Statement comes in wake of Uvalde shooting — Gov. Bill Lee indicated this week that he’s open to legislation that would arm Tennessee teachers in the wake of the most recent school shooting in Uvalde, TX. Lee made the remarks in an interview with Chalkbeat. Q: After the 2018 mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida…

An upcoming forum seeks to answer key questions — The Tennessee General Assembly passed Gov. Bill Lee’s school funding reform plan this past legislative session. The new scheme, TISA, will take effect in the 2023–24 school year. What does TISA mean for local school districts? How will it impact the schools in your district? A group known as “Tennessee…

Persistent problems plague TNReady — The spectacular failure that is Tennessee’s statewide testing system for students (TNReady) just continues to fail. So much so that when districts announce that TNReady scores won’t be factored into student grades yet AGAIN, it’s not even a major news story. Sure, the state pays in excess of $100 million…

A guest column by Greg O’Loughlin — We teachers are hearing and feeling this news differently than most. If you are a teacher and you are feeling like this is all hitting more acutely, please know that you’re not imagining it. The shock and trauma of it all is shared by anyone who hears of the horror…

Librarians speak out on being caught up in the culture war — In the battle to privatize Tennessee’s public schools, school librarians have become “collateral damage.” The attacks have become so great that those oft-quiet librarians are standing up and taking notice. Gross Those rabble rousers over at the Tennessee Association of School Librarians (TASL) are out with a statement condemning…tnedreport.com

Even with benefits, teachers earn significantly less than their peers — Economic Policy Institute is out with a survey of teacher compensation relative to other, similarly educated professionals. The news continues to be bad for teachers nationally. Teachers earn roughly 20% less than comparably educated professionals on average. In Tennessee, that number is 21.4%. Teacher wage gap data in percentages provided…

Group laments passage of misguided reform scheme — Gov. Bill Lee’s signature education funding reform initiative passed today even as concerns have been raised that the plan will do little to fundamentally alter the status quo for school districts in a state consistently ranked 45th in the nation in school funding. TN School Funding Report Card: 1 D, 2 Fs While Gov. Bill Lee's Administration is off discussing potential changes to state's funding formula for schools (the…tnedreport.com

Advocacy group highlights impact to local school districts — The Tennessee Public Education Coalition is out with a piece on why Gov. Bill Lee’s school funding plan (TISA) is a threat to strong public schools in our state. Here are some highlights: Perhaps this year’s greatest threat to legislator incumbency is Governor Bill Lee’s new K-12 funding bill, which…

Teachers make less in the South, and among the lowest in Tennessee — The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) is out with a report on teacher compensation across the region. Not surprisingly, teacher compensation in the South is about 16% below the national average. Of course, Tennessee teacher compensation lags behind even the average in our region. …

What will it mean for local districts? — Gov. Bill Lee is proposing a significant change to the way the state funds public schools. His proposal would replace the decades old BEP formula with something he calls TISA — Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement. Except, well, the plan does nothing to invest in student achievement. Rather, it is…

Why did TN Gov. Lee choose Hillsdale College to run charter schools? — Gov. Bill Lee is proposing to hand over millions in Tennessee tax dollars to a private, Christian college in Michigan to run between 50–100 “charter schools” in the state. Exceptionally Bad Gov. Bill Lee made clear in his State of the State that he is a proponent of an alternative history known as "American…tnedreport.com Lee wants charter schools because they won’t need a voucher plan to be funded — they can just apply for charters…

On the long-term impact of the teacher shortage crisis — The following post is a submitted guest column by Greg O’Loughlin Last Saturday, some teacher friends and I were having lunch, and the conversation turned to the conditions required for students to trust their teachers with questions about racism, equity, and justice. One of the teachers was recounting a recent…

While the State of Tennessee has a surplus in excess of $3 billion, state Senator John Stevens seems to want to shift more of the burden of public education to local governments — possibly resulting in local property tax increases. A Bountiful Harvest Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is seeking to reallocate the school funding pie in a state that historically earns low marks…tnedreport.com The Center Square reports that Stevens is concerned about how…

Gov. Lee, Lawmakers Seem Reluctant to Invest in Schools — While Tennessee lawmakers are expressing concern over investing too much money in schools, one educator is practically begging Gov. Bill Lee to just throw wads of cash at teachers. Former teacher Gabe Hart has a column in Tennessee Lookout that expresses his frustration at the current situation as it relates…

How is it that pro-privatization group TennesseeCAN already knows the benefits of Gov. Bill Lee’s new school funding formula when that formula has yet to be released? It seems an “expert” from TennesseeCAN was on hand in Franklin County to present the details of the new, as-yet-unreleased plan. First, a…