Cathryn Stout, Chalkbeat Tennessee

The ACLU of Tennessee has requested that the state of Tennessee release all records regarding its announced charter school partnership with Hillsdale College in Michigan.

In its request, covered under the Freedom of Information Act, the ACLU stated, “According to recent news reports, Governor Bill Lee is developing a partnership with Hillsdale College to establish a number of publicly funded charter schools throughout Tennessee to be operated by the private Christian university.”

The request added, “Governor Lee’s plan raises serious constitutional concerns.”

A representative from the governor’s office was not immediately available for comment.

Chalkbeat reported on the controversial partnership in an article on Feb. 7, including that Hillsdale President Larry Arnn and Lee have discussed opening 50 to 100 charter schools across Tennessee.

In his State of the State address on Jan. 31, Lee announced the Hillsdale partnership and a new Institute of American Civics at the University of Tennessee as part of his larger plan to promote “informed patriotism” and combat “anti-American thought” in history and civics education. Numerous other organizations provide civics curriculum, but Lee is not seeking a request for proposals or using a bidding process.

The Republican governor’s push comes at a time when states across the country are passing measures that attack critical race theory, ban books about difficult topics from school libraries and syllabi, and restrict classroom discussions on certain topics about race and gender.

There are longstanding debates on how educators should teach patterns of injustice in U.S. history. The latest battle in the ideological feud started after conservative activists challenged districts that incorporated instructional material from The New York Times 1619 Project.

Nikole Hannah-Jones, the project’s architect, received a Pulitzer Prize for her work, and Hillsdale’s Arnn signed a joint letter asking the Pulitzer board to revoke the award. Arnn also led the Trump administration’s response initiative, the 1776 Commission. The governor’s plan to bring dozens of Hillsdale charter schools to Tennessee and the mounting resistance to the partnership are the latest battle in the classroom culture wars.

“This would flow through the established, unbiased charter application, just like any other proposed public charter school,” Lee’s press secretary Casey Black stated in February. “We are simply introducing another high-quality option for Tennessee students.”

But others have pushed back on that claim.

“Hillsdale College and their warped version of history have no right to be in our kids’ public schools. Our children deserve to learn the truth about our history — good, bad, and ugly — without pretext for the people who justified discrimination and excused violence against Black Americans,” said Sen. Raumesh Akbari, a Memphis Democrat.

“There is no legitimate “both sides” to such events, and we must not welcome, or pay for, educational materials that pardon clear acts of racism,” she added.

Rep. Jason Hodges had similarly strong words.

“This is purely about money and ideology,” said Hodges, a Clarksville Democrat in February.

And in its recent statement, the ACLU called the deal a questionable use of taxpayer dollars.

“Outsourcing the operation of our public schools to a private, out-of-state religious college is not in the best interest of Tennessee’s children and is deeply concerning,” said Hedy Weinberg, executive director of ACLU of Tennessee.

She added, “Gov. Lee’s plan raises serious constitutional concerns, and the public deserves full transparency so that they know about any financial arrangement and other details of this agreement, as well as its impact on public education.”

Copies of the ACLU’s open records requests can be found here.

Bureau Chief Cathryn Stout, Ph.D. oversees Chalkbeat Tennessee’s news coverage. Contact Cathryn at cstout@chalkbeat.org. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee wants to add $1 billion to Tennessee’s nearly $6 billion education budget. Lee announced the proposed increase Monday night during his annual State of the State address, where he shared his 2022-23 priorities and the highlights of his proposed budget. The proposed budget for fiscal year 2023 is $52.6 billion, with 41 cents out of every dollar spent on education.

Some top lines for K-12 education include:

$32 million for charter school facility funding.
$125 million to increase teacher salaries.
$200 million to relocate public schools in flood plains, including schools in Shelby County.
$550 million in career and technical education grants.
$750 million toward additional education investments.

The money for the proposed raise for teachers received some of the loudest applause of the night.

“Historically, funds put into the salary pool don’t always make it to deserving teachers, and when we say teachers are getting a raise, there should be no bureaucratic workaround to prevent that,” Lee said. “So in our updated funding formula, we will ensure that a teacher raise is a teacher raise.”

The infusion of money for teacher salaries and education is part of Lee’s plan to overhaul Tennessee education funding. The Education Law Center gave the Volunteer State an F for its funding level in its Making the Grade 2020 report.

Last year, Lee ordered a review of the Basic Education Program, a funding formula with 46 components that determine how much money the state sends to districts for textbooks, technology, and other needs. Under the proposed student-centered funding formula, districts and charter schools would get additional education investments to assist students who are managing issues such as learning disabilities and the challenges of living in poverty, and that should translate to more help for teachers in the classroom, said Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn.

“Some of the things we’ve heard the most about are things like counselors and nurses and supports for students who need those supports and ensuring our teachers can focus on the academic instruction,” Schwinn said in an interview before Lee’s speech. Schwinn added that teachers have been asking for additional support for high-needs students.

“It’s time to do right by them, and I think this is a good first step,” she added.

Pointing to a 2020 report by the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, some education advocates say that Tennessee schools need an additional $1.7 billion of state money, so even with the billion-dollar-boost proposed Monday night, Tennessee education would still be underfunded.

Other organizations praised the governor’s announcement.

“The priorities laid out in the State of the State, including an additional $1 billion investment in education, an increase in teacher pay, and dedication to expanding career and technical opportunities for students, if adhered to, will make the 2022 legislative session a success for Tennessee’s students and their futures,” Adam Lister, president and CEO of Tennesseans for Student Success, a middle Tennessee-based nonprofit organization, said in a statement.

“Governor Lee’s call for the General Assembly to overhaul and improve the way the state funds education is a transformational moment,” Lister added.

Lee also weighed in on the culture wars in the classroom in the wake of anti-critical race theory laws and national debates about when and how to teach children about or protect them from learning the harsh realities of U.S. history.

Lee highlighted recently introduced legislation to ban some books from Tennessee libraries. He announced a state partnership with Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian college in Hillsdale, Michigan, to expand civics education in Tennessee that promotes “informed patriotism.” He also announced that the state would give $6 million to create the Institute of American Civics at the University of Tennessee, a center that would combat what he described as “anti-American thought” in higher education.

A replay of the governor’s speech is on his YouTube channel.

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.