No Peace In The Valley
“But people as a rule believe only what they want to believe, and if you tell them anything else they'll call you a trouble-maker and get rid of you and never give you your job back, even if what you said is proved spot on right by time.”
― Dick Francis, 10 lb Penalty
About two decades ago I worked a bar 5 days a week from 2-9. In other words, I was what you called a happy hour bartender.
Those were different times back then. I often mixed cocktails with a cigarette dangling from my mouth. The more complex the drink, the longer the ash. Try that these days and you'd likely make the front page of The Tennessean.
Another thing that we did then, but don't do now, is we talked. About everything.
There were about 20 seats across the bar, with 5 booths directly behind those bar stools. Both the seats and the booths were perpetually filled from 5. Conversation flowed up and down, and back. Strangers and regulars would all interact with each other.
I'd walk up and down the bar dispensing cocktails, throwing in interjections, or sometimes chiding someone when things got overheated. But the conversation flowed unencumbered.
Subject matter varied from sports to politics - local and national, to even religion, depending on who was in the house.
Viewpoints were as varied as participants. Shop owners, musicians, government workers, service industry folks, students, and trust fund babies, all co-mingled at my happy hours.
"Jesus", one regular remarked to me, "You know you are not supposed to discuss politics or religion in a bar."
"Those rules don't apply here", I replied.
He just laughed.
My favorite memory is of a regular who would often sit quietly at the bar, seldom interacting with those in his proximity.
One day I asked him, "You come in regularly, drink two or three drinks, rarely speak with anyone, and then leave. Everything good?"
"I just love to come in here and listen to all the conversations swirling around me. There is nothing like it." He replied, "I learn so much. I hear so many different opinions on so many different subjects. It's fucking awesome."
I smiled, "Appreciate it. You are always welcome to join in."
Eventually, he occasionally did, but mostly he just listened. Occasionally we'd share a smile or shrug when we both simultaneously heard a comment from someone who was either incredibly astute or incredibly dumb.
I can't help but wonder how that gentleman perceives today's public conversations, in comparison to those of the past. I wonder if he still thinks he's learning things.
But then again, we don't really have public conversations anymore. There is no room for any kind of exploration of nuance, or god forbid disagreement.
Today's public conversation bears a striking similarity to high school, where the supposed cool kids set the tone, and the rest of us just tried not to get humiliated.
Standard practice these days is to take our manifestos and retreat to our respective silos where we preach to each other, emerging only to throw rocks at and disparage the other silos. Never once do we take into account the non-silo residents and how our very public silo fights play with them.
If you've ever seen the movie Underworld, the battle between Vampires and Lupins, that is today's politics in a microcosm.
I once had a Sunday school teacher give me some advice that's rang true for decades.
"If someone challenges your religious beliefs don't take affront. Rather view it as an opportunity to defend your faith by evaluating your faith. If you can't defend your beliefs, either you are not immersed in them enough, or you need a new set of beliefs."
That advice has become pertinent as I've followed the Tennessee General Assembly hearings on the role of federal money in Tennessee public education. That's what the conversation is about, despite the best efforts of others to frame it differently.
Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) didn't help anyone when he muddied the waters by framing the conversation as a means solely designed for Tennessee to reject Federal money and supplement it with state funds. But then again, Sexton has always liked to throw the high pass across the middle to his party members. And some of them have sore ribs to prove it.
Sexton's is just one voice. Despite what some might have you believe, he is ultimately just one member in a house full of representative members. He's not a king, nor a kingmaker, he's a loud voice in a roomful of loud voices. Just because he desires the moon to be made of cheese, doesn't mean we are all feasting tomorrow.
Senate Education Chair Jon Lundberg (R-Bristol) kicked off the reiterating their intended purpose, “In this memo, there is nothing that tasks this group with cutting even $1 of education funding,” Lundberg said in his opening statement. “There is no precursor to the outcome of what this task force is going to do.”
I have no reason not to believe him. All of that is in line with the group's charge as expressed by the memo:
This group is authorized and directed to study, evaluate, analyze, and undertake a comprehensive review of federal education funding. When reviewing federal education funding, the group will:
(1) identify the amount of federal funding the state and political subdivisions of the state receive for educational programs and purposes and the laws associated with accepting such funds;
(2) examine how the state and the political subdivisions of the state use or intend to use the federal education funding and whether there are conditions or requirements to accepting such funds;
(3) report on the feasibility of the state rejecting the federal education funding; and
(4) recommend a strategy on how to reject certain federal funding or how to eliminate unwanted restrictions placed on the state due to the receipt of such federal funds.
In all fairness, Lundberg and his co-chair State Representative Debra Moody (R-Covington) have run a week of balanced conversation. In reviewing transcripts and reports, I'd argue that there was more evidence presented to maintain the current practice of accepting funds, than there was for rejecting them.
Presentations from both the Sycamore Institute and the State Comptroller's office basically said, we could supplant federal funds with state funds, but it's probably not a great idea. If there is an economic downturn in the state, students could be at risk. Furthermore, it's hard to predict what the unintended consequences might be.
“There’s no precedent upon which to make projections,” said Mandy Spears, the deputy director of the Sycamore Institute.
About what you'd expect, but doesn't hurt to hear it again.
School leaders testified that they need more money, but that's what school leaders always say. Ever hear one say, "Naw we are good. Why don't you keep it and use it for roads or mowing old people's lawns"?
“If there’s funding on the table to replace these federal dollars, we would welcome that, but ask that it be in addition to — because our students deserve it,” MNPS Chief of Staff Hank Clay said.
Worth noting here, MNPS Superintendent Dr Battle makes over $300K a year and has nine Chiefs making $200k a year. Just saying.
We are endlessly chasing the mythical entity of "fully funded schools", but since no one can define what that means, how will we know when we are there?
An interesting wrinkle came on day three when the Feds declined to appear before the working group as scheduled:
“The Federal Department of Education has informed us they are unable to attend our task force meeting. They can only offer quote, ‘technical assistance’ to the committee, and they have stated that if members wish to submit questions, they will do their best to get them answered,” working group co-chair Sen. Jon Lundberg, R-Bristol, told committee members at the close of Wednesday’s meeting.
Nothing says "spirit of cooperation" quite like an invitation to submit inquiries through the website.
Here's a question that bears asking, some of the Federal money being looked at requires a state match. Especially in the case of IDEA. So if the state replaces the Federal dollars will they continue to match that investment with state money. It seems you could replace the dollars under no obligation to match. Not saying anybody would do that, but it bears watching.
The subject of "attached strings" came up of course.
Austin Reid, a federal education policy analyst at the National Conference of State Legislatures, identified standardized testing as the biggest string. Participation in the Title 1 program of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, which requires states to set their own education goals and hold schools accountable for academic achievement through annual tests in reading, math, and science from 3rd through 12th grade.
A caveat of Title I funding is to ensure that low-income and minority children enrolled in Title 1 schools are not “served at a disproportionate rate by ineffective, out-of-field, or inexperienced teachers.” But of course, that's determined by TCAP.
Here's the question I would ask. Who's enforcing these strings? What's keeping the state of Tennessee from taking the cash and ignoring the strings?
Tennessee has been out of compliance with Federal requirements for almost five years, and yet not a penny reminded it, and not a fine levied. Sure, the FDOE sent some strongly worded letters to former Commissioner Schwinn, but she didn't exactly leap into action upon receipt.
Seems to me that money from the Feds is a lot like money from your mom, she wants it back in a week and doesn't want you spending on booze and women, but if you do, she's not going to really do anything but get mad and lecture.
Maybe we should take a page out of that playbook, and just say we are going to follow the rules while crafting our own. Not like Schwinn didn't lay a path to follow.
I do find it kind of interesting that "testing" would be a primary concern when the state has recently quadrupled down on the value of the standardized test.
Want to advance to fourth grade? Better score well on TCAP
How good a teacher are you? Let's check the TCAP results.
District doing its job? Pull up the TCAP numbers.
Are you succeeding as a student? Back to the TCAP numbers.
Is Eric Welch ES better than Ashford Hughes ES? And again...to the TCAP numbers.
Every single qualitative judgment on every school, student, district, teacher, textbook, and policy, is based on the results of a single test given once a year. Ironically it's one that the arguably best schools in the state don't even take.
This quote by Trent Williamson, head of school at Harding Academy in Memphis, also provides more food for thought.
Williamson tells The Tennessean, "Independent schools historically, don't develop curriculum standards or programs based on one test," Williamson said. "We're not going to create a program for the third grade based on the third grade TCAP score ― and that seems to be a public school model. A lot of the stuff that they do surrounds tests."
Maybe it shouldn't be.
We often forget that every action has unintended consequences. In talking with state legislators after these working group meetings, I'm hearing a greater willingness to consider the effectiveness of standardized testing. Perhaps, just perhaps, it creates more problems than it solves. Something few were willing to consider prior to the Federal funding conversation.
That's the way conversations work, some conversations spur others. Just because you find one conversation idiotic, doesn't mean it can't inspire an important one.
You just have to be willing to participate and less and less are willing to do that.
- - -
Once again the subject of vouchers has reared its ugly head. Mark White (R-Memphis) has said he's ready to expand the state's ESA program statewide. Like most things White says, I take it with a grain of salt.
Let's consider that this is an election year, and you are going to have more than a couple legislators unhappy with the prospect of discussing vouchers while they are facing re-election.
Remember when Chalkbeat Tennessee reported in August that the state had to settle for a contract with a fledging company with no experience in statewide voucher distribution to run the program? Yea well, that company has yet to deliver.
As a result, White is proposing to expand a program where participants must either mail in their application or hope they run into a TDOE representative at a community meeting. Yeah, that's a prime model for expansion.
It's also a model with very little data to support or debunk its existence. The Tennessean makes a valiant effort at a qualitative evaluation, but the program is just too new to draw any conclusive deductions.
TCAP tests are available, but when you consider that those tests were taken during the first year of implementation by students in a new environment, who possibly historically scored low...how valid are they?
A couple things I would pay attention to in discussions around Educational Savings Accounts.
First, will ESAs continue to be valued at the rate set forth in prior legislation that established the program, or will they be the amount a student generates through TISA?
If the money follows the student, how do you not attach the higher value?
I would further say, that if it becomes the latter, the argument that vouchers only benefit those who would already enroll in private schools becomes moot. The predisposed likely qualify for few of the weights attached to TISA and thus earn less, whereas the poorest and neediest earn the most.
Which brings me to this quote from Governor Lee in The Tennessean piece, "Nothing's off the table," he said. "There are a number of ideas on the table, and I'll have more to say about that later."
That's what I would focus on. TISA gives the state the opportunity to expand school choice to the entire state without using vouchers.
If I was a voucher proponent, I would pray that voucher legislation failed.
Vouchers, since they are paid to individuals, come with high administrative costs and a high risk for fraud. Using TISA, and paying money directly to schools, mitigates both those issues.
Passing a voucher program right now is like buying a VW bug when you have a Tesla sitting in the driveway. That bug, as attractive as it is, is subject to breakdowns and costly repairs. Money invested in an antique will ensure that there is no money to invest in a modern vehicle. So you'll be stuck making endless repairs to keep it on the road. Not an attractive prospect.
But hey, can't wait to spend the Spring talking vouchers.
- - -
Members of the MNPS School Board are looking to revise qualifications for district magnet schools. In their opinion, the current process allowing automatic pathways to Hume-Fogg and Martin Luther King (MLK) is creating racial disparities and forcing families to consider High School options much earlier than desired.
One MNPS parent, Laura Yankee, has a different take. She writes:
I heard you state in the meeting that magnet schools have perpetuated segregation in our public schools, but I would argue that the funding, zoning, and programming within the system itself is the very thing that is perpetuating this segregation. I suspect that if this proposal is enacted, parents with access to financial and/or transportation resources, will simply make a choice to try to attend Hillsboro High School -a high ranking IB school, NSA or Big Picture (two specialized schools in the district), or leave MNPS altogether for private or charter schools if/when they cannot access what they are looking for within the district. This policy will no doubt negatively impact the district as a whole further dividing our populace.
She goes on to make a point I've made ad nauseam, "The demographics of our magnet high schools closely mirror the demographics of the city of Nashville as a whole. This is a success. If the concern is around increasing diversity, perhaps the focus should be on designing new programs and funding new initiatives in those high schools that actually do have problems with diversity. Hume Fogg and MLK are not among them."
It's been a long-running argument over whether school school programs should be representative of the school system or the city itself. District demographics are often the unintended consequence of ill-thought-out policies. Yankee writes:
"I heard you state in the meeting that magnet schools have perpetuated segregation in our public schools, but I would argue that the funding, zoning, and programming within the system itself is the very thing that is perpetuating this segregation. I suspect that if this proposal is enacted, parents with access to financial and/or transportation resources, will simply make a choice to try to attend Hillsboro High School -a high ranking IB school, NSA or Big Picture (two specialized schools in the district), or leave MNPS altogether for private or charter schools if/when they cannot access what they are looking for within the district. This policy will no doubt negatively impact the district as a whole further dividing our populace."
There are several schools in MNPS, no need to call them out specifically, that are underperforming and are 90% and above Black. Why are they not receiving the same level of attention? Perhaps, it's the athletic accomplishments that blunt any criticism.
My biggest question remains, who driving this conversation? Another parent, Samantha Eagle raises that question in a Facebook post.
Emily Masters repeatedly states this is something that didn't come out of thin air and refers to PAC in 2015, but this is the only thing she references. I would like more information supporting the claim that this policy is highly desired by the MNPS community. She also several times states that this policy is in regards to all magnet high schools, but then repeatedly and specifically discusses Hume Fogg. She in fact specifically notes it is the only magnet high school with a waiting list and MLK has seats currently available. She does not make mention of any other magnet high schools in the district and does not seem to have considered implications for these other schools. I think it is important to highlight this because it demonstrates that the policy Emily Masters proposes is not aimed at all magnet high schools and instead has been intentionally developed to single out the Meigs to Hume Fogg pathway without consideration of the other schools that this would affect.
The next school board-sponsored meeting will be held by board member Erin O'Hara Block on Monday, November 27 at 6pm at Hillsboro High School. I know, it's the Monday after Thanksgiving. Always a great day for a meeting.
- - -
We've been talking about A-F school grading a lot lately, and I suspect that conversation will continue in the coming weeks. For those that think it is not that important, let me offer this, it's the linchpin for all policies moving forward. It will set the parameters for every education conversation in the foreseeable future. It'll dictate what, and how, everything gets taught in public schools.
Private schools, you are still free to move about your business and prepare students for the future unencumbered by a rating system that relies on a single entry for calculation.
So you might as well become familiar with it. The Nashville Public Education Foundation offers a decent overview. Check it out.
- - -
Shout out to former Maplewood Principal Ron Woodard. He recently received the 2023 NAACP "W. E. B. DuBois Education Award."
Looking good Ron!
Time to rattle the cup a little bit before I head out the door.
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