“After all, when you come right down to it, how many people speak the same language even when they speak the same language?”
― Russell Hoban
Six months ago I told you that I didn't think they'd be able to get a voucher bill passed. Today, Governor Bill Lee confirmed the worst-kept secret in Tennessee, his Education Freedom Awards are done for this year.
“I am extremely disappointed for the families who will have to wait yet another year for the freedom to choose the right education for their child, especially when there is broad agreement that now is the time to bring universal school choice to Tennessee," Governor Lee said in a Monday morning statement. "While we made tremendous progress, unfortunately, it has become clear that there is not a pathway for the bill during this legislative session."
Much of the blame, fairly or unfairly, will fall on the shoulders of Tennessee House members and their over-ambitious bill.
After all, the state Senate seemed willing to pass a more modest bill, but couldn't reconcile with the House on a bill that could pass in the lower chamber. But, keep in mind, the Senate never passed anything out of their finance committee. A bill never hit the Senate floor, so we'll never know how much was reality and how much was political posturing.
The real blame though falls with Governor Lee. A governor with an ounce of political savvy, or even a slight awareness, would have known that an election year is not the year to take on something of this magnitude. Still he pushed forward to an inevitable failure.
None of this is dissimilar from his failed Special Session aimed at addressing gun violence in Tennessee. Talk about sealing a legacy.
None of this should come as a surprise, Lee is best described by the title of the accidental governor. A political novice who entered the 2019 race from the back of the pack and some how beat out more experienced candidates in the primary before defeating the Democrat challenger Karl Dean for the governorship.
In 2022, he won re-election against a Democrat candidate with little name recognition.
Throughout his tenure as Governor, Lee has shown an inability to surround himself with the right department heads. His choices for State Education Commissioner - Penny Schwinn and Lizzette Gonzales - were both train wrecks.
Despite Schwinn's debatable ability to move policy forward, many of those initiatives are beginning to fade away.
The former commissioner was a strong proponent of both the Science of Reading and high-dosage tutoring. Neither of these is holding up well under increased scrutiny. Her other legacy policy, Grow You Own, is also on life support. Out of the initial individual teacher training programs, only the University of Kentucky and the University of Tennessee remain participants.
Much like with his special session, Lee's voucher initiative came with little definition. It wasn't until several weeks into the session that specific bills were introduced. In my eyes, this was a decisive lack of leadership on the Governor's part.
Throughout the Spring, Lee held specific bills at arm's length, as if he was picking up roadkill and moving it out of the road.
When asked about his signature legislation by the press, he would often speak in platitudes, while never lending support to any specific details.
Lee's lack of leadership allowed the discussion to become rooted in philosophy instead of policy, and despite the best efforts of Senate and House leadership, it forever stayed there.
As much as I had qualms about Lee's bill, on a personal note, the defeat is bittersweet.
Mine is one of those families, that makes too little to afford private schools while making too much to garner much empathy or aid. It's a position I think many parents find themselves in.
In three years there will be even more MNPS parents in that boat when they realize that due to this year's lottery fiasco, there will be no seats for the city's academic magnet school Hume-Fogg outside those guaranteed by the admission to the automatic feeder school. But that's another conversation for another day.
I tend to try not to talk too much about personal schooling decisions, out of respect for my children, but it is April and I don't have a clear idea where my son will attend high school because of available options.
We'd hoped to attend a private school to give him the best opportunity athletically but did not qualify. While it was offered that some disciplinary issue in 6th grade contributed to his ineligibility, I'm pretty sure that my financial situation didn't elicit any confidence in our ability to make tuition payments, even with a robust financial aid package.
We are left with our zoned school and one district school slightly further away as the only remaining options.
Neither is a bad choice, but neither does either offer the full potential afforded by a private school, or a school in a neighboring county. Ultimately it'll likely be the zoned school, as I don't see a means to overcome the transportation challenges of the out-of-zoned school. It's not the to and from school that presents the issue, but rather the getting home from football, basketball, and baseball practice that will create the biggest issues.
I already spend two hours a day transporting my daughter to the district school of the Arts, where she is thriving. But, if I didn't have that ability, she wouldn't be attending that school, and would instead be at her zoned school which would not be as good a fit.
Last week, someone asked me, do I feel trapped? I do.
Nothing against our zoned school, but yeah, I do feel trapped. This is why wealthy lawmakers talking about the importance of public education while sending their kids to private schools is so enraging.
Whether you realize it or not, the message is that zoned schools are good for my kids, but not yours. You recognize the advantage provided to your children while denying any pathway to those same advantages to my child. Tell me if roles were reversed that wouldn't piss you off.
Don't tell me it's a money issue, because even as money increases, high-paying jobs at the district office increase. Money for curriculum that takes away teacher autonomy is increased. The district invests in turf for the football fields but not for weight training and nutritional information for middle schoolers in preparation for high school.
People say don't take it personally, but I don't know how you can't when you clearly see the doors that will never be opened for your children due to a lack of opportunity.
Will they be fine?
Sure, but we'll never know the heights they could have soared or the dreams that could have been realized, had they not been used as political pawns.
In that light, it's hard to watch all the celebrating of the demise of vouchers by those employed by or serving wealthier public school districts.
Mortgages serve equally as cost-prohibitive gatekeepers as do high tuition rates. In the end, what they are celebrating is the preservation of the advantage afforded to those who can afford the mortgages in their districts.
Over the weekend there was an article in The Tennessee Star that exposed the root of the problem with traditional schools.
"For 19 years, I was a master of time. Down to the minute, I controlled time for others and used it to meet my and others’ ends, irrespective of the desires of those in front of me. In short, I was a public-school teacher, and controlling time was my talent. Although I and other adults often talked about helping students reach their potential and grow as learners, what we really did each day was control their time and force upon them ideas and subjects in which most of them had little to no interest."
Streitel goes on to write:
"What if there were a better way? A way to help each student learn the way he or she learns best, develop autonomy, explore passions, and take control of his or her own time? Thankfully, that way does exist in the form of alternative schools and learning programs that continue to increase in number each day."
I've experienced this regularly. Compliance is often elevated over learning. As my son has pointed out on numerous occasions. "Grades don't necessarily demonstrate your intelligence as much as they measure your ability to follow orders."
I'm extremely proud of my daughter's academic achievements, but the boy's not 100% wrong.
But do we discuss this? No.
I'd love to see a deeper conversation around a better way to meet the needs of more students, as opposed to serving the needs of more adults.
Instead, we celebrate, the maintaining of an inequitable school system.
I doubt that'll happen though. instead next year, we'll be back talking about the same old thing, using the same old talking points.
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If word on the street is to be believed, the Tennessee Department of Education is on the verge of losing another employee. Chief of Staff Chelsea Crawford is the latest to call it a day.
The former CRISP Communications employee is rumored to be leaving at the end of the month.
Crawford served as the face for a series of meetings sponsored by the TDOE to discuss school letter grades. The meetings served as the precursor to Commissioner Reynolds changing the formula used to calculate individual school and district letter grades. None of the ideas shared at the 12 town halls made it into the Commissioner's final draft, but it was an opportunity to gather and take photos.
Speaking of Commissioner Reynolds, her future with the TDOE continues to remain in question.
She was brought to Tennessee as a policy wonk who was highly skilled at implementing policy. She has proven to be neither.
Since her previous employer, ExcellinEd, and Governor Lee shared the same goal of universal vouchers, it was assumed that she was here to grease the wheels. Unfortunately for the Governor, she revealed herself to be inept at selling the policy to legislators, A fair share of the blame for the failure of voucher legislation falls on her shoulders. Had she been better at presenting the perceived benefits, the bill might have been more welcome.
Unfortunately, she was better at providing sound bites for the opposition than she was at stating the merits of increased school choice.
I suspect that sometime before the start of high school football season she'll slide on back to Texas.
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Bet you thought teacher staffing issues have abated over the last year. That would be a wrong assumption.
Based on a report by the Pew Research Center, only 33% of teachers reported being extremely/very satisfied with their jobs, with 48% answering “somewhat.” That compares to a Pew survey which found 51% of all U.S. workers were very satisfied (plus 37% somewhat satisfied).
51% were not satisfied with their pay. 3 in 10 teachers say they may look for a new job this year, with 69% looking to get out of the classroom, either into a non-teaching education job or a job outside the profession entirely.
Currently, Metro Nashville Public Schools has over 900 teaching positions listed on its website. In a district that employs roughly 6000 teachers, that translates to roughly 15% of the workforce.
MNPS has 9 Elementary principals retiring at the end of this school year. Over the last several years, the district has replaced between 15 and 20 principals each year. I suspect this year's numbers will be similar.
The district regularly promotes equity in its hiring. A belief that is not visible in its hirings. Currently, despite the increased growth of Hispanic students, there are only 2 Hispanic principals.
Recruitment remains the district's preferred method of filling staffing holes, with little attention paid to retention.
If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times, you can't fill a leaky bucket by simply patching the bucket. At some point, you have to patch the holes in the bucket.
District HR maintains that they've improved in teacher support, but I've seen little evidence to support that determination. We just keeping more on the plate while taking little off.
It amazes me that every school board and county commissioner will draft resolutions about rejecting vouchers, which would have a limited impact either way, but never draft anything to demand the retention of teachers, whose value is well established.
Veteran teachers, if allowed offer means to move beyond a standard curriculum.
Teacher retention should be our primary focus. As teacher Peter Greene points out:
"The point of hiring trained and eventually experienced professionals for the work is so that they can exercise professional judgment as they deal directly with students. A system that requires each teacher to teach the same lesson in the same way using the same language on the day at the same time is a system that erases most teacher autonomy and agency and eliminates their ability to exercise professional judgment. Sorry kids-- You're having trouble with this concept, and I know some ways to further get it across, but the script says we have to move on. Show me a school that says it's using this kind of curriculum with success, and I'll show you a school that is selecting students for whom it works and getting rid of the ones for which it does not (belief in a perfect system is terrible for students because the unavoidable reasoning is that if my program is perfect, that failing student must be defective somehow)."
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Voucher season now gives way to charter school season. Tomorrow night the MNPS School Board is expected to consider 5 applications, 2 by current operators.
I'll spare you the suspense, none will be approved, and board members, unencumbered by the rules governing public commentary, will have ample time for public posturing. Much of which be oft-repeated as the operators are likely to apply to the state to override the board's decision.
This should keep us occupied until voucher season begins anew in the Fall.
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Per usual, I need to rattle the cup a little bit before I head out the door.
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Probably not a popular opinion, but anyone who wants to homeschool can homeschool. No one is trapped by their zip code or their mortgage. Single parents, working parents, poor parents…..plenty in these categories have made the sacrifices to pull their kids from public education and homeschool. Those of us who oppose vouchers do so because they turn homeschool from an escape from public education into an extension of it. What the government funds it runs. Parents already have choice. When the government runs all forms of education, there is no more choice.