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TN Legislative Preview: Key Education Issues to Watch as Lawmakers Return

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When Tennessee legislators passed a tough third-grade reading law during their 2021 special session on education, they didn’t seek the input of many educators.

But they’re hearing a lot of feedback now, as the law’s stricter retention policy kicks in with this year’s class of third graders. Educators are warning about the potential for thousands of students to be held back because of low reading scores, along with a slew of logistical challenges created by the law.

Revisiting the controversial third-grade reading law is expected to top the list of education priorities heading into this year’s 113th General Assembly, beginning Tuesday in Nashville. 

Meanwhile, Republican Gov. Bill Lee will unveil details of his legislative agenda and proposed budget several weeks after being sworn in for his second term on Jan. 21.

Last year, no education issue seemed too big or small for the GOP-controlled legislature to take up — from passing Lee’s sweeping rewrite of the state’s K-12 funding formula to authorizing teachers to confiscate students’ cellphones if they’re deemed a distraction in class. Lawmakers also asserted state power over several matters traditionally handled at the local or school level, including which books are OK for libraries and how to resolve a dispute between two cities over school properties.

This year, the GOP may flex its supermajority power again on socially divisive issues, including one bill that seeks to limit health treatment for transgender youth.

But whether charter school advocates will try again to pass charter-friendly legislation is still uncertain after several Republican-sponsored proposals sputtered last year and the fallout over charter applications linked to Michigan’s Hillsdale College galvanized supporters of traditional public schools.  

As for the Democrats, their minority status limits their influence over legislation. But expect them to hammer their messaging around themes of restoring local control over education and the potential fiscal effects of expanding Tennessee’s charter school sector and private school voucher programs.

Here are five things to watch for as the General Assembly convenes:

During his first term, the governor spent significant political capital to pass major education laws — launching a private school voucher program, creating a powerful state commission to oversee charter school growth, expanding vocational education options for middle and high school students, and replacing the state’s 30-year-old resource-based funding formula with a student-centered one called Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement, or TISA.

Last fall, Lee suggested the dizzying pace would continue, with a campaign pledge to teachers and parents that he would “make the most of the next four years.”

But legislative leaders working closely with his administration say this year’s education focus will be to execute what’s already passed — not introduce new major initiatives.

“We’ve done a lot, and I think it’s going to be a quieter year on education,” said Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, who carries bills on the governor’s behalf. 

Specifically, he said, Lee wants to monitor this year’s rollout of the funding formula and third-grade retention policy. “We may need some tweaks and improvements on those but, in terms of any new broad initiatives, I don’t anticipate anything from the administration,” Johnson told Chalkbeat.

When Lee pressed last year for an education funding overhaul, he pledged an additional $1 billion annually for students if TISA passed, beginning with the budget that takes effect this July 1. With state revenues continuing to exceed expenses, the expectation is that he’ll make good on that promise.

On other budgetary matters, Lee has said he wants to continue upping teacher pay. He’ll also likely set aside money so the all-volunteer state textbook commission can hire staff to manage a new library book appeals process authorized by the legislature in 2022. And he’s expected to propose more funding for the state agency for children’s services, which is severely understaffed and short of beds for abused, neglected, or foster children who are taken into state custody.

Meanwhile, the legislature will review ways to continue tapping state or federal dollars for perennial educational wants, from more social services for schools to expanded access to pre-kindergarten and early child care. 

Vowing to stop the cycle of letting students who can’t read move up to the next grade, Lee pressed for the new third-grade reading law, which tightens state retention policies that generally haven’t been enforced under a 2011 law.

The 2021 law made it more likely that schools will hold back students who aren’t considered proficient in reading by the end of third grade, based on the results of annual state tests this spring. It also authorized new summer school and after-school tutoring programs that can help struggling third graders avoid being held back.

But with only a third of Tennessee third graders projected to test proficient in reading, educators insist that state test results don’t tell the full story about a student’s reading ability. They want more local input that takes into account the results of periodic “benchmark” tests administered throughout the year.

“This is the No. 1 concern I’m hearing across the state with superintendents, school boards, and parents,” said House Education Committee Chairman Mark White, who says he’s open to adding benchmark test results into the calculations. “We cannot ignore it.”

Expect other legislative proposals to try to improve the quality of education before third grade, especially to support literacy. 

Rep. Scott Cepicky, for instance, is looking at raising the minimum age to begin kindergarten. Currently, Tennessee law requires children entering kindergarten to be at least 5 years old on or before Aug. 15 of the school year they’re entering.

His proposal is based on a recent analysis by the state comptroller’s office, which found that Tennessee students who were older at kindergarten enrollment performed better on third-grade literacy tests than their peers.

After overcoming a string of court challenges, private school vouchers became available this school year in Memphis and Nashville. Now Sen. Todd Gardenhire is looking to expand the “pilot” program to Hamilton County, where he lives.

The Chattanooga Republican had voted against education savings accounts in 2019, but said he’s changed his mind since the Tennessee Supreme Court upheld the controversial law last spring. He’s also frustrated that Hamilton County Schools has abandoned a $20 million school improvement plan for its lowest-performing schools.

Gardenhire filed his bill last month and recruited White to co-sponsor the measure in the House. 

Meanwhile, the law continues to face legal challenges. Metro Nashville and Shelby County governments gave notice last month that they’ll appeal a lower court’s dismissal of their remaining legal claims to the Tennessee Court of Appeals.

The state comptroller’s first report on the program’s efficacy isn’t due until Jan. 1, 2026.

Both state and national data suggest that teacher shortages are limited to certain districts, schools, and subjects, not an across-the-board problem. But with the churn of educators and school staff worsening during the pandemic, expect several new proposals to try to strengthen teacher pipelines beyond Tennessee’s existing grow-your-own programs, as well as to support those already in classrooms.

The Tennessee School Boards Association is urging the legislature to incentivize potential teacher candidates by reimbursing those who pass the Praxis exam, which measures knowledge and skills needed to be a teacher. The test generally costs about $120. (The State Board of Education is also considering dropping EdTPA, another licensing test required currently of about 900 “job-embedded” candidates, who make up about a third of the state’s teacher pipeline.) 

Cepicky and Sen. Joey Hensley have filed a bill to provide teachers with $500 annually to pay for classroom supplies, instead of the current $200, so that they’re not counting on charity or personal funds to cover those costs.

But for many districts, an even bigger staffing issue is hiring enough support staff.

South of Nashville, Williamson County Schools has only three-fourths of the school bus drivers needed by the suburban district and is also understaffed for teacher aides for special education students.

“Every little tool you can give us in our toolbox, if it can fill one or two spots, it’s worth it,” Superintendent Jason Golden told his local legislative delegation during a weekend workshop.

“We’re looking at it,” responded Hensley, a Hohenwald Republican. “We know it’s a big issue.”

To find legislators, track bills, and livestream legislative business, visit the Tennessee General Assembly website.

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.

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TN Textbook Commission Struggles to Wield New, Wide Powers

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Tennessee’s textbook commission has wide new powers to determine which books students can and can’t access in public school libraries. But members say the panel doesn’t have enough resources to finish its most pressing new task: providing guidance to school leaders on how to comply with several recently enacted library laws. 

The all-volunteer commission blew past a statutory Dec. 1 deadline to finalize its guidelines, and decided last week that it can’t do so without first getting legal advice. 

“We have gotten zero guidance from any attorneys — zero. And we’re just out here as volunteers doing this,” said commission member John Combs, a school superintendent from Tipton County.

The new laws require schools to periodically screen their library materials for “age appropriateness,” based on local standards and community input. They also empowered the 13-member Tennessee Textbook and Instructional Materials Quality Commission to rule on appeals to local decisions about individual books — and to even ban challenged books statewide — a significant expansion of the commission’s original mandate. 

With the commission’s final vote on guidance likely weeks or even months away, school administrators are on their own for now to figure out how to navigate changes in the law.

This month’s missed deadline, though, is a symptom of a larger concern that commission members are grappling with as they prepare for a potential onslaught of appeals of book challenges in a state that’s one of the nation’s leaders in banning literary, scholarly, and creative works.

When GOP lawmakers passed the library appeals law in the waning hours of the legislative session this spring, they provided no funding for the commission to hire staff to manage its new appeals work. The law’s fiscal impact was identified as “not significant,” according to an analysis by legislative staff.

But essentially, it was an unfunded mandate.

Established in 1983, the textbook commission has no offices, no full-time staff, and no independent lawyers with whom to confer. Most members have full-time jobs and lean on administrative support from the state education department to fulfill the body’s core responsibility of approving textbooks and instructional materials, and establishing contracts with publishers to guarantee availability to schools at the lowest price.

In its new appellate role over school libraries, the panel will have to dive into local disputes over age-appropriateness and community standards. That means setting up processes to make sure complainants are eligible to appeal, reviewing all documentation leading up to the local decision, and analyzing the materials in question, possibly with statewide consequences.

“It’s a lot of work to be added to people who already have a full load,” commission Chair Linda Cash told a legislative subcommittee in September.

Cash, who is school superintendent in Bradley County near Chattanooga, has asked Gov. Bill Lee’s administration for recurring funding to hire staff and set up offices similar to several other education agencies. For instance, the 2-year-old Public Charter School Commission, which Lee championed, has a 14-member staff to help its nine appointed members manage charter school appeals. The State Board of Education has 15 employees who help its 11 appointees set policies ranging from academic standards to teacher preparation and licensing requirements.

In a Nov. 22 letter obtained by Chalkbeat, Cash told Tennessee Finance Commissioner Jim Bryson “it is imperative” that the commission hire an executive director, an attorney, and administrative support to help it carry out both its old and new responsibilities. And during last week’s commission meeting, she also cited the need for a policy adviser and additional support from the state education department.

“Our goal … is to follow the legislative intent and to provide guidance on this law on the age-appropriate materials in school libraries,” she told fellow commissioners. “Limited staffing often makes our task more difficult.”

Rep. John Ragan, who co-chairs the legislative committee overseeing government operations, has endorsed Cash’s request. He called the panel’s newest charge from the legislature “yeoman’s work.”

“If they need additional support, let’s make sure we try to get it for them,” the Oak Ridge Republican told representatives of the state education department in September.

But state Rep. John Ray Clemmons, a Nashville Democrat who spoke against the school library bill on the House floor, questions the need to add another bureaucratic layer and notes that the legislation came from the political party that claims it’s for less government and more local control.

“The core function of the law is to pull books off of bookshelves, and now we’re faced with implementing this bad and dangerous education policy,” Clemmons told Chalkbeat. “Tennessee taxpayers are going to be on the hook for the whole thing.”

As commissioners seek to staff up, the big unknown is the workload they’ll face under Tennessee’s new school library laws, which were enacted at the urging of Lee and House Speaker Cameron Sexton following several high-profile challenges over books and curriculum in 2021.

Katie Capshaw, president of the Tennessee Association of School Librarians, says it’s “very rare” for school librarians to receive complaints about items in their collections in the first place. 

And Cash has been optimistic that local attention and diligence in addressing complaints will make appeals unnecessary.

But Commissioner Laurie Cardoza-Moore, whom Sexton appointed from Williamson County to represent parents and who has allies in the conservative activist group Moms for Liberty, has said the panel should prepare for a wave of appeals once it formally establishes its appellate process next year.

“I just received a packet that I shared with all of you this morning,” she told fellow commissioners last month, “and there are numerous items that are being challenged.”

According to PEN America, a group that advocates for free expression in literature, Tennessee trails only Texas, Florida, and Pennsylvania in logging the most restrictions or attempted restrictions on books. Most of the objections have to do with sexuality, LGBTQ themes, and issues related to race and racism.

In the last month, school leaders in at least two Tennessee districts have addressed book complaints with different outcomes.

Wilson County Schools, east of Nashville, pulled two books that its board deemed sexually graphic — “Tricks” and “Jack of Hearts” — from high school libraries.

Sumner County Schools, north of Nashville, voted to keep “A Place Inside of Me” on its shelves. The book includes a poem and illustrations showing a Black child dealing with his emotions after a police shooting. 

Nationwide, the number of attempts to ban or restrict library resources in schools, universities and public libraries in 2022 is on track to exceed record counts from 2021, according to preliminary data released in September by the American Library Association.

Tennessee’s textbook commission has been drafting broad guidance for school districts on how to comply with the laws. Much of its draft is based on model guidance developed by the Tennessee School Boards Association and already used by many school boards and charter school governing bodies across the state.

During last week’s two-hour virtual meeting, commissioners nailed down a timetable that would require complainants to file their request for appeal within five school days of a local decision. The originating district or charter school would then have up to 20 school days to submit documentation of deliberations and decisions. And the appeal would be heard at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the commission, which meets twice a year.

Among the panel’s considerations would be whether the material is suitable and consistent with the school’s educational mission; appropriate for the age and maturity levels of the students who may access it; containing literary, historical, and/or artistic value and merit; and offering a variety of viewpoints.

A student, parent, guardian, or school employee would be able to file only two appeals in a single year. And appeals couldn’t be filed on a book that the commission has already ruled on until after three years, which would be timed to the appointment of new commission members.

But commissioners wouldn’t necessarily have to read an appealed book in its entirety before voting — unless they want to.

Commissioner Lee Houston, a school librarian in Cumberland County, sought to include that requirement because “context is important,” she said. But her motion failed for lack of a second after Commissioner Billy Bryan said a simple review should be sufficient, without reading the entire book. 

“We don’t know how many appeals we’re going to get and how many books we’re going to be required to read,” Bryan said. “And there’s a limited amount of time on my already busy schedule for reading who-knows-how-many library books.”

Since the commission has no staff attorney of its own, members voted to seek legal counsel from the state attorney general on its draft guidance, but to go to lawyers for the legislature or education department if necessary.

In the meantime, school leaders are relying on their own processes for reviewing challenged books and materials.

“I believe we’re in compliance with these new laws, but it would be affirming if the commission could reinforce what we’re already doing,” said Danny Weeks, director of Dickson County Schools, west of Nashville, where the school board has voted on two book challenges in 10 years.

“State guidance,” he added, “would be nice to have.”

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.

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Tennessee’s Private School Voucher Program Wins Again In Court

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A judicial panel sided with the state on last week and dismissed remaining legal claims raised in two lawsuits challenging Tennessee’s private school voucher law.

The judges ruled that Metropolitan Nashville and Shelby County governments, along with a group of parents who oppose vouchers, have no legal standing to challenge Tennessee’s 2019 Education Savings Account law, which provides taxpayer money to pay toward private school tuition.

Voucher advocates quickly hailed the decision by the three-judge panel of Davidson County Chancery Court as a victory for parents wanting more education choices for their children.

“Today is a great day for educational freedom in Tennessee,” said Justin Owen, president of the Beacon Center of Tennessee, one of several groups involved in the case.  

But the ruling also could position the nearly 3-year-old legal dispute for a hearing before a higher court. 

“We are reviewing the opinion and will discuss a possible appeal when we return to work next week,” said Wally Dietz, Metro Nashville’s law director.

The judges dismissed the argument that both governments face financial injury in funding their local public schools when students choose to withdraw and enroll in private schools — taking their funding with them.

In a 26-page decision, they cited a provision of the law that — subject to appropriation by the legislature — replaces any funding lost through vouchers through a school improvement grant program for the first three years.

Thus, the judges wrote, the “Plaintiffs’ claims are not yet ripe because the ESA replaces the diverted funding for at least three years.”

But their decision does not necessarily put the case to rest.

“We are disappointed by the court’s order and disagree with its conclusions,” said Chris Wood, a Nashville attorney representing parents and taxpayers in a second lawsuit opposing the law. “We are reviewing our options, which include appealing the court’s decision.”

The ruling came from Chancellor Anne Martin, Judge Tammy Harrington, and Judge Valerie Smith under a new state law requiring that constitutional matters be heard by three judges representing each of the state’s three grand divisions instead of by a single judge based in Nashville.

But Martin, the Nashville judge who initially declared the law unconstitutional in 2020, wrote that, while she concurred about the issue of standing, she dissented over other issues, including the plaintiffs’ arguments that vouchers will create unequal education systems. The state constitution says Tennessee is obligated to maintain a system of free public schools that provides for equal educational opportunities for its residents.

Wednesday’s ruling is the latest in the legal dispute after the Tennessee Supreme Court upheld the embattled voucher law in May.

The high court overturned another argument that the statute was unconstitutional because it applied only to Davidson and Shelby counties, without local approval. That ruling cleared the way for the program’s launch this school year. Then, in September, the state attorney general’s office urged the panel to dismiss all remaining legal challenges.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Bill Lee, who pushed for the voucher law, did not immediately respond when asked for comment.

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.

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Lee Touts Parental Choice in Education in Election Victory Speech

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Gov. Bill Lee cruised to a second term in office in Tuesday’s election, partly on his campaign pledge to Tennessee parents and teachers to “make the most of the next four years” on education. But he offered few details on exactly what that will mean.

The Associated Press reported that election results showed the Republican governor easily defeated Dr. Jason Martin, a Nashville physician and the Democratic Party’s nominee, whom he declined to debate. The ruby-red state hasn’t elected a Democrat to statewide office since 2006. 

Lee’s landslide victory sets up the governor to claim a mandate for whatever he proposes through 2026, or to support any ambitions he might have for national office.

In his victory speech Tuesday evening, the governor said he will continue to elevate parental rights. He also touted public school investments under his administration, as well as expanding choices for families “who want something a little different for their kid” than traditional public schools.

“I’ll remind you for the next four years … that those two ideas are not in conflict with each other,” Lee said. “We can fund public schools and provide alternative opportunities for children at the same time if we are committed to funding students and not systems.”

During his campaign, Lee has been short on details about his second-term agenda for education. Instead, he’s emphasized staying the course on his first-term accomplishments, including rewriting Tennessee’s 30-year-old education funding formula, expanding middle and high school access to career and technical training, and grounding reading instruction in phonics.

Lee’s final 30-second campaign ad — part of a $3.2 million campaign spending blitz in October — also touted safer classrooms and ended with this promise: “Parents and teachers, you have my word that we’ll make the most of the next four years.”

Campaign spokeswoman Laine Arnold said the ad signaled Lee’s “intent to continue making education a top priority.”

Asked on the eve of Election Day for specifics about his education priorities for his second term, Lee said he again wants to invest more money toward teacher pay and further expand education choices through charter schools and private school vouchers. He also wants to continue prioritizing vocational, technical, and agricultural education.

“These are all things that we have implemented in the last four years, but we now have to make certain that those are growing, that they’re invested in, and that there’s significant improvement in all areas,” the governor told reporters during his final campaign stop in Franklin, south of Nashville.

But Democrats — who are still smarting that Lee pushed through a private school voucher law with a controversial, razor-thin vote during his first year in office — are interpreting the governor’s vague TV promise on education as an ominous threat.

They expect Lee and another GOP legislative supermajority to try to expand his education savings account program to shift more taxpayer money from public to private schools. Currently, the program is limited to Memphis and Nashville.

Democrats also expect more proposals to censor books and instruction in public schools.

In 2021, Tennessee became one of the first states to enact a law, which Lee signed, to restrict K-12 classroom discussions about the legacy of slavery, racism, and white privilege. 

This year, Lee pushed through a law requiring reviews of school and classroom library collections. He signed a second measure that authorizes the state textbook commission to ban challenged materials statewide if its appointed members deem them “inappropriate” for students’ ages and maturity levels.

As for the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Lee has said students should be taught that the deadly 2021 insurrection was a day of “lawlessness” by individual attackers. He has not referenced the broader plot, still under federal investigation, to disrupt the transfer of presidential power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden.

“Republicans have already started to systematically eradicate history in textbooks and ban teachings related to race, gender identity, and sexuality,” said Rep. Vincent Dixie, a Nashville Democrat who chairs his party’s House caucus. “Four more years under this leadership will only lead to more micromanagement of school curricula and stricter fines and punishment for our already overworked and underpaid educators.”

A businessman and farmer from affluent Williamson County, near Nashville, Lee surprised both political parties four years ago when he survived a bruising primary race and won his first bid for public office to become Tennessee’s 50th governor.

Campaigning for more education choices for families and vocational training options for students, he made education a top priority and used the state’s GOP muscle to pass much of his agenda. 

But Lee suffered a humiliating blow this year after inviting the president of Michigan’s conservative Hillsdale College to bring up to 100 charter schools to Tennessee, only to have Hillsdale’s charter group withdraw its first three applications after a Lee-appointed panel found the proposals weren’t up to snuff.

Lee also was stung by public outrage — and criticized by numerous members of his own political party — after a leaked video showed him sitting silently at a private reception in June as Hillsdale’s president, Larry Arnn, mocked teachers, their training programs, and diversity officers. The governor declined to disavow Arnn’s remarks or disaffiliate with Hillsdale. Instead, he blamed “left-wing activism in public education” as hurting the “genuine work of our teachers.”

At the time, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally called Arnn’s comments “ill-conceived, unfortunate and untrue.” This week, the legislature’s top GOP leader said Lee’s accomplishments have offset any of the governor’s missteps over Arnn’s comments. 

“I think voters have been looking at his entire record,” said McNally, who’s from Oak Ridge. “He was dealt the worst hand of any governor I can remember — with COVID, floods, tornadoes, and protests. I think he’s handled it very well.” 

But Martin, a critical care doctor, said it was the governor’s hands-off approach to the COVID pandemic that spurred him to run against Lee. The Democratic nominee also criticized Lee-backed school voucher, charter, and censorship policies for giving the state ultimate control over those decisions at the expense of locally elected officials.

Other critics have said it’s hypocritical for Lee’s campaign ads to claim that children, families, and moms have been his “top priority,” when he has not supported expanding Medicaid to accept billions of dollars in federal health care benefits for the working poor.

The governor also helped to grow the state’s rainy day fund to record levels while its Department of Children’s Services — the state agency charged with caring for abused, neglected, and foster children — is severely understaffed and short of beds for children taken into custody.

Fresh from his Election Day victory, Lee will kick off budget hearings Wednesday to prepare for his 2023-24 state spending proposal, which he’ll present to the Tennessee General Assembly several weeks after lawmakers convene on Jan. 10.

Budget discussions about K-12 education with Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn are listed second on the four-day schedule.

Months before his reelection, Lee pledged to invest an additional $1 billion in students and schools next fiscal year, when federal pandemic relief funding is set to run out and the state’s new funding formula kicks in.

But while Lee was considered a heavy favorite for a second term in office, Schwinn’s future has been less certain. 

The former Texas academic chief shepherded the governor’s major initiatives, including strategies to improve literacy and help students recover from pandemic learning loss, as well as expanding grow-your-own teacher training programs and implementing a new education funding formula that lets money follow the student, plus sets aside more money for students with higher needs. 

But employee turnover at the state education department has been high under Schwinn’s leadership. And early on, she frustrated lawmakers for rolling out initiatives and taking administrative shortcuts without ample legislative input, review, or approval, even as she led Tennessee through the pandemic, considered the biggest education upheaval in modern history. 

Asked last month if she expected to continue her role for a second term, Schwinn said she and Lee “have had those conversations.”

“I plan to be here, and we’re moving full steam ahead,” she told Chalkbeat. 

She cited the state’s strategic plans on literacy, student acceleration, innovative school models, grow-your-own teacher training programs, and the state’s new funding formula. 

“We are really proud of these big pieces of legislation that have passed and the interventions and work,” she said. “Now we have to double down and stay the course.” 

This story has been updated with comments from Lee’s victory speech.

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.

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Parent Task Force Wants Voice in Superintendent Search

The Memphis LIFT’s new Blue Ribbon parent task force gathers Monday at the parent advocacy organization’s North Memphis office to discuss what they’d like to see in the next superintendent of Memphis-Shelby County Schools. Samantha West / Chalkbeat

As the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board prepares to launch its first national superintendent search in a decade, Charles Lampkin has several thoughts on the qualities he wants to see in the next leader.

Lampkin, the father of three MSCS students, thinks the next superintendent should prioritize transparency and be dedicated to rebuilding trust within the community. They should “keep a finger on the pulse” of the district, Lampkin said, and provide greater operations oversight. 

And most importantly, he says, the next person at the helm of Tennessee’s largest school district should be someone who wants to see all of the district’s more than 110,000 students grow and thrive and wants to support the teachers and school staff.

Lampkin was one of a dozen parents and grandparents who gathered Monday evening at the Memphis LIFT office for the first meeting of a Blue Ribbon task force that will draft a leadership profile describing the qualities and experiences they would like to see in the next superintendent, according to a news release.

The task force plans to share its findings to the MSCS board in hopes that the district’s next leader will “lift every student’s performance and move the district away from decades of chronically failing schools, poor facilities, and mismanagement,” the release says.

“The people in this room, we’re going to drive this bus,” Sarah Carpenter, executive director of Memphis LIFT, a parent advocacy organization based in North Memphis, told meeting attendees.

The meeting comes days after MSCS board Chair Althea Greene announced on Twitter that the board will begin the national superintendent search later this month, when members will vote on whether they should begin the process of hiring a search firm. 

Greene added that the board expects to name a new leader by the end of the 2022-23 school year.

Over two months ago, the board approved a separation agreement with former Superintendent Joris Ray, who had been under investigation for accusations that he abused his power and violated district policies by engaging in sexual relationships with subordinates. The agreement gave Ray a severance package of about $480,000 plus some benefits, and neither Ray nor the board admitted any wrongdoing.

Ray was appointed to the district’s top job in April 2019, after the board decided against a national search. Board members said they thought Ray, a career district employee who had been serving as interim superintendent for months, was an “exceedingly qualified candidate” and ruled a national search unnecessary given the time and cost it would take.

But some Memphians questioned whether Ray was the most qualified candidate for the job and felt the board should’ve widened its search. Memphis LIFT led the charge against Ray’s appointment.

That’s why the group decided to take charge and speak up on this search, Carpenter said Monday, calling the task force “huge” for the city. In addition to the parent task force, the organization also plans to assemble a student committee.

“We can’t have a superintendent that goes business as usual,” she said. “This system has been failing Black and brown children for decades and decades and I don’t want to hear any more excuses. We’ve got to do better and we can do better, starting with involving our parents.”

The task force will spend the next two months interviewing some of the nation’s top education officials, plus business and philanthropic leaders from other large cities. 

Carpenter said Monday she has already begun efforts to set up interviews with local leaders such as Elliot Perry of the Poplar Foundation and Terrence Patterson of the Memphis Education Fund, as well as nationally known figures like Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City who has championed charter schools. New York City Schools Chancellor David Banks has already agreed to meet with them, Carpenter said.

The task force wants to gain insight into what makes leaders effective and innovative and weigh it against what MSCS finalists say in their interviews later this school year, Ashlyn Sparks, co-chief of staff of Memphis LIFT, said Monday.

“We’re not looking for things that can be given from lip service,” Sparks said. “We’re not looking for them to say ‘literacy is important.’ We’re not looking for them to say ‘we need to clean house.’ Anybody can get up there and say all these things. We want to hear what actions and steps should these people be taking?”

The MSCS board is expected to continue discussions of the superintendent search during committee meetings scheduled for Nov. 15.

Samantha West is a reporter for Chalkbeat Tennessee, where she covers K-12 education in Memphis. Connect with Samantha at swest@chalkbeat.org.

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

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Amid Teacher Shortage, Tennessee May Drop Major Test for Teacher Candidates

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Amid worries about teacher shortages, Tennessee is considering reducing requirements for some nontraditional candidates to earn their teacher licenses, despite concerns that the change could hurt teacher quality.

In the first of two votes on a controversial proposal, the State Board of Education approved Friday dropping EdTPA, a licensing test required currently of about 900 “job-embedded” candidates, who comprise about a third of the state’s teacher pipeline. 

That pathway lets people with non-teaching bachelor’s degrees work as classroom teachers while simultaneously pursuing licensure by taking graduate-level coursework through partnerships between their school districts and approved teacher training programs.

The proposal to drop EdTPA, which would take effect next September, is among numerous ways Tennessee is trying to increase its teacher pool after seeing a gradual decline in the number of aspiring educators graduating from the state’s 40-plus teacher training programs.

However, both state and national data suggest that current shortages are limited to certain districts, schools, grades, and subjects, not an across-the-board problem. Some higher education leaders question the rush to revamp rules with statewide application.

In their preliminary vote, board members voted unanimously to drop the EdTPA requirement for job-embedded candidates. But they emphasized that they want more feedback from teacher prep programs before their final vote set for February.

“There’s a fear of lowering the quality, lowering the bar. And there’s a fear of not having enough people to fill the classrooms. So we’re trying to manage these two fears that are real,” said Nate Morrow, a board member from Williamson County, prior to the vote.

EdTPA has been used since 2013 by numerous teacher training programs, including some of the largest ones at the University of Memphis, Middle Tennessee State University, Tennessee Tech University, and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. In 2019, it became a statewide requirement to gain licensure as the state set new goals for training new teachers.

The assessment measures teaching skills and was developed by researchers at the Stanford Center for Assessment Learning and Equity. It requires candidates to submit a portfolio of materials for review, including a series of lesson plans, video of themselves teaching, and written analysis of their instructional practices.

Teacher prep leaders disagree about whether to remove EdTPA as a job-embedded requirement for licensure. Critics call the portfolio stressful and needlessly time-consuming, while supporters say it’s a valuable way to measure teaching readiness.

“A year ago, we had to have the highest EdTPA scores in the country. So what changed during that time so that we don’t need EdTPA at all?” asked Bill Estes, dean of the college of education at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee, during an interview with Chalkbeat.

Without more data and a deeper analysis, Estes said, it would be a “step backward” for Tennessee to have differing standards and requirements for its various pathways to licensure.

“There are (districts) and subject areas that need more teachers, but not across the board. This is a blanket policy that I think will weaken the quality of teachers we have in Tennessee,” he said.

Claude Pressnell, president of the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association, said there’s no consensus within his group about whether to drop edTPA. The bigger concern, he said, is any change that treats teacher candidates differently by saying that one group has to pass it, and the other group doesn’t.

“Our members want to keep a level playing field related to requirements of all ed prep programs,” Pressnell told Chalkbeat.

During Friday’s meeting, Sara Morrison, the board’s executive director, said the proposal is a starting point to discuss ways to eliminate duplications and streamline requirements for the state’s various pathways toward teacher licensure. EdTPA merits consideration, she added.

“For job-embedded candidates, since they are being evaluated (by school leaders), they have an assigned mentor, they’re getting a lot of that same reflective practice and feedback that is part of EdTPA, it seemed duplicative to also do the EdTPA while they’re also classroom teachers of record,” Morrison said.

Darrell Cobbins, who represents Memphis on the board, said he has lots of questions about how to ensure teacher quality without driving candidates from entering the profession. But for now, he said, many school leaders seem most worried about the latter.

“There’s a recurring theme around teacher shortages, teacher retention, career advancement,” Cobbins said. “There seems to be a pleading from district leaders, from teachers themselves, that we employ some avenues of flexibility and creative thinking around how we support districts in addressing their challenges.”

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.

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State Rejects Appeals of Two Memphis Charter Schools

The Tennessee Public Charter Commission rejected appeals from the Binghampton Community School and Tennessee Volunteer Military Academy, siding with executive director Tess Stovall’s recommendation and the local school board decision earlier this year. Stovall, pictured on the left, recommended against allowing the two Memphis schools to open last week. Credit: Larry McCormack for Chalkbeat

The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission rejected the appeals of two proposed Memphis charter schools on Tuesday.

The nine-member board’s decision upholds the recommendations of Tess Stovall, the commission’s executive director, and the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board’s decision earlier this year to deny the applications for Binghampton Community School and Tennessee Volunteer Military Academy. The decision is final, and the two schools will not open in August 2023 as local charter leaders had hoped. 

This week’s votes wrapped up this year’s 13 charter appeals before Tennessee’s 2-year-old commission. Of those, three were approved for Nashville and six were denied in Memphis, Clarksville, Brentwood, Hendersonville, and Fayette County. Applicants behind the other four appeals, including three high-profile ones related to controversial Hillsdale College in Michigan, pulled out of the process when it became apparent that their appeals would be denied.

Binghampton Community School leaders said in their application that the school would serve about 360 students in grades K-5 on the eastern edge of Midtown, providing them with early access to International Baccalaureate programming. The Tennessee Volunteer Military Academy was meant to provide about 800 students in grades 6-12 in Cordova and East Memphis with military-based educational programming with a focus on internships and technical education.

In her recommendations for the two Memphis charter schools last week, Stovall outlined myriad concerns with both school’s applications. 

Stovall said in her recommendation that while Binghampton had a strong academic plan and the neighborhood would have been a great location for the school, its academic, facility, and staffing plans all appeared to depend on the unique skills of the head of school who resigned in July due to “extenuating personal circumstances,” according to the school’s application.

Stovall also said cost assumptions for the school did not appear reasonable, and leaders lacked sufficient funding to begin operations. 

Binghampton Community School had promised to hire a new head of school once it got approval from the state. But on Tuesday, leaders said they “respectfully accept” the commission’s affirmation of the MSCS board’s decision to deny the school’s application. 

They added: “We recognize that our capacity as a sponsor and school board to identify and recruit a replacement school leader cannot be retroactively considered during the appeal process.”

The commission also sided with Stovall and MSCS in the case of Tennessee Volunteer Military Academy. Stovall wrote that the academic plan was missing key details, including the school’s grade and class structure, an instructional model, and curriculum. Stovall said the school didn’t explain how it would serve students with disabilities and English language learners.

The application also lacked letters of support, which Stovall said called into question whether the school would be able to meet its projected enrollment of 800.

Stovall also took issue with the school’s “unclear relationship” with Charter One, a for-profit national education management association, and said the school didn’t provide a reasonable budget.

Commissioner Terrence Patterson, who is also the president and CEO of the Memphis Education Fund, said he agreed with Stovall and MSCS’ analysis but hopes both schools refine their ideas and submit future proposals.

“These are the types of innovative models that our children deserve,” Patterson said. “These are the types of innovative models that we were created to support.” 

Samantha West is a reporter for Chalkbeat Tennessee, where she covers K-12 education in Memphis. Connect with Samantha at swest@chalkbeat.org.

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

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Hillsdale-Linked Charter School Plans Draw Tennesseans’ Ire

Larry McCormack for Chalkbeat

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for its newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters.

Most Tennesseans who wrote the state about three proposed charter schools linked to Michigan’s Hillsdale College said they oppose the applications from the charter network, American Classical Education.

Statewide, more than 70 percent of the public commenters wrote that they supported local school boards that voted to deny the network’s applications in Madison, Montgomery, and Rutherford counties. And many said any decision by a state panel to overrule those decisions would amount to government overreach.

The written feedback from nearly 400 Tennesseans, analyzed by Chalkbeat, ran counter to the positions of most of the 39 people who spoke during last week’s time-limited public hearings held in each of the three affected school districts. The in-person speaking slots were filled on a first come, first serve basis, with American Classical supporters signing up for most of them and opponents complaining that the process was skewed toward approving their applications.

In Rutherford County, where all 13 commenters at a Sept. 14 hearing in Murfreesboro spoke in favor of the network’s charter proposal, people who submitted written comments opposed the school by a margin of more than 4 to 1.

The margins were much tighter in Jackson-Madison County, and tighter still in Clarksville-Montgomery County.

Ultimately, all feedback submitted in each district will be considered when the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission votes Oct. 5 whether to approve each American Classical application on appeal, said Tess Stovall, the panel’s executive director.

“We weigh all comments the same, oral or written,” Stovall told reporters after the Rutherford County hearing. Some people “can’t necessarily get here in person, so that’s why we offer multiple avenues.” 

The votes will test the independence of the panel’s nine members, all of whom were appointed by Republican Gov. Bill Lee. Lee has said he wants 50 Hillsdale-linked charters in Tennessee and also lobbied for a 2019 law creating the appellate body.

Lee as well as Hillsdale College have been under sharp attack across Tennessee since June when a leaked video showed the governor sitting quietly at a private reception in Franklin, south of Nashville, while Hillsdale President Larry Arnn declared that teachers are “trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges in the country.” Lee has refused to disavow Arnn’s comments or end any charter “partnership” with the small conservative Christian college in south central Michigan.

The college’s charter spinoff also has been criticized for its approach to civics education and its 1776 curriculum, which glorifies the nation’s founders and downplays America’s role in slavery.

Both issues were raised by numerous Tennesseans who wrote the commission during the week after a public hearing in their district. 

Arnn “demonstrated utter disrespect for educators and an arrogant ignorance regarding the craft of teaching and learning,” said Rebecca Oldham, a parent who is an assistant professor of child development and family studies at Middle Tennessee State University.

“I do not support an establishment in Murfreesboro that collaborates with him or his college, nor utilizes his propaganda that masquerades as ‘curriculum,’” Oldham continued.

Patricia Craig, who identified herself as a concerned citizen of Madison County and an 85-year-old student of history, worried about Hillsdale’s selective view of events that are presented through an ideological lens instead of a full telling of history based on the facts.

“This is a veiled attempt to present curriculum that further crushes poorer children (and) children of color and promotes only one world view,” Craig wrote.

Many supporters, meanwhile, praised the “classical” school model that focuses on math, science, literature, and history, plus the study of Latin, music, and the arts. American Classical also promises instruction on the principles of moral character and civic virtue.

“Why not give this program a try?” wrote Peg Ramsay from Jackson. “Madison County has gone thru several Superintendents with little achievement in academic success.”

“I think a classical academy would make our community a better place to live and to raise a family,” said Stuart Leach, a Rutherford County parent and teacher. “While not perfect, our history is full of inspiring men and women to learn from.”

Other supporters argued the charter network’s schools would improve public education by increasing competition and adding classroom seats to overcrowded districts. But most just wanted more public education choices for families.

“The Jackson-Madison area desperately needs another educational option, especially for lower income students, since the only other options are expensive private schools or homeschooling, which may also be cost prohibitive,” wrote Trudy Abel, a retired university professor.

Opponents argued that local education control is a bigger issue.

All three locally elected school boards voted overwhelmingly to reject the Hillsdale group’s applications.

“The issue concerning a charter school within Rutherford County is not about school choice but rather lack of ownership of our schools,” said Laura Roland, a teacher at Central Magnet School. “As a teacher of 20 years, I find it disturbing that those who are not in the trenches make assumptions about what is actually occurring in our schools.”

Others worried that public charter schools — which are privately operated and taxpayer-funded — divert money from traditional public schools. And many noted that none of American Classical’s applications included a concrete plan for serving students with disabilities.

“Instead of a charter school to help certain children, use that money to go into the public schools you already have to benefit ALL children,” wrote Lindsey White, also of Rutherford County.

The commission’s staff are using the same state-developed scoring criteria as the districts used to decide whether the applications meet Tennessee’s standards for academics, operations, and finances, plus whether the proposals are in the best interests of students, their school district, and their community. Ascertaining the level of local public support is a part of that process.

To read all the public comments, visit the commission’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.

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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.

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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.