Author: Marta W. Aldrich, Chalkbeat Tennessee

Categories
News News Blog News Feature

Anti-Mosque Activist Reappointed to Tennessee Textbook Panel

Tennessee General Assembly

An activist who fought the establishment of a mosque in Tennessee more than a decade ago has been reappointed to the state commission that reviews and recommends books and instructional materials for local school systems to adopt.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton on Tuesday reappointed Laurie Cardoza-Moore to the Tennessee Textbook and Instructional Materials Quality Commission for a three-year term that ends on June 30, 2025.

The extension of her tenure on the panel, following her controversial 2021 appointment to a one-year term, comes as a new law gives the commission authority to overrule local school board decisions and ban certain school library books statewide.

The commission is scheduled to meet on Thursday to discuss its new responsibilities, as well as its review of math textbooks recommended by publishers.

Meanwhile, two national reports released last weekend found that attempts to ban books from U.S. school libraries are on the rise again this year, after reaching a historic high last year.

While most of the panel’s 10 commissioners are licensed educators, Cardoza-Moore is not. With an associate degree from the KD Conservatory College of Film and Dramatic Arts in Dallas, she is one of three members chosen by the governor and two legislative speakers — all Republicans — to represent parents and citizens.

She homeschooled her five children, who are now grown, and in 2005 founded Proclaiming Justice to the Nations, a Franklin, Tenn.-based organization that claims to fight anti-Semitism.

After supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, she falsely blamed Antifa, referring to the loose affiliation of anti-fascist activists who have been labeled “terrorists” by Republicans. In 2020, her group was named an anti-Muslim “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

In a brief telephone interview with Chalkbeat on Wednesday, Cardoza-Moore denied that she is anti-Muslim and said she has been objective in her review of textbooks and instructional materials in her role on the commission.

“Curriculum has to comply with state [academic] standards,” she said. “I look to make sure that it’s accurate and unbiased and reflects the values of Tennesseans.”

Her reappointment requires a confirmation vote by state lawmakers when they reconvene in January. In 2021, the Republican-controlled legislature voted to approve her appointment along party lines.

Cardoza-Moore’s first term ended June 30 while she was running for the GOP nomination to represent her Williamson County district in the Tennessee House of Representatives. Her narrow defeat in August by Jake McCalmon made her reappointment possible, said Doug Kufner, a spokesman for Sexton.

In his letter to Cardoza-Moore on Tuesday, Sexton said her new term begins immediately.

“I am confident that you will perform the duties of office with the high standard of professionalism, dedication, and integrity that the citizens of Tennessee deserve and expect of their public servants,” the speaker wrote.

Cardoza-Moore came to notoriety in 2010, when she opposed plans to build a mosque in Murfreesboro, south of Nashville.

During her confirmation hearings last year, Democratic Sen. Raumesh Akbari, of Memphis, asked about her comments at that time saying the mosque was being built to serve as a terrorist training camp.

Cardoza-Moore responded that there “absolutely” were terrorists in the group, but Akbari said law enforcement found no proof of her claims.

She testified that she has worked to fight classroom content that she described as historically inaccurate and biased. But she declined to answer questions about her beliefs around teaching students about the nation’s history of colonialism and slavery, since her work on the commission during her initial term would focus on materials for math, based on the state’s textbook adoption cycle.

The scope of the commission’s work will soon widen.

In 2023, the state is to begin reviewing science, fine arts, and wellness books. In 2024, the adoption cycle calls for a review of materials in social studies and world languages. And under a new state law, the panel can start having a say on school library content, based on appeals of local school board decisions over challenged books.

Several who opposed Cardoza-Moore’s appointment last year say their opinions haven’t changed.

Akbari, who chairs the Senate Democratic caucus, said Wednesday that Cardoza-Moore is “unqualified” to serve on a panel that has “an important role in our children’s education.”

Leaders of the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization said her reappointment is a distraction from students’ education.

“Laurie Cardoza-Moore, a conspiracy theorist whose anti-Muslim rhetoric has endangered Tennessee families, has no business serving on any government commission, especially one that can influence what students read in their textbooks,” said Edward Ahmed Mitchell, national deputy director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

You can learn more about the commission on the state’s website.

Marta W. Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.

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

Categories
News News Blog News Feature

Tennessee Asks Court to Dismiss Private-School Voucher Lawsuit

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

The Tennessee attorney general’s office urged a judicial panel Monday to dismiss remaining legal challenges to the state’s private school voucher law after a string of court victories cleared the way for the program’s launch this school year.

But attorneys for several plaintiffs, including county governments based in Memphis and Nashville, argued for a full hearing on several remaining constitutional claims over a 2019 law that applies to only two of the state’s 95 counties.

The plaintiffs also charged that after July, when the court lifted a 2020 order blocking the program’s start, the state “rushed” the rollout in a way that violates the law.

This week’s court hearing kicked off a new phase in the nearly 3-year-old legal dispute over the education savings account law, part of a nationwide tug-of-war between those wanting to use taxpayer money to give parents more education choices and others who say that approach strips funding from already underfunded public schools.

Meanwhile, Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s administration continues to approve vouchers worth about $7,000 annually to eligible families for their children to attend private schools in the state’s two largest cities. 

As of Friday, the state education department had approved 128 student applications in Memphis and 131 in Nashville to apply toward tuition at 39 private schools. In all, the state has received 857 applications, with 134 deemed ineligible so far. 

The Tennessee Supreme Court upheld the voucher law in May, rejecting the argument by Davidson and Shelby counties that the statute was unconstitutional because it applied only to them, without local approval. 

But several legal claims remain in two lawsuits that the court consolidated. The state constitution says Tennessee is obligated to maintain a system of free public schools that provides for equal educational opportunities for its residents. Plaintiffs say vouchers would create unequal systems and divert funds from traditional public schools to private schools.

Arguing to dismiss the case altogether, the state’s attorneys said none of the plaintiffs have legal standing to challenge the law — nor have they demonstrated local harm from the law, which also establishes grants to offset any financial losses to the districts during the program’s first three years. 

Attorneys for the plaintiffs balked at those arguments.

“The state’s position boils down to: They don’t think anybody has standing. They don’t think anybody has the ability to challenge what the General Assembly has done,” said Allison Bussell, associate law director of Metro Nashville, representing both counties.

While the program’s financial impact remains to be seen, Bussell said the two county governments — which help fund local schools — ultimately will bear a financial burden that other counties are shielded from under the law. 

But Stephanie Bergmeyer, a lawyer for the state, countered that Tennessee lawmakers had their reasons for applying the law to families in the state’s two largest school systems, where more students and private schools were likely to participate. 

“It (would yield) a good metric to see how the program will help these students with their educational opportunities in the first few years of the program,” Bergmeyer said. 

Also at issue is the state’s speedy rollout of the program within weeks after July 13, when the court lifted its order blocking the launch. To accommodate the governor’s order to get the program up and running in time for the new school year, the education department opted to disburse state funds directly to participating private schools, rather than set up education savings accounts for individual students to deposit money in, as directed by the law. 

“The ESA act does not permit direct reimbursement to private schools; it doesn’t even contemplate that concept,” Bussell said.

Chancellor Anne Martin, who is hearing the case with Judges Valerie Smith of Memphis and Tammy Harrington of Maryville, asked Bussell whether that difference ultimately matters.

“I think the General Assembly has told us what the potential injury is,” Bussell responded. “The reason they set it up this way is because they wanted to … set up very specific processes for how to prevent fraud, to make sure that funds are spent effectively, to make sure this is being managed in an appropriate way.”

Martin said the panel will issue its rulings later.

But with the program already under way, rolling it back becomes harder. Students who’ve already received vouchers could have their school year disrupted. According to the education department, 81 approved student applicants had submitted proof of enrollment in a participating private school as of late Monday.

Chris Wood, a Nashville attorney representing parents and taxpayers in a second lawsuit opposing the law, said such disruptions aren’t the point. 

“If it’s unconstitutional, it’s unconstitutional,” Wood told Chalkbeat after the hearing. “We tried very hard to get the state to hold off on any launch while the case is still being argued, but the state has insisted on pressing on.” 

An attorney for the Arlington, Virginia-based Institute for Justice, one of several pro-voucher groups that have intervened in the case, said the “bigger disruption” is for families whose public schools are “failing to meet the needs of their students.”

“The ESA program is a godsend for them,” said Arif Panju, the institute’s senior attorney.

Research on the effectiveness of vouchers is mixed. Recent studies have found that switching to private education using a voucher tends not to help — and may even harm — students’ test scores, especially in math. Other studies, though, have found neutral or positive effects of vouchers on high school graduation and college attendance. 

Tennessee is among more than 20 states that have either started or expanded voucher-type programs in the last two years.

West Virginia and Arizona have gone the furthest on school choice, creating options to provide so-called education or empowerment scholarships to most or all of their public school students. Both face hurdles, with a legal challenge blocking West Virginia’s program and an effort to put Arizona’s measure to voters.

Voucher laws are also being legally challenged in Kentucky, Ohio, and North Carolina.

“A lot of the claims come down to voucher programs violating duties and guarantees under the education clauses of their state constitutions,” said Jessica Levin, deputy litigation director at the Education Law Center, one of several anti-voucher groups involved in Tennessee’s case. 

This story has been updated to include the number of approved ESA applicants who have submitted proof of private school enrollment to the state.

Marta W. Aldrich is a senior correspondent who covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.

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

Categories
News News Blog News Feature

Tennessee’s List of Lowest-Performing Schools Is Out. Is Yours On It?

Photo by Kimberly Farmer on Unsplash

Memphis-Shelby County Schools more than doubled its number of schools on Tennessee’s list of bottom-performing schools, while schools from several rural districts made the list for the first time.

The state education department on Monday flagged 101 schools in 12 districts as so-called priority schools, meaning they were deemed academically in the bottom 5 percent in the 2021-22 school year.

The priority list is the state’s highest-stakes designation for holding low-performing schools accountable. But this year’s roster will be used only to identify schools eligible for additional federal funding and state support — not for takeover by Tennessee’s Achievement School District. 

Last month, after telling district leaders that Tennessee won’t grade its schools A-F this fall as planned, education department officials said the state also will pause from moving any schools into the ASD, which has logged mostly disappointing results at improving the schools it took over beginning in 2012.

The accountability reprieve comes amid challenges in gathering reliable student achievement and growth data during the pandemic, beginning in 2020 when state tests were canceled nationwide. 

In an Aug. 24 letter to superintendents, Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn said test participation in 2021 was inconsistent across Tennessee, making it difficult to compare results year to year. And in the most recent school year, school leaders grappled with chronic student absenteeism, COVID-related quarantines, and challenges with online learning. 

But the accountability pause is coming to a close, Schwinn has promised. The state is scheduled to issue a new priority school list in the fall of 2023, likely making 2024 the earliest that new schools could enter the ASD.

Tennessee’s school accountability system relies on achievement and growth results from state tests under the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program, or TCAP. “Priority” status denotes a school that’s consistently low-performing over multiple years, or a high school that has less than a 67 percent graduation rate during the most recent school year.

For 2022, Memphis-Shelby County Schools, the state’s largest district, had 36 priority schools, including seven charter schools, up from a total of 16 in 2021.

Nashville’s school district went from 16 to 19 priority schools; Hamilton County from seven to eight; and Knox County had four schools. Districts in Cumberland, Fayette, Haywood, Henry, and Sevier counties had one priority school each, while Madison County had three and Maury County had two. 

Tennessee’s school turnaround district, the ASD, had 24 schools on the list.

Meanwhile, 19 schools came off the state’s list of priority schools, according to the department’s latest reports.

The rosters were among several reports released Monday by the state showing school and district designations for last school year, some of which are federally required. Those included high-performing “reward” schools, district ratings based on six performance indicators, and a list of schools needing targeted support to close disparities in student achievement based on race, poverty, disabilities, and language. 

Districts in Memphis and Nashville were designated as “advancing” school districts — the second-highest achievement — although the state’s two largest districts also had double-digit numbers of priority schools.

“The district will be working with these schools to ensure that evidence-based turnaround and success strategies are being implemented to support their students and faculty,” said a statement from Nashville school leaders.

In Memphis, district officials said they will target their priority schools by incentivizing attendance, providing extra coaching for school leaders, reviewing data regularly to provide targeted support, and helping families understand and track their child’s performance. 

“I think it’s going to take some time as we recover from the pandemic and transition the schools that are coming back from the ASD,” said Michelle McKissack, who chairs the school board there. “We have to absorb all that — the good, the bad — and move forward.”

Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org. Chalkbeat reporter Samantha West contributed to this report.

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

Categories
News News Blog News Feature

Tennessee’s New School Library Law Puts Burdens on Teachers

Photo by Joe Ciciarelli on Unsplash

On a large colorful rug, several schoolchildren sat with their legs crossed. Others stretched out on their stomachs. All were poring over pages and unraveling words and stories from books like “Pete the Cat,” “Time for Breakfast,” and “The Tiny Seed.” 

It’s reading time in Tahna White’s kindergarten classroom.

Her self-funded library collection anchors a joyful and eye-catching corner of her teaching space at Lowrance K-8 School in Memphis. Minutes earlier, her students were browsing through blue, purple, and green book bins sorted by themes like llamas, plants, feelings, and stories written by Eric Carle.

“They absolutely love going through these books,” said White, who has a master’s degree in language and literacy and has amassed about 500 children’s titles during her 20 years of teaching.

Still, White is prepared to box the books up and take them home if Memphis-Shelby County Schools directs her to catalog each one under a new state law aimed at school libraries.

“The task would be enormous, and I don’t know when I’d have time to do it myself,” she said. “Pretty much all my parents work, so it’s unlikely they’d have time to volunteer and help.”

Teachers and school leaders across Tennessee are trying to figure out how to satisfy recent state guidance on the 2022 library law. The statute requires public schools to scrutinize their library materials for “age appropriateness” and publish the full inventory for parents to view online.

Republican Gov. Bill Lee said the purpose was to “ensure parents know what materials are available to students in their libraries.”

But an Aug. 11 memo to district leaders said that under the law, a library collection is not limited to materials found in a traditional school library. It also includes “materials maintained in a teacher’s classroom,” wrote Christy Ballard, general counsel for the state education department.

Soon after, several school systems, including large districts in Chattanooga and Murfreesboro, instructed their teachers to begin cataloging their classroom collections by title and author, along with a brief description of each book — just as the new school year was beginning. 

“So most teachers have hundreds of books,” said third-grade teacher Sydney Rawls, whose viral TikTok video showed her spending one Saturday creating an inventory, book by book, at Mitchell-Neilson School in Murfreesboro, south of Nashville.

Rawls described how her students beg to read from her collection after they finish a test or assignment, “and I have to say no, you can’t, because I haven’t had a chance to go through all of them to catalog them, to write them all down.”

For White and other educators who may face the same task, the answer may be just removing the books they’ve personally curated for their classrooms. It’s an option that some teachers have discussed on social media.

Removing reading materials to comply with a state law would be an ironic twist for a state that has been trying for years to help its children become better readers.

Only one-third of Tennessee fourth-graders earned a proficient reading score in 2019 on the most recent national tests conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also called the Nation’s Report Card. 

In Memphis, home to the state’s largest district, nearly 80% of students aren’t reading at grade level.

The same legislature that passed the governor’s library proposal, dubbed the “Age Appropriate Materials Act,” approved a raft of measures the prior year aimed at improving students’ literacy skills. 

As a result, all K-12 schools have adopted phonics-based reading instruction, while colleges have revised their training accordingly for aspiring teachers. Also, beginning this school year, one controversial new law increases the likelihood that schools will hold back students who aren’t considered proficient in reading by the end of third grade.

The prospect of children losing access to books because of teachers balking at cataloging their collections is something the governor and the law’s two GOP sponsors — Sen. Jack Johnson and Rep. William Lamberth — aren’t talking about. 

None responded to questions or accommodated interview requests from Chalkbeat. 

Others involved in the library law’s development say they were taken aback by the state’s broad interpretation of what constitutes a school library.

“We don’t think that was the legislative intent,” said Dale Lynch, who leads the state’s superintendents organization. 

“It obviously means a whole lot of work for teachers.”

Lindsey Kimery, past president of the Tennessee Association of School Librarians, said the governor’s chief of staff and policy adviser never mentioned classroom collections when discussing the legislation with representatives of her group earlier this year.

“It’s exactly the kind of thing that we were afraid of,” she said of the law’s expanded scope. “At the end of the day, this creates one more barrier to easy book access for students who have no problem accessing things like video games or cellphones.”

State Rep. Sam McKenzie, who serves on a House education committee, doesn’t recall classroom book collections being discussed during debates about the legislation. 

The Knoxville Democrat plans to propose his own legislation next year to clarify that the library law does not extend to classrooms.

“This is a classic example of government overreach,” he said. “We need to get out of the way and let our teachers teach.”

Tennessee was already under a national spotlight last school year for several high-profile book bans.

Then lawmakers passed several bills aimed at restricting the kinds of books that students can read. In addition to the governor’s library review law, one measure lets the state textbook commission overrule local school board decisions and remove materials from school libraries statewide if they are deemed “inappropriate for the age or maturity levels” of students.

Tennessee was also among the first states to enact a law intended to restrict classroom discussions about the legacy of slavery, racism, and white privilege. 

“What’s driving the whole debate is a push to get rid of books about race, gender, and sex,” said JC Bowman, executive director of the Professional Educators of Tennessee. 

But fourth-grade teacher Karolyn Marino worries that, based on how educators are responding to the state’s definition of a school library, classic books will get pushed out of classrooms.

“Somehow, this law went down a rabbit hole that’s gone too far,” said Marino, who teaches in Williamson County, south of Nashville, and also serves on the board of the Professional Educators of Tennessee. 

“It’s not that the ‘Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ will end up in a trash can; it’s that Huck Finn will end up somewhere in a box,” she said.

Marino’s district, Williamson County Schools, is still determining how to comply with the law and new guidance, as are most school systems across Tennessee.

“Metro Nashville Public Schools was already in compliance with the new law based on the classic definition of a school library,” said spokesman Sean Braisted, noting that district leaders are developing a plan to address the broader interpretation.

“We will seek to do so in such a way that minimizes any burden placed on teachers who are rightfully focused on providing the academic instruction and support to their students,” he added.

That could mean giving teachers a tool to create a listing of their classroom collections without typing it out by hand. With the right resource, they could just scan a barcode on each book to automatically fill in the title, author, and description. 

But such tools don’t come cheap. Kimery, who coordinates library services for Nashville schools, priced one system at $64,000 a year.

Others, like Williamson County’s Marino, say the state should pay teachers a stipend for any additional work required under the law.

The legislature’s fiscal analyst didn’t identify such potential costs when studying the governor’s proposal. The bill’s fiscal note said schools and districts “will be able to comply with the proposed legislation using existing resources during the normal course of business; therefore, any fiscal impact to state or local government is estimated to be not significant.”

In Memphis, White is ready to pack up her books if her district doesn’t come up with a workable plan for complying with the law. But for now, she is using them every day to help her students with reading, which is considered the foundation for learning and success in all subject areas.

“Our goal is to create lifelong readers,” White said, “but you can’t do that without books.”

Marta W. Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.

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

Categories
News News Blog News Feature Uncategorized

Private School Voucher Opponents Ask Tennessee Court to Block “Rushed, Haphazard” Rollout

State Capitol (Credit: Tennessee State Government)

Opponents of Tennessee’s private school voucher program went to court again Friday in another attempt to block its launch as a rapidly growing number of families and private schools signed up to take part.    

Lawyers behind one of two long-running lawsuits asked judges to halt the state’s work on its education savings account program, which aims to provide families in Memphis and Nashville with public funding to pay for private schooling. Lawyers in the second lawsuit, representing parents in those cities, were expected to file a similar motion later Friday.

Gov. Bill Lee has ordered his education department to roll out the program for the school year starting in early August, prompting the latest flurry of legal activity.

As of Friday, about 1,500 families and at least 76 private schools had submitted forms this week indicating their interest to participate, said Brian Blackley, a spokesman for the state education department.

“None of these have been vetted for eligibility; the next steps are formal applications,” Blackley said.

In their legal filings, lawyers representing local governments in Nashville and Shelby County called the state’s rollout “haphazard” and “rushed” and said the consequences of the state’s 2019 voucher law “go far beyond politics.”

The state “plainly will stop at nothing to see this Act implemented,” said the 45-page motion. “The fallout will be disastrous, and it will be irreparable. A temporary injunction is the only solution.”

A spokeswoman for the state attorney general’s office did not immediately respond Friday to a request for comment about the latest filing.

The Tennessee Supreme Court upheld the state’s voucher law in May. That set the stage for a three-judge panel last week to lift an earlier order that had blocked the program’s original launch in 2020. 

That same panel will hear the latest legal challenge. The judges are expected to decide quickly — maybe as soon as next week — whether the program will proceed or pause while lawyers challenge the law’s constitutionality based on several remaining claims in the case. 

Meanwhile, the number of families and private schools interested in participating essentially doubled in three days.

On Wednesday, before Lee flew to Memphis to meet with private school leaders there, he told reporters near Nashville that the response had been swift and that 600 families and 40-plus private schools had completed online forms published a day earlier to show “intent to participate.”

The state education department has scrambled since the order was lifted, and Lee’s education chief, Penny Schwinn, told Chalkbeat earlier this week that “we’re really trying to catch up and meet the governor’s office’s expectations on this.”

On Friday, the department hosted a webinar for families interested in applying to move from public to private schools. 

While the law allows up to 5,000 participants in the program’s first year, Blackley acknowledged that the expedited launch is challenging because the state must manually review applications to ensure families and schools meet the state’s eligibility standards. 

It’s likely that families who want to participate immediately will have to start the 2022-23 school year in public schools, then pivot to private schools if they’re approved for the program.

“This process is moving rapidly, and we are doing the best that we can to handle it,” Blackley said.

The state also must set up systems and processes for redirecting public education spending in Memphis and Nashville, the only two cities where the program is operating, to private schools and vendors.

Research on the effectiveness of vouchers is mixed. Recent studies have found that using a voucher tends not to help — and may even harm — students’ test scores, especially in math. Other studies, though, have found neutral or positive effects of vouchers on high school graduation and college attendance. 

The two lawsuits challenging the program cite provisions in the state constitution that guarantee equal protection under the law. They argue that while the state is obligated to maintain a system that provides for substantially equal educational opportunities for its residents, vouchers would create unequal systems by targeting two counties and diverting funds from their public school systems to private and home schools.

“The General Assembly intentionally and unapologetically excluded every other school district in Tennessee from the Act’s application to ‘protect’ those districts from the Act’s harmful impact,” the motion said. “And it did so without any justifiable rationale and without tailoring the program to any educational goal.” 

Marta W. Aldrich is a senior correspondent who covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.

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

Categories
News News Blog News Feature

Chalkbeat: Tennessee’s Private School Voucher Law Survives Local Challenge In State Supreme Court

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

The Tennessee Supreme Court has declined to reconsider its recent decision upholding the state’s 2019 private school voucher law.

In a brief order issued Monday, the high court stood by its 3-2 ruling on May 18 in favor of the state and against the governments of Metropolitan Nashville and Shelby County, the only two counties affected by the law.

The decision marks another legal win for Gov. Bill Lee’s education savings account program, the signature legislation of his first year in office, although other court challenges loom. 

The program aims to provide taxpayer money to pay toward private education for eligible students in public school districts in Memphis and Nashville, but it has never launched because of the fierce legal battle.

In 2020, a judge overturned the law on the grounds that it violated the Tennessee Constitution’s “home rule” clause, since it was imposed on the two counties without their approval. But on appeal, the high court disagreed last month and said the home rule clause governs the actions of local school districts, not the counties that sued, even though they help fund those schools.

Attorneys for Nashville and Shelby County quickly asked for a rehearing, arguing in part that the home rule clause should apply because Nashville’s school system is part of a metropolitan form of government.

But the court declined to wade again into their claim.

“The court previously considered the issues raised in the petition in the course of its resolution of the appeal,” the court wrote in a four-sentence order.

A spokesman for Nashville Mayor John Cooper expressed disappointment over the order, while Nashville Law Director Wally Dietz said his office is “evaluating next steps for the remaining claims in our lawsuit.”

Meanwhile, Lee’s mothballed education savings account program remains stuck at the starting gate.

Litigants behind a second lawsuit in the case say they intend to press ahead with up to four remaining claims challenging the law’s constitutionality. And Dietz and his legal team are considering a similar move on behalf of local governments based in the state’s two largest cities.

In addition, a program with the complexities of vouchers requires significant preparation before a rollout and likely could not be ready before the start of the new school year in August.

Marta W. Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.

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

Categories
News News Blog News Feature

Governor’s Executive Order Fortifies Tennessee Schools, Won’t Limit Gun Access

Bill Lee (Photo: tn.gov)

Gov. Bill Lee signed an executive order Monday directing Tennessee schools and law enforcement to double down on existing school safety protocols in the wake of a shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers at a Texas elementary school.

But the Republican governor said restricting access to guns is off the table, and he called for continuing the state’s “prioritized practical approach to school safety.”

That means greater fortification of schools to make it more difficult for an intruder to enter them — a policy that former Gov. Bill Haslam, another Republican, stepped up in 2018 after a shooter killed 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida.

At a morning news conference, Lee said school communities can expect more unannounced security inspections to make sure all doors are locked so that visitors have only a single point of entry when the new school year begins. 

The governor directed the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy to work with the state safety department to evaluate training standards in active-shooter situations, and announced required training for security guards at private schools. He called on state troopers to familiarize themselves with school patterns and school communities in their regions to become more involved in school safety.

And he directed the state education department to seek federal permission to use federal COVID-relief funding to conduct independent school safety assessments that identify needed building upgrades.

“There are things we can control, and there are things we cannot,” Lee said after signing his order. “And one of the things that we can control … (is how) to improve the practical, pragmatic steps to making a school safer.” 

Democrats, however, characterized Lee’s order as a photo opportunity that won’t lead to meaningful change.

“I reject the notion that we are helpless against confronting gun violence,” said state Sen. Raumesh Akbari, of Memphis. 

“Tennessee families believe in responsible gun ownership, and they support laws that would deny firearms and weapons of war to people who can’t pass a background check,” Akbari added. “That’s not radical. That’s just common sense.”

Lee’s four-page order comes two weeks after an 18-year-old legally purchased an AR-15-style rifle and opened fire on a classroom filled with children and teachers at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, before being killed by law enforcement.

And over the weekend, a string of shootings left at least 15 people dead and more than 60 others wounded in eight states, including in Tennessee, where three people were killed and 14 were injured early Sunday morning outside a nightclub in Chattanooga and two people died of gunshot wounds in southeast Shelby County.

Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly, who described himself as an “avid hunter” and gun owner, called on Congress to enact “common sense regulations” such as mandatory background checks and a ban on high-capacity magazines that let shooters fire dozens of rounds without having to reload.

But Lee rejected those ideas when asked whether Tennessee would seek to issue its own regulations.

“We are not looking at gun restrictions or gun laws as a part of a school safety plan going forward,” he told reporters.

Tennessee has one of the nation’s highest rates of gun deaths, including murders, suicides and accidental shootings. But the state has loosened restrictions on gun ownership since 2019 under Lee’s leadership. Last year, it joined more than a dozen other states that allow most adults 21 and older to carry handguns without first clearing a background check, obtaining a permit, or getting trained on firearms safety.

Asked whether the rise in gun violence constitutes a public health crisis, Lee called it a “serious and rising problem” and added that his executive order is a “first step” in addressing it.

“If we work together and implement the things that we have put in place in our state and strengthen those things — and we will be strengthening them over the next months — then we can work together to ensure that our schools are in fact safe places,” Lee said.

He added that he wants every Tennessee K-12 campus eventually to have a school resource officer and noted that his 2019 grant program has helped place more than 200 officers in public schools.

Marta W. Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.

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

Categories
News News Blog News Feature

Chalkbeat: Five Questions With Governor Lee After Uvalde

Credit: State of Tennessee

Gov. Bill Lee said Thursday that his administration began reviewing Tennessee’s school safety policies and programs the day after an 18-year-old gunman walked into an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and killed 19 children and their two teachers.

“We will be taking steps in the days and weeks to come that will enhance our ability to secure students in the classroom,” said Lee, speaking with reporters for the first time since the May 24 massacre at Robb Elementary School.

Exactly what those steps will be is still being discussed. But Lee said they won’t involve repealing a bill he signed last year that allows most Tennessee adults to carry a handgun without a permit.

His top two priorities: make school campuses more secure and support mental health, especially for young people.

Lee has sought to strengthen both areas since taking office. In 2019, the new Republican governor raised the state’s annual investment in school safety funding, especially to increase the number of schools supported by law enforcement personnel known as school resource officers. And in 2021, he championed a $250 million mental health trust fund that dedicates annual investment income to support students’ emotional well-being.

He also expects school safety to be on the minds of legislators when they return to Nashville next January. 

“There will be a long list of items that people will talk about and propose — one of them being whether to arm teachers, another being passing a red flag law,” Lee said. “I think we’re going to see a robust conversation all across America about what strategies to implement.”

Lee spoke with reporters in Fayetteville, Tennessee, after announcing that Wisconsin-based Ariens, a maker of commercial lawn mowers and snowblowers, will bring nearly 370 new jobs to build its products in the rural Middle Tennessee town.

Asked later by Chalkbeat about the Texas shooting, the governor characterized his office as “very engaged” on student safety. 

“I’ve had very emotional conversations with parents who are afraid to send their children to school,” he said about how the shooting has shaken families and school communities anew.

A day earlier, about 50 pastors, parents, and physicians gathered outside of Lee’s office at the state Capitol to call for “common sense” gun control regulations. Among their demands: Ban semi-automatic assault weapons, armor piercing ammunition, and high-capacity magazines.

In Fayetteville, Lee answered five questions from Chalkbeat on gun violence and student safety. Chalkbeat lightly edited his answers for clarity and brevity.

Q: While the school year has ended, school safety is on the minds of Tennesseans after the Uvalde massacre. How are you working to prevent a similar tragedy here in Tennessee?

A: For three years, we have made investments, but we have to do more. From day one after that tragedy, we started an assessment of what has been done, and we’re developing a strategy. Part of the strategy is to make certain schools are using the resources that are available to them. 

School resource officers are a key first step. A lot of accountability is necessary to make sure schools are actually carrying out established protocols, and that can be part of the SRO’s responsibility. We’ve learned that, in this event in Texas, a missed protocol or a lack of attention to detail can have tragic outcomes.

Q: After the 2018 mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, several Tennessee lawmakers proposed letting some teachers carry guns at school. The bills generally stalled, but there’s talk again of turning some teachers into armed security guards. Would you support such legislation?

A: I have said before that I would be in favor of a strategy that includes training and vetting and a very strategic and appropriate plan for (arming teachers). There are a lot of details that have to be right for that to be considered. But if lawmakers brought it forth, I would certainly consider it.

Q: Some of your critics have pointed to the 2021 “constitutional carry” bill you signed as part of the problem by allowing people 21 and older to carry handguns, openly or concealed, without a permit — all at a time when Tennessee has one of the nation’s highest rates of gun deaths. Was widening gun access the wrong direction?

A: Constitutional carry is a law that applies to law-abiding citizens. What we’re talking about in Texas was criminal behavior. Criminals don’t follow permit laws. They don’t follow gun laws. They break the law. Constitutional carry has nothing to do with criminals who break the law. In fact, when we passed constitutional carry, we also passed laws that strengthened penalties for those who broke the law with guns. It’s very important that we separate criminals who use guns in criminal activity and law-abiding citizens.

Q: What about limiting access to guns by people who are most likely to misuse them? Many are urging passage of red flag laws that permit police or family members to petition a court to order temporary removal of firearms when a person may present a danger to others or themselves.

A: That’s connected to mental health, but who is the arbiter of mental health? There are a lot of concerns about red flag laws — not only on issues of mental health but their effectiveness in general. Buffalo, New York (where another gunman killed 10 people on May 14) has red flag laws. So there’s just a lot of questions around those approaches.

Q: When it comes to support for mental health, Tennessee trails the rest of the nation. The state ranks 34th worst nationally for prevalence of mental illness and lower rates of access to care, and 40th for youth mental health, according to the 2022 report by Mental Health America, the nation’s leading community-based nonprofit for preventing mental illness. How are we bolstering mental health supports?

A: That is exactly why we established the mental health trust fund a few years ago. And our state’s new education funding formula actually strengthens our ability to tap into resources for mental health needs, for children in particular. The pandemic exacerbated all of the reasons why we need to be investing in these areas. So we have a commitment to investing in mental health resources and services across the state.

Marta W. Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.

 

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

Categories
News News Blog News Feature

Chalkbeat: Private School Voucher Ruling Has Tennesseans Talking. Here’s What They’re Saying.

Tikeila Rucker, then president of the United Education Association of Shelby County, speaks during an anti-voucher rally in front of the state Capitol in Nashville on April 8, 2019. (Photo by Marta W. Aldrich / Chalkbeat)

Whether characterized as an assault on public schools or a pathway for more education choices for families, this week’s Tennessee Supreme Court ruling in favor of the state’s embattled school voucher law stirred a torrent of public feedback.

Reactions to the 3-2 decision split largely along partisan lines, bringing cheers from many Republicans, including Gov. Bill Lee, who said that the ruling “puts parents in Memphis and Nashville one step closer to finding the best educational fit for their children.”

Wednesday’s ruling revives Lee’s education savings account program, which lets eligible families use taxpayer dollars toward private school tuition or other private educational services. But it doesn’t guarantee the program’s survival.

The decision overturned lower court rulings in favor of the governments of Shelby County and Metropolitan Nashville, which argued that the 2019 law violated the Tennessee Constitution’s “home rule” provision, because it applied only to districts in Memphis and Nashville without local consent. 

But several other legal avenues remain open to challenge the law, including a second lawsuit filed in 2020 on behalf of 11 public school parents and community members in Memphis and Nashville based on their students’ constitutional rights to adequate and equitable educational opportunities.

The plaintiffs in that case “have asserted these constitutional claims from the beginning of the litigation challenging the voucher law, and intend to vigorously pursue them,” said a joint statement from the Education Law Center, Southern Poverty Law Center, and the ACLU, which are collaborating on the litigation. 

Local governments in Shelby and Davidson counties also could pursue other legal claims.

Here’s what Tennesseans are saying about this week’s long-awaited ruling:

Memphis-Shelby County Schools: “The recent ruling is an unfortunate roadblock on the path toward progress and makes serving students in the state’s largest urban district even more challenging.”

Adrienne Battle, director, Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools: “Private school vouchers undermine our public schools and have failed to support the learning needs of students who have used them in other states where they have been tried. We strongly disagree with the court’s opinion, which undermines the principles of local control and will harm Davidson County taxpayers who will ultimately be on the hook to pay for the state’s voucher scheme.”

Rep. Mark White, R-Memphis: “Our first priority in government is to build strong public schools. But where that is not available, school choice should be an option.”

Kay Johnson, director, Greater Praise Christian Academy, Memphis: “I am overjoyed by the court’s ruling. This program gives students in poor-performing schools the opportunity and support to attend the schools that best suit their needs. That is a win for them, their families, our communities, and our state.”

Sen. Heidi Campbell, D-Nashville: “This could not be worse for Tennessee children in tandem with the bill to transition our entire education program into evangelical hedge-fund schools. This is terrible news for our state.”

Rep. Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis: “The fact that Davidson and Shelby County taxpayers are singled out as the only counties in the state of Tennessee where the taxpayers are forced to use their tax dollars to fund private school enrollment is absurd and discriminatory. And even more dangerous and disturbing is the precedent this decision sets for the Tennessee General Assembly to continue, with the backing of the highest court in the land, to dump other shit legislation only on the people of these counties.”

John Patton, Tennessee director, American Federation for Children: “The Tennessee Supreme Court made the right decision by declaring that the Education Savings Account program does not violate the HomeRule Amendment. These programs encourage both private and public schools to create new and better options for all students.”

Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery III: “The Education Savings Account program has always been about helping Tennessee students — giving eligible families a choice in education, an opportunity they currently do not have. It challenged the status quo, a move that is always met with resistance. … While there are further court proceedings that need to take place, this is a major step forward.”

Beth Brown, president, Tennessee Education Association: “This ruling is not the end of the fight against private school vouchers. We’ve seen the privatization industry’s playbook come to life in other states and witnessed the damage caused to students and public schools. They start a small program, then expand it, and then expand it a little more, until public education funding is obliterated.”

Tennessee Senate Democratic Caucus: “In this decision, the Supreme Court erased constitutional protections for local control and years of precedent. Not only does this decision usher in a terrible education policy, but it invites more political meddling that surely results in local governments losing freedom and independence from state interference.”

Raymond Pierce, president and CEO, Southern Education Foundation: “There is a long and well-documented history of school voucher programs in the South being used to avoid integration by siphoning public funds out of public schools. … While this law stands for now, the Southern Education Foundation will continue to fight school privatization efforts that would take our nation back to the days of a segregated and inherently unequal education system.”

Justin Owen, president and CEO, Beacon Center of Tennessee: “We are so pleased that the Tennessee Supreme Court affirmed what we have always known: the ESA law is not a violation of the Tennessee Constitution’s Home Rule Amendment. We are fully confident after this decision that families in Nashville and Memphis will finally get the choice opportunities that they deserve.”

Victor Evans, executive director, TennesseeCAN: “A student’s ZIP code or neighborhood should never dictate their future, but without the options and resources that those from wealthier areas enjoy, that is too often the case. Tennessee’s Educational Savings Account program will help address this glaring inequality and need.”

TJ Ducklo, spokesman for Nashville Mayor John Cooper: “We’re disappointed by today’s ruling but will continue to vigorously fight this law through all possible avenues.” 

JC Bowman, executive director, Professional Educators of Tennessee: “Legal experts will continue to debate this case on its merits for many years, and it may still face additional legal challenges. The Tennessee Education Savings Account will ultimately be defined by the students who participate in the program and their academic success or failure. Public schools will remain the choice of the vast majority of parents in our state who believe their child is receiving a high-quality education.”

Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org. 

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

Categories
News News Blog News Feature

Chalkbeat: Legislators Tackled Education Issues Big and Small

State Capitol (Photo: Tennessee State Government)

Tennessee lawmakers’ scrutiny of public education this year ran the gamut, from completely rewriting the state’s K-12 funding formula to authorizing teachers to confiscate students’ cell phones if they’re deemed a distraction in class.

The 65 or so education bills that ultimately passed during the 2022 session showed lawmakers were willing to not only undertake big, systemic reforms, but also to assert state power over issues traditionally handled at the local or school level. Among them: which books are OK for libraries and how to resolve a dispute between two cities over school properties.

All measures ultimately will affect students in pre-K through 12th grade, their educators, and schools — most beginning this fall.

They include several anticipated new laws aimed at addressing the state’s teacher shortage by loosening restrictions on licensing, plus another bill that expands Tennessee’s private school voucher program for students with disabilities to include those with dyslexia.

And one year after a 2021 law restricted how race and bias can be taught in schools, new legislation requires schools to infuse multiculturalism throughout the K-12 curriculum, with special attention to Black history in grades 5 through 8.

The legislature’s focus on culture war issues was notable, from scrutinizing content in school libraries to pulling state funding from schools that allow transgender youth to participate in girls sports.

Also notable were the proposals that didn’t pass.

Pushback from advocates of traditional public schools helped to sideline bills that likely would have led to significant expansion of the state’s charter school sector. One measure, which was resurrected after stalling last year, would have opened the door to for-profit charters in Tennessee. Another would have let charter organizations bypass local districts and apply for authorization directly to the state’s new charter commission.

Lawmakers struck down a perennial bill to allow school superintendents to be elected by voters instead of being appointed by school boards, albeit by a closer margin than in previous years.

Also scuttled were bills that would limit which supplemental materials that teachers can use, ban corporal punishment in schools, and require that state tests be given only during the last 20 days of the school year. 

Still, the GOP supermajority saw many of its bills head to Gov. Bill Lee for his signature.

After the final gavel fell on April 28, Lee touted the passage of his legislative agenda as “America at its best,” including the funding rewrite that he signed into law this week, a $500 million one-time investment in middle and high school career and technical education, and a $125 million increase toward teacher pay.

House Minority Leader Karen Camper, however, characterized this year’s session as one of “missed opportunities.” Citing the state’s historic revenue surplus and billions of dollars in one-time federal COVID relief funding, the Memphis Democrat said the state could have invested even more in education, as well as health care, housing, and other needs critical to the average Tennessean.

Here is a roundup of some of the 2022 bills that passed:

Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (HB2143-SB2396): The so-called TISA formula will replace the state’s 30-year-old funding system. It sets a base funding rate of $6,860 per pupil, then distributes additional funding for students who are considered economically disadvantaged, have unique learning needs, or live in communities that are rural or have concentrated poverty. The governor, who is running for reelection, pledged to inject an extra $1 billion annually into the base and weights when the formula kicks in beginning in 2023-24. 

Budget (HB2882-SB2897): The state’s $53 billion spending plan includes a $125 million recurring funding increase toward teacher salaries and a one-time $500 million investment in career and technical education for middle and high schools. But legislative finance leaders stripped away $200 million that Lee wanted for relocating 14 Tennessee schools built in floodplains. The budget also sets aside $32 million to help charter schools pay for facilities. And it includes about $29 million to launch Tennessee’s paused school voucher program, just in case the Tennessee Supreme Court overrules a lower court’s 2020 ruling that it is unconstitutional.

Age-Appropriate Materials Act (HB2154-SB2407): The governor’s plan requires each school library to publish the list of materials in their collections and periodically review them to make sure they are “appropriate for the age and maturity levels of the students who may access the materials.” It also requires school boards to establish processes for receiving feedback and removing books that don’t meet that standard, which is to be defined by each district based on local community standards.

New appellate process (HB2666-SB2247): Tennessee’s textbook commission can overrule local school board decisions and ban certain school library books statewide if they are deemed “inappropriate for the age or maturity levels” of students who can access them. Under legislation approved on the final day of the session, which Lee has said he’ll sign, the politically appointed panel can hear appeals from parents, school employees, or other complainants on the decisions of locally elected officials over challenged materials.

Tennessee library coordinator (HB1667-SB1784): Creates a position at the state education department to strengthen school library programs and promote best practices among librarians and technology coordinators. The Tennessee Association of School Librarians lobbied for the position.

Black history (HB2106-SB2501): Requires, rather than recommends, instruction on Black history in schools. Schools must infuse multiculturalism throughout the K-12 curriculum, with special attention to Black history in grades five through eight. The bill takes effect in 2025-26 to align with a scheduled review of the state’s social studies standards.  

Virtues of capitalism (HB2742-SB2748): Requires instruction on the “virtues of capitalism and the constitutional republic form of government in the United States and Tennessee, as compared to other political and economic systems such as communism and socialism.”

Grading scale (HB0324-SB0388): Returns Tennessee to a 10-point grading scale for high school students instead of a seven-point scale for assigning A-F letter grades, to help with post-secondary financial assistance. So instead of a 93-100 average to receive an A, the range would be 91-100. The shift, which has been discussed in the legislature for several years, would align Tennessee’s high school grading scale with its colleges and universities. The primary goal is to put Tennessee students on an even playing field with their peers elsewhere, including eight bordering states.

Hope scholarships (HB2152-SB2405): Lawmakers approved the largest increase for HOPE scholarships for academic achievers at public four-year universities in Tennessee since the scholarships launched in 2004. Beginning with the 2022-23 academic year, the awards will increase from $3,500 to $4,500 for full-time eligible freshmen and sophomores and from $4,500 to $5,700 for juniors and seniors. Funded from the net proceeds of the Tennessee Lottery, the program aids students who graduate from a Tennessee high school with a 3.0 GPA or higher and score at least 21 on their ACT or 1060 on their SAT.

‘Divisive concepts’ in higher education (HB2670-SB2290): Gives public university students the right to sue professors if they believe they received low grades based on politics or ideology. 

Transgender athletes (HB1895-SB1861): Legislation signed by the governor requires the state education department to withhold funds from schools that don’t identify athletes’ genders assigned at birth or that allow transgender girls to play on girls’ sports teams. A second bill prohibits trans women from playing on women’s college sports teams. 

But legislation stalled that would have shielded schools from recourse if a teacher disregards the preferred pronouns of students. And lawmakers scuttled another bill that would have banned “textbooks and instructional materials or supplemental instructional materials that promote, normalize, support or address lesbian, gay, bi-sexual or transgender issues or lifestyles.”

Expansion of vouchers for students with disabilities (HB0751-SB1158): Under a bill that the governor is expected to sign, nearly 35,000 students with learning disabilities such as dyslexia would be eligible to participate in Tennessee’s private school voucher program for students with disabilities. The legislation would almost double the number of students now eligible to receive state money to pay for private education services through the state’s 6-year-old Individualized Education Account program. Currently, that program serves 284 students with disabilities that include autism, hearing and vision impairments, and traumatic brain injury. State officials estimate the families of about 250 students would opt to participate and receive an average of $7,811 annually during the first year. Such an expansion would shift more than $2 million in state funding from public to private schools and vendors.

Temporary teaching permits (HB1901-SB1863): Extends for another two years temporary teaching permits to teach certain courses and subjects where vacancies are hard to fill.

Limited license pathway (HB1899-SB1864): Allows teachers holding a temporary teaching permit to apply to the state for a practitioner’s license before the permit expires. 

Retired teachers and bus drivers (HB2783-SB2702): Through 2025, retired teachers and bus drivers could be reemployed as a teacher, substitute teacher, or bus driver, without having their retirement benefits taken away or suspended. Currently, retired teachers can return to work, but only for 120 days maximum. The change would allow workers to return for an entire school year if there are no other qualified applicants. During reemployment in a school system, retirement benefits would be reduced to 70% of retirement allowance, and the existing salary cap would be removed.

Occupational teaching licenses (HB2455-SB2442): Amends qualifications necessary to receive an occupational teaching license to address the shortage of instructors for vocational and career and technical education programs. 

Transfer of schools to Germantown (HB2430-SB2315): Memphis school officials will have to transfer three suburban schools to neighboring Germantown under heavily amended legislation that gives both parties until next year to reach an agreement. Germantown officials have sought the expensive properties for a decade, but leaders of Memphis-Shelby County Schools countered that they offered no long-term plan for educating the 3,300 students who would be affected, most of whom live near Germantown in unincorporated parts of Shelby County. A federal judge approved the original 2013 agreement that transferred five of eight Germantown schools from the Memphis district to the Germantown school system. Memphis leaders have said they may take the matter back to court.

Marta W. Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.

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