School Privatization PAC in Full Force in Tennessee
Group Seeks to Move Public Money to Private Schools
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What if there was a political action committee with a relentless focus on what is good for kids? What if that PAC helped advance the education debate by focusing on the most pressing needs in our public schools? That sounds great, right? Well, instead, Tennessee is home to Team Kid PAC — a project of Tennesseans for Student Success. Sure, their Twitter avi is a super hero in a cape. But, their goals and objectives are anything but super. Instead of pushing for improved school funding or focusing on holding Gov. Lee accountable as he revamps the BEP, Team Kid PAC is all aboard the privatization express.
Here’s a seemingly innocuous tweet:
Sure, Chalkbeat is great and the TN Education Research Alliance is fine, but Team Kid is clearly pushing out support for privatization groups.
And yeah, their Twitter account only has ten followers right now. But, the larger point is 2022 is an election year. It is very likely Team Kid PAC will be sending out mailers and making donations to candidates who support privatizing our public schools. So, it is important to understand their ultimate goal — school privatization.
So, it’s pretty clear Tennessee First is the vehicle of choice used by payday predators to distribute campaign cash. Who else funds the debt trap lending PAC? Well, $5000 came from a group called Tennesseans for Student Success. That’s the same group involved in at least one Nashville School Board race as well as a primary challenge to incumbent House member and public school advocate Mike Stewart.
Team Kid PAC — pro-privatization and tied to the payday loan industry. Not exactly super.
For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport
Originally published at http://tnedreport.com on October 18, 2021.
