Observations from the Edge of the Thunderdome

“Their relationship had become like the river - smooth and constant, but sluggish, opaque. They were standing on opposite banks, watching it go by. He dared not interrupt it - smash its calm, swim across - for fear of forcing some irrevocable change, for fear of losing even his current unloved place, or worse of struggling, flailing, of Edith not coming out to meet him, not even outstretching an arm.”
― Tom Crewe, The New Life

Tennessee officially has it's first candidate in the upcoming 2026 Governors race.

Yesterday, U.S. Rep. John Roseformally announced his bid for the governorship, positioning himself as the conservative outsider. Sounds good if you say it fast.

A family farmer and IT businessman, Rose has served in Congress since 2018. He was elected to fill the seat vacated by U.S. Rep. Diane Black, who who launched her own unsuccessfult GOP gubernatorial nomination that year. Rose was previously Tennessee’s Commissioner of Agriculture, and state chair of the Future Farmers of America.

As the son of a public school teacher, Rose promised to appoint an education commissioner with "Tennessee teaching experience" ― a direct reference to Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds, who is not certified to teach in Tennessee, and whose experience is overwhelmingly policy focused.

"It is through learning that children from all circumstances have a chance to realize their American dream at school," Rose said. "We have thousands of dedicated teachers across the state who put in the extra time and do whatever it takes to deliver for their students in every classroom every day. I love our Tennessee teachers, and that's why as governor, I promise to appoint a Commissioner of Education who has Tennessee teaching experience."

Which is kinda funny, because it'd be nice if Tennessee had an Education Commissioner that just hung out in the state every once in a while. In the wake of several public misteps during her inagural year, current Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds has been noticebly absent from the public stage and the state's schools over the past 9 months.

Rose's announcement evokes little concern from his presumptive opponent Senator Marsha Blackburn, who is expected to announce her candiacy in the upcoming weeks.

“I am strongly looking at it,” Blackburn told the Tennessee Journal this week. “I intend to run. I will win, and we’ll make certain that Tennessee is the most conservative state in the country."

- - -

Speaking of our seldom seen Commissioner of Education, she did make an appearence at yesterday's specially called State Board of Education meeting to approve emergency rules for the state's upcoming Educational Freedom Accounts program.

She may have been in attendance, but beyond some perfunctionary welcoming remarks, she added little to yesterday's hour long meeting. The answering of board member's questions instead fell to Deputy Commissioner Sam Pearcy and a couple of department employees.

I may be dating myself here, but do you remember that old Life cereal commercial with Mikey?

"Give it to Mikey, he'll try anything."

That seems to be the game being played at the Department of Education these days - give it to Sam, he'll do anything.

But I digress. Let's get back yo looking at those rules who were passed without publlic input. The pernament rules will require public feedback.

Under the adopted emergency rules, prospective students will be required to apply to the TDOE for one of the 20,000 slots in the program, which will provide around $7,300 in funds, and then apply separately to the private school of their choice. If they can't prove school enrollment after a certain deadline, the funds will revert back to a waitlist.

Of the 20,000 slots, 10,000 will be reserved for families with incomes below 300% of the income limit to qualify for free or reduced price lunch – about $170,000 for a family of four.

At Thursday's meeting, TDOE official told board members that there are 175 schools committed to participating in the state voucher program.

The rules require that all applicants verify their status as legal residents of the state of Tennessee. Here is the sticky wicket.

Voucher rules, written in consultation with the Attorney General's Office, list 10 categories under which the state will recognize lawful residency.

“Lawful Presence” means only the following categories of non-citizens who are eligible for

local or state public benefits pursuant to T.C.A. §§ 4-58-101 et. seq., 8 U.S.C. § 1621(a),

and 8 U.S.C. § 1641(b):

Legal Permanent Residents admitted into the United States under 8 U.S.C. §§ 1101 et seq.;

Refugees admitted into the United States under 8 U.S.C. § 1157;

Asylees granted asylum under 8 U.S.C. § 1158;

Non-citizens paroled in the U.S. under Section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and

Nationality Act (“INA”), 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d)(5), for a period of at least one year;

Non-citizens whose deportation is withheld under the INA, 8 U.S.C. § 1253 or 8

U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3), as amended;

Battered immigrants and children who meet the conditions set forth 8 U.S.C. §1641(c);

Cuban or Haitian entrants as defined in Section 501(e) of the Refugee Education

Assistance Act of 1980;

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (i) Victims of a severe form of trafficking who have been granted nonimmigrant status under

8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(15)(T) or who have a pending application that sets forth a prima facie

case for such nonimmigrant status;

Non-citizens who lawfully reside in the U.S. in accordance with the Compacts of Free

Association (COFA) between the Government of the United States and the Governments

of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the

Republic of Palau; and

2(j) Cuban or Haitian parolees admitted under Section 212(d)(5)(A) of the INA.

Unlike with legislation proceeding through the General Assembling, the onus on collecting citizenship data would fall to the state as opposed to individual schools.

looking further at the emergency rules the distribution of funds is mentioned but not detailed.

(2) (3) (4) The Agreement and any additional information or documentation required by the Department

shall be submitted to and received by the Department by the deadlines set by the Department

before the first EFS payment is disbursed. If the Agreement and any additional information

or documentation required by the Department are not submitted and received by the deadlines

set by the Department, the Eligible Student shall not be enrolled in the Program during the

school year for which the applicant applied to participate in the Program.

The Department shall establish procedures to effectuate the EFS funds transfer process and

dates on which each EFS payment shall be disbursed.

There is no mention of what receipts need to be submitted nor how long the verification process will take. Simply that documentation must be provided.

This is interesting because of recent reports out of Arizona describing how voucher opponents have used the rule making process as a means to slow the prolifferation of vouchers. One would think that Commissioner Reynolds and her team would have built protections into Tennessee's rules that would prevent such a strategy being employed in Tennessee. But apparently not.

Another thing to consider, Tennessee has a tutoring program called Best for All. About half the state's district's participate. According to the Best for All website:

All TN ALL Corps tutors are trained professionals ready to support your student. Each school and district make the decision on who they hire as tutors. Your student’s tutor may be their classroom teacher, another teacher from the school, a staff member from the school, a retired teacher, volunteer, or other trained professional. Tutors must complete a certification course and receive continuous monitoring and support. All tutors are background checked.

Compare this to what's permissable for tutors under the emrgency ESA rules:

A tutoring facility accredited by one (1) or more of the following: any accreditation division of AdvancED, the North Central Association Commission on Accreditationi) (ii) and School Improvement (“NCA CASI”), the Northwest Accreditation Commission (“NWAC”), the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Council onAccreditation and School Improvement (“SACS CASI”), the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (“MSA”), the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (“NEASC”), the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (“WASC”), or the Council on Occupational Education (“COE”);

Maybe it's just me, but one feels a bit more stringent then the other. Maybe I'm wrong.

During the run up to passage of the voucher legislation, accountabilty was a focal point. That accountability takes an intrigueing form in the emergency rules.

Ensure Recipients in grades three through eleven (3-11) are administered a nationally standardized achievement test that is aligned to the respective Private School’s instructional program as determined by State Board Rules 0520-07-02 or the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (“TCAP”) tests in math and English language arts for the grade in which the Recipient is enrolled, or successor tests approved by the State Board, for each year of enrollment in the Program;

By June 30 of each year, provide to the Recipient’s Parent and to the Office of Research and Education Accountability (OREA) in the office of the Tennessee Comptroller of the
Treasury the results of the annual test administered, using a form developed and provided by OREA. Scores may be provided to the OREA using aggregated, deidentified
data if the data allows the OREA to group and analyze the results by Recipient grade level, household income level, sex, and race;

TCAP is not a natiuonally normed test. Supposedly it's a test designed specificallyt for Tennessee students, so how could it be nationally normed. In fact Governor Lee has often cited the test as evidence that Common Core is dead in the land of the volunteers.

That's the trap here. Mr. Lee is being disingenuous. Tennessee standards are actually Common Core standards with just a few slight tweaks. So hypothetically, you ould compare results to national tests. It's just funny to me how politicians want to continue to have their cake and eat it too.

Not sure any of that really matters, because another rule slaps the handcuffs on state involvement with participating private schools.

The creation of the Program does not expand the regulatory authority of the state or authorize any entity to impose additional rules, regulations, or requirements on Private Schools
beyond those necessary to enforce the requirements of the Program. Private Schools enrolling Recipients with an EFS remain autonomous and independent and are not agents of the state; they maintain the maximum freedom to educate students without government control and without being required to alter their creed, practices, admission policies, hiring policies, or curriculum in order to accept EFS funds.

Prettty clear, no?

Maybe the clearesrt part of all the rules.

- - -

Well he went and done it.

This week, President Trump took a significant step towards shutting down the US Department of Education. Something Ronald Reagan aspired to, but could never do.

Predictably, some folks are having a melt down, while others are bringing their dancing shoes to the street.

I'm not sure either is warranteed.

The DOE is touted as a watch dog over student education opportunities, yet a woman who kept Tennessee out of compliance for three years is posed to become the new Deputy Secretary.

Of course everybody is worried about what everybody is always worried about - money.

Keep in mind, currently, state and local institutions provide 91 percent of special education funding, while federal funds take care of the remaining 9 percent when states meet federal criteria. So the brunt of funding is already coming from the states.

One advocate told me today, "Yeah, but that 9% is critical to schools being able to provide services."

Maybe, but when it comes to school funding, there is always a shortfall and never too much. So far I've seen little reason to believe that Title 1 or IDEA money will be cut.

Many Republicans have waiting for this day since Reagan's failure.

“Hope springs eternal,” said Gary Bauer, who served as under-secretary of education in the second Reagan administration and serves as an advisor to Trump on this issue. Democrats, and some Republicans, he recalled, opposed the effort back then. He acknowledges that Trump isn’t likely to do much better in with narrow GOP majorities in Congress.

Still, Trump's executive orders indicate that he has chosen a different path and brings “a different spirit to the fight,” Bauer told Real Clear Politics. “Reagan was ‘Morning in America’ and really wanted to find common ground; Trump understands that the country has been on the road to ruin here unless we can cut the government down to size and get the left out of our schools.”

Republicans argue that the department with a $268 billion budget has failed to improve education standards while miring schools instead in a sea of red tape and pushing liberal social policy from on high. Trump’s executive order takes aim at so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion policies within the department as well as those concerning what the White House calls “gender ideology.”

Some would argue that the DOE uses grants to further ideology and exert influence on state education programs.

With some grants based on complicated formulas that reward profligate states like California and New York it's not an unreasonable argument. Title I grants are based largely on the number of children in poverty or receiving welfare benefits in a state, as well as per-pupil spending. This could be seen as encouraging states to expand welfare, while punishing states that have tighter regulation on the distribution of welfare resources.

Last year’s continuing budget resolution included numerous grants to test innovative education models: Supporting Effective Educator Development ($90 million), Supporting Effective Instruction ($2.2 billion), Education Innovation and Research ($284 million) and Innovative Approaches to Literacy ($30 million). What qualifies as innovative or effective is up to interpretation.

There are also more than a dozen grants for schools for low-income kids, such as Full-Service Community Schools ($150 million), Promise Neighborhoods ($91 million), Migrant Education State Grants ($376 million), Education for Homeless Children ($129 million), Neglected, Delinquent, and At-Risk Students ($49 million) and Comprehensive Literacy Development ($194 million).

The Wall Street Journal points out that each program has a vested constituency, and more funding for one program invariably results in increases for others. Federal K-12 spending has tripled over the last two decades—more than state and local funding has.

Many who argue that all of this funding of inovation and support has had little impact on student achievement point to largely stagnent test scores as evidence.

I would argue, data tells a story, but does it tell the complete story?

Newly confirmed Secretary of Education Linda McMahon is also charged with shrinking the federal student-loan program. A goal shared with the previous administration who sought to do so by canceling hundreds of billions of dollars in debt, first outright and then with so-called income-based repayment plans. Both gambits were blocked by the courts whose opinions were pushed back against by the previous administration.

That's where this attempt is headed as well. Which is tied to a larger iniative - judicial power.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller during a Fox News interview Thursday complained, “Under the current intolerable system, a single district court judge can pick an issue, can pick a cabinet secretary, and declare him or herself to be in charge of that issue and that cabinet secretary for an indefinite period of time.”

Should it be like that?

I bet we are about to find out.

As far as the Department of Education goes, I'd hold on to your powder or your dancing shoes until several passes through the court system.

- - -

In the good news department. State House Representative Kevin Raper (R- Cleveland) is poised to make a return to the House floor next Thursday.

The Southeastern Tennessee Rep, aformer educator, has spent the brunt of this session dealing with major medical issues.

For the last decade, he has dealt with non-alcholic cirrhosis of the liver. Over the holidays things took a turn for the worst. Raper's liver was in a state of failure and doctors told him that without a transplant, he had about a year to live.

Luckily for him a liver quickly became available. Five week after the transplant, he's in full recovery and ready reassume full duties.

It's pretty damn amazing.

Raper serves as the vice-chair of the Education Committee and his experience as a professional educator will prove invaluable in the days ahead.

- - -

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