Latest News and Comment from Education

Saturday, February 20, 2021

TENNESSEE EDUCATION REPORT

 TENNESSEE EDUCATION REPORT

TENNESSEE EDUCATION REPORT

EDUCATION POLITICS AND POLICY IN THE VOLUNTEER STATE


Told Ya This Would Happen
Back in July, I wrote a post about a newly-created political action committee (PAC) that seemed to be formed by Tennesseans for Student Success. You may recall that Tennesseans for Student Success is the dark money group behind a serious of insidious attacks on any legislator who opposes school privatization. So, anyway, now they have a cheerily named PAC. Team Kid PAC, they’re calling it. Here’s
Investment
Today, Democratic lawmakers at the General Assembly unveiled a series of bills designed to help increase investment in Tennessee’s public schools and address some long-standing deficiencies in the BEP formula. The state’s bipartisan TACIR – Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Affairs – has said the formula comes up short by $1.7 billion. Now, the state has a huge budget surplus and
Meaningless
A new video from the Tennessee Education Association (TEA) explains why the phrase “fully funding the BEP” is meaningless. More on School Funding Over a Billion Yarbro Calls for BEP Update Do We Really Have to Do This? Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport Your support – $5 or more – makes publishing education news possible.
Like Grasshoppers
A public school advocacy group in Ohio has taken notice of the rampant spread of school vouchers across the country and the role Tennessee is playing in the privatization game. The Tennessee Supreme Court has agreed to hear the plaintiffs’ voucher appeal. In 2019 a trial judge declared the Tennessee Voucher law unconstitutional. Subsequently, the Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld the trial court
Over a Billion
The surplus for the current fiscal year is now over $1 billion with six more months to go, according to figures released by the Tennessee Department of Revenue. This announcement comes as the Sycamore Institute recently released an analysis demonstrating that lawmakers will have at least $3.1 billion in “excess” or unplanned revenue with which to budget in the current cycle. The figures for Janua
Gibson Named TEA Executive Director
The Tennessee Education Association (TEA) has named Terrance Gibson its new Executive Director. Here’s the press release: The Tennessee Education Association has named Terrance J. Gibson as its new executive director effective immediately. Gibson has been serving as interim-executive director since March of 2020. “Terrance has spent his entire career in service to Tennessee students and educators
A Special Response
In response to legislation passed during Gov. Bill Lee’s not so special session on education, the Germantown Board of Education is making a request for immediate corrective action. That is, the Board wants the legislature to

 TENNESSEE EDUCATION REPORT