In Tennessee, Metro Nashville public schools board recently denied an application by a single charter school, a branch of Great Hearts Academies. The board was concerned that this charter school would mostly cater to wealthier families and would not serve a more racially diverse population.
The state of Tennessee reacted harshly to this show of independence by the local school board. Governor Bill Haslam and Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman decided to withhold $3.4 million in education funding to the city. Ai??”I canai??i??t believe they would punish our teachers and students because a political debate didnai??i??t go their way,” Senate Democratic leader Jim Kyle said. “We teach our kids not to be bullies, and our state leaders need to heed that lesson.”
What makes the state’s move against the local district even more outrageous is the mixed performance charter schools and other independently managed schools have had. For example, the massive for-profit chain K-12 Inc. that runs virtual education schools across the state, “is in the bottom 11 percent of schools.”
“We to need to slow down, take stock of the changes we’ve made to education in Tennessee over the past couple years, and stop pushing for charter just for the sake of charters,” said Senate Democratic Caucus Chairman Lowe Finney. “At some point we need to support the public schools we have.”
It’s telling that Republicans who vocally espouse the benefits of local control and small government are willing to intimidate and step on a local governing body that refused to go along with the state’s plans of moving towards privatizing the education system.
Tennessee IS absolutely acting like a bully towards Metro Nashville by withholding $3.4 millions in funds. The people of Tennessee and the people of Nashville ought to be outraged at such punishment. Nashville, stand your ground … you had every right to deny that charter school application and support your public schools. These for-profit charter schools, unlike the original KIP schools, do not really CARE about their students and that causes the low performance of these students; after all, they are run for PROFIT just like a business, so the dollar is the bottom line, not the degree of education for their students. And yet they probably would cater to the wealthier families, whose children already have advantages.
This is just another example of the racist, bigoted policies of many state governments to destroy public education in America!! Public schools should not have to fun d charter schools. Most of these charter schools are just for-profit and DO NOT CARE about the students in any LEGITIMATE way If parents want their children in charter schools let them pay for it.
Is Tennessee a Republican state? If so maybe they need a wake up. Maybe this harsh response will be a wake up and make them take responsibility for how their schools are funded. Or maybe not…
Another way to con the public by using our tax dollars to give tto the rich. This is wrong for the children and wrong for Tennessee. Work with the public schools and teachers to make the changes. Quit stealing our hard earned money to give to Private Equity Firms ftrying to profit off the tax payers dime.