts, with the transfer amount calculated on statutory provisions. For the 2023-24 school year, the transfer amount is an estimated $8,618 per student or $13,470 for students with disabilities. Resident districts cannot deny a student’s open enrollment application for cost reasons.
So, what kind of results does the Wisconsin school system produce? By most accounts, using various factors, the state falls in the top 10. Tennessee unfortunately falls much lower - typically ranked in the 30s.
Wisconsin spends just shy of a billion a year on vouchers. The entire amount spent on public education is $13.24 billion for just under a million students. A hefty cost, but they get an exceptional system for that amount.
By contrast, Tennessee spends $11.6 billion annually for a similar number of students.
I don't think that vouchers are the secret sauce in the difference, but I do think a willingness to focus on students plays a role.
That's something we could use hear in Tennessee.
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This week saw the General Assembly vote to vacate the Tennessee State University board. The university is an HBCU plagued by administrative issues over the years. Recent growth has created housing problems for the university, as it has for many schools nationwide, putting the school under the eye of legislators.
Over the last two years, the State Comptroller office has produced several audits critical of TSU's financial management.
In an audit of the 2022 fiscal year, the office included nine findings related to lack of oversight for finances, and at least three findings have been previously reported in other audits. The audit of the state itself for FY23 includes six findings concerning how the university handles federal grant awards for students financial aid.
The State's action wasn't taken without issues. In the House Government Operations Committee, an amendment was passed to vacate only three of the eight board seats. But as soon as the amendment was brought to the floor for discussion, the vice chair of the committee, Rep. Jay Reedy (R-Erin), withdrew the amendment. Objections were made, but a vote along party lines removed the amendment from consideration.
Harold Love (D-Nashville) attempted to revive the amendment but was told by the clerk that since it had been withdrawn a new amendment would need to be filed.
This caused objections from Democrats who attempted to either roll the bill a week or refer it back to other committees in an attempt to buy time to reintroduce the amendment. All efforts were voted down.
The delays did give Love time to file a new amendment, which was the same as the old amendment that had been withdrawn. While five Republicans voted with the Democrats — Rep. Sam Whitson (R-Franklin), Rep. Jody Barrett (R-Dickson), Rep. Monty Fritts (R-Kingston), Rep. Ron Gant (R-Piperton) and Rep. Hurt (R-Halls) — it was not enough to pass the amendment.
State Representative Bo Mitchell (D-Nashville) asked the million-dollar question.
“Have we ever vacated an entire board of a university before?” Mitchell said. “But an HBCU that we owe $2 billion to? ‘Oh, yeah. We’re going to take their board.’”
Ultimately, the House voted 66-25 to vacate all eight seats of Tennessee State University’s board. The Senate had previously passed its version 25-6 on March 21.
If you are curious about the invisible hand behind all of this, all you need to know is that Governor Lee not only signed the law hours after passage but named the 8-member board as well. So a Governor who can't craft timely legislation can name 8 board members within hours of passage. Color me skeptical.
The outcome of that vote was known before anyone walked into the chambers. It was a foregone conclusion.
For the record, the new board members are all TSU graduates. They are:
Trevia Chatman, president, Bank of America Memphis
Jeffery Norfleet, provost and vice president for administration, Shorter College
Marquita Qualls, founder and principal, Entropia Consulting
Terica Smith, deputy mayor and director of human resources, Madison County
Charles Traughber, general counsel, division of real estate, retail, and financial services at Bridgestone Americas
Dwayne Tucker, CEO of LEAD Public Schools
Kevin Williams, president and CEO of GAA Manufacturing
Dakasha Winton, senior vice president and chief government relations officer at BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee.
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Now time for a little positive news. Once again Tennessee is home to the National Teacher of the Year.
Rogerville's Missy Testerman beat out other worthy contestants to win the award given annually by the Council of Chief State School Officers. Rogersville City Schools Director Edwin Jarnagin is rightfully proud of his ESL teacher's accolade.
"Her dedication to the teaching profession and her students is truly exceptional and has shaped her reputation of being known as a leader and mentor to her colleagues," Jarnagin said in a news release from the Tennessee Department of Education. "Missy exemplifies excellence in how she collaborates with our community and connects families across the rural Rogersville area to set students up for success."
Tennessee Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds was equally proud of the national award winner.
"Missy is deeply committed to her students and community, serving as a leader, mentor, and advocate, and I am thrilled she will be able to take her expertise nationwide and impact thousands of educators over the next year," Reynolds said in a news release from the Tennessee Department of Education.
Testerman is the first National Teacher of the Year in 35 years.
Hats off.
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As always, I need to rattle the cup a little bit before I head out the door.
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