Member-only story
Many Laughs at ManyStories
A fun feature on the content-sharing platform
It’s fun when you see a story you wrote a while back get some bonus traction.
Even better when you can find the source of the renewed interest.
In this case, it’s ManyStories.
A piece I wrote for my education policy blog back in April was recently featured on the sharing platform.
The story concerns the tumultuous tenure of Tennessee’s Commissioner of Education.
Reynolds still lacks the required credentials to hold the job — state law says any Commissioner of Education must be a certified teacher, qualified to teach in the schools over which they have authority.
Reynolds does not have a teacher certification or any experience in a classroom.
When this was pointed out, she went back to school to earn the credential — and did so using a tuition waiver for which she did not qualify.
To be clear, the Commissioner, who earns in excess of $225,000/year was attempting to get taxpayers to pay for a certification she was required to have on day one of her job.
State employees in Tennessee do get a tuition waiver after completing a specified period of service to the state (6 months). Unfortunately, Reynolds hadn’t been on the job even that long before she attempted to bilk taxpayers so she could continue earning her six-figure salary (also at taxpayer expense).
I’m glad this story got a bit more coverage thanks to ManyStories.
