Tennessee’s Governor Struggles to Support Schools

Gov. Bill Lee recently denied a request from Williamson County Schools for a waiver of TNReady and other requirements for the upcoming school year in light of COVID-19.

In response, the President of education-focused group SCORE tweeted this:

This quote from @GovBillLee is so strong & student-centered: “We must be able to measure how our students are progressing to know where they need support & what areas they need to focus on, and the state remains committed to providing this critical data to educators & families.” https://t.co/TcC0Vt7lfk

- David Mansouri (@davemansouri) July 23, 2020

Here’s the thing. If Gov. Lee were actually an advocate of strong and student-centered policy, he wouldn’t have cut improvements to teacher pay from his budget this year. He’d implement a statewide mask mandate. He wouldn’t push an unproven voucher scheme only to see it overturned in the courts. He would work to make progress on the $1.7 billion deficit in the state’s funding formula for schools.

But. He’s not. He hasn’t been. He won’t be. Tennessee schools and the students and teachers in them will continue to be left behind as a result of the aggressive privatization strategy Lee is pursuing.

This entry was posted in BEP, Bill Lee, School Funding and tagged Bill Lee and public schools. Bookmark the permalink.

Originally published at http://tnedreport.com on July 23, 2020.