Tennessee Department of Education, Governor Bill Lee, and State Legislators, we Momma Bears are worried.  Your letters and actions are not reassuring.  What are you waiting for?

TDOE, in your letter dated March 13, 2020 you stated:

How on earth is social distancing going to happen in a classroom with 25 or 35 students?  Our classrooms are overcrowded as it is.

How is social distancing going to happen in a school with 500 kids, 1000 kids, or 2500 kids like some of our high schools?  You are asking for people to not gather in groups of more than 250, but yet are not concerned that our schools have many more than that.  

Your definition of social distancing is:

Have you ever been in a school?  Walked down a hallway between classes?  Eaten in a cafeteria?

At this point, there are not enough Corona virus test kits in our state to know for sure who has it.  People with symptoms have been denied testing because they don’t meet the qualifications for the test  -- being out of the country or in the presence of someone with Covid 19.

We are too late.  The experts say to "flatten the curve" to lessen the impact and give the healthcare system the time to care for those affected.  However, continuing school will work to heighten the curve and put our communities and hospitals at risk.

What about our children, teachers, and staff who are immunosuppressed?  Those with cancer, immune deficiencies, or other things?  Yes, they could just stay home, but what about their siblings or children or spouses who will still be at the school hoping not to bring this virus home?  We are doing a disservice to our school families by keeping our schools open.  What about the grandparents who might have to take care of kids or live in a common house?  What if this virus is brought home because we didn’t “flatten the curve?”

Even more to consider is the issue of cleaning the school facilities.  Our school budgets are stretched so thin that our custodial staffs are already overwhelmed.  The level of cleaning required to disinfect everything (with additional cleaning products that are in scarce supply right now) would require more manpower than our districts currently have.   

Governor Lee, you closed the state TN Capitol legislative sessions to the public to keep yourself and the 132 legislators safe, but you won't do the same for the children and vulnerable of our state?  (By the way, it is a violation of the Sunshine Law to meet without the public's view, so perhaps suspending/postponing this year's legislative session would be in order after passing a temporary budget?)

Rural areas are especially at risk based on their lack of hospital access and ventilators.  For example, a Momma Bear doctor in rural Tennessee told us that Carroll County has only six ventilators and 2000 beds for 25,000 people.  Benton County only has a couple ventilators for their population of 25,000 people.  Many rural areas of Tennessee are not equipped for a viral respiratory outbreak of this magnitude.  For more in depth data about U.S. statistics on critical care resources, you can click on this link to learn more.

"Most people have a fear of acquiring the virus. I think a good way of doing it is to imagine that you do have the virus, and change your behaviour so that you're not transmitting it."

​"Don't think about changing your behaviour so you won't get it, think about changing your behaviour so you don't give it to somebody else."

While we are at it, just cancel all standardized testing for the school year.  Our children are certainly NOT READY for TNReady.  They are stressed with how this virus has impacted their lives, and many in TN are stressed after the devastating storms and tornadoes that impacted their neighborhoods, homes, and schools.  Let’s not stress our teachers, our families, and our students any more with any standardized tests. 

​Think of our kids first and not the almighty test.  The Federal Government has said it will allow states to ask for testing exemptions this year.  Tennessee needs an exemption.  #2020NoTestYear. 

This is a GLOBAL PANDEMIC, we can surely stop testing for it.  Let’s not wait until our schools are a cess pool of infection and we have put our hospitals, our communities, and our lives at risk.

​FLATTEN THE CURVE.  CLOSE TENNESSEE SCHOOLS UNTIL MARCH 31 with a re-evaluation of the risk at that time.  CANCEL TNREADY testing this year.  These steps are the safest, wisest things to do.

Momma & Poppa Bears, click HERE to find out how to contact your legislator about these issues.  They need to hear from you.

Less than a year after Jason Zachary, who shall forever be known as the Farragut Flipper, cast the swing vote to approve school vouchers, the program has taken off at warp speed. In just the past week, it has been reported that 57 private schools including one in Knoxville have submitted applications to TDOE to receive ESA voucher dollars.

Could someone let the eager beaver, First Lutheran School of Knoxville, know that Rep. Zachary was given the utmost assurances by Governor Bull-Lee and then Speaker Glenn Casada that Knox County would be "protected" and removed from the ESA voucher bill? Seriously, we want to know how a school in Knoxville is going to participate in an ESA voucher program that is eligible only to students in Shelby County Schools and Metro Nashville Public Schools? Does the First Lutheran School of Knoxville knows something we don't know… Is there a plan to expand vouchers to Knox County??? That would not surprise us in the least. Voucher programs always expand to include more students 'cause more students mean more dollars.

And the first rule to being a Momma Bear is to ALWAYS FOLLOW THE MONEY. So, let's do that…. 

Back in November, Andy Spears reported that "ClassWallet started work on Nov. 4 after signing a two-year contract worth $2.53 million with the Department of Education, according to documents obtained by Chalkbeat." On Monday, we learned a little more about that deal with ClassWallet. Originally, the ESA voucher program was granted nearly $25M in funding but that money was reallocated to fighting Hepatitis C among prisoners leaving ESAs unfunded this year. So, how is TDOE going to pay for the contract with ClassWallet when there is no money in the state budget for it?

The funding is coming "from a defunct merit based teacher pay program that began in the 1980s under Lamar Alexander's administration," according to Deputy Education Commissioner Amity Schuyler who is tasked with overseeing the Tennessee ESA voucher implementation. But the teacher merit pay program may not be so defunct after all as there are still Tennessee teachers receiving Career Ladder salary supplements. And these teachers' salaries may be impacted by the redistribution of funds to the new voucher program. 

ClassWallet is the brainchild of attorney James "Jamie" Rosenberg, who created Adopt-a-Classroom, a crowdfunder, designed to help teachers meet their classroom needs. The story goes that "Rosenberg found that the mechanics of getting and tracking money for teachers and school systems was time-intensive, diverting precious time and energy from their core mission. He conceived ClassWallet as a tailored solution." 

​So, he created "a tool designed to make it easier for teachers to raise, manage, track and spend money for the classroom" and relaunched EarlyShares, a Miami based real estate crowdfunding platform, under the name, ClassWallet in 2014. Of course, there has to be a real estate connection. What Florida reformy education scheme would be complete without a real estate deal somewhere in the mix?

Also hailing from south Florida is none other than Amity Schuyler who now runs Tennessee's ESA voucher program as the state's Deputy Education Commissioner. 

"[Schuyler] comes from Florida where they already have education savings accounts, she's done lots of voucher-ESA work, and she understands what it's like from a district perspective," Schwinn said of Schuyler.

"She also believes in education savings accounts. And to take the lead on this project, I need someone who believes in it," Schwinn said.

Schuyler was chief of staff for the superintendent of Palm Beach County Schools when she was recruited from Florida this spring.

Schwinn previously said her department will look to states such as Florida to identify "best practices" to develop Tennessee's version, which will start with up to 5,000 students in the first year.

Florida has been at the forefront of developing programs that supporters say provide parents with more education choices and critics say are ploys to privatize public education. The state has the nation's largest tax credit scholarship program and was one of the first to adopt education savings accounts.
​
Not so coincidentally, Palm Beach County Schools is under contract with ClassWallet. Hmmm, do you think it was a no-bid contract? Well, we took a look at that contract and found a little surprise. If a teacher makes a purchase that is later deemed to be an inappropriate use of funds then ClassWallet can deduct the amount from the teacher's paycheck. Take a look for yourself:

If purchases or paid reimbursement requests made through ClassWallet are deemed to be an inappropriate use of funds, a payroll deduction will be made for the amount of the inappropriate purchase and the recouped funds will be returned to the school's FY21 School Advisory Council (SAC). 

While that might seem fair. It isn't because the Florida "State statute mandates that teachers spend the money on 'classroom materials and supplies for the public school students assigned to them.' It doesn’t explicitly say what items can and cannot be purchased, but says that the money cannot be used for equipment." 

This became problematic in Polk County where "Teachers were buying items that were definitely good for the classroom, but the understanding of what is not allowed under statute is not comprehended by all because these statutes are so clear,” Pitts said sarcastically. “It’s clear as mud what teachers can buy.” To remedy the problem, the school district contracted with ClassWallet paying $5 per card.

However, ClassWallet was clearly not well received by Polk County teachers. When the Polk County Education Association conducted a survey, 1,400 teachers responded and identified the following problems with ClassWallet:

• Teachers have a difficult time using ClassWallet when it comes to setting up accounts, putting in bank information and being confused about what they are allowed and not allowed to buy.
• Some vendors on ClassWallet charge “excessive amounts” for shipping costs, limiting the money teachers can use on classroom supplies.​
• Teachers prefer to buy from local stores and do not want to be charged money to upload receipts.​

It is painfully apparent that a company which started a little over 5 years ago as an effort to help teachers fund their classroom needs has now morphed into a monopoly. ClassWallet has become a monopoly which operates along the lines of a coal mine company store where script is king. And nowhere is the company store scenario more apparent than Miami-Dade. In a blog entitled, Why Teachers Hate ClassWallet, a Miami-Dade teacher had this to say:

More complaints about ClassWallet arose last year over a proposed North Carolina Classroom Supply Program. Under the bill, the use of ClassWallet would be mandatory for traditional public schools but optional for charter and independent schools. Teachers pushed back against the proposal calling it a sham where vendors are limited and prices are high. One North Caroline blogger explained that giving ClassWallet "the power and money to track [teacher] purchases without LEA oversight was met with great resistance from teachers and educational leaders." 

Among the objections, the proposal failed to provide a new infusion of funds to offset teachers' out of pocket costs. Instead the program would be funded by the nearly $50 million normally allocated to school districts for school supplies. In essence, the bill would funnel monies earmarked for school districts to ClassWallet prompting some critics to call it a “shell game” where "politicians are benefiting financially from promoting Class Wallet." Allegations continued that lawmakers were listening more to lobbyists representing Ed Tech companies than to parents and teachers. 

We are not the least bit surprised that politicians are listening more to lobbyist and big money tech companies than to Momma Bears. Ed Tech is rapidly becoming big business with tremendous profit potential. "With education businesses there is opportunity for magnificent profits because of the large scale of education spending. The United States alone spends $650 billion a year on public education. This allure of lavish profits is driving education technology."

Among ClassWallet's big investors is NewSchools Venture Fund which is described as "the most strident in its commitment to disrupting pubic education." We believe it. Just take a look at the dark money donors of the NewSchools Venture Fund. 

Several weeks ago, Momma Bears was contacted by a concerned momma who wanted to know more about this YouScience thing. So, we did a little digging and was shocked by some of things that we discovered. Then, we did what Momma Bears do…. We blogged about it.

An alert reader asked us if the guy in the blog was really named Rich Feller? It is, and it also appears Rich Feller is connected to the US Chamber of Commerce. Of course, he is. Aren't all rich fellers somehow connected to the Chamber of Commerce? But that was not the only response we received on that blog.

YouScience posted the following comment on our FaceBook page:

YouScience:   
"YouScience has never and will never sell student data. We’ll say that again – we have never and will never sell – or otherwise profit – from students’ private data. Period. Our goal is simply this – to help students better understand their natural abilities and how, when combined with their interests, they align with real-world careers." 

Momma Bears Response:
We’re glad you are not selling student data but are you collecting it? Or transferring it? If so, for what purpose? Are you adding our children's data to Tennessee's statewide longitudinal data system? Because if you are, then you need to disclose that to our students. And we want to know why the state is collecting aptitude data on our kids and how it will be used? If you are not collecting data then we think, that if, you were sincere about helping our kids then you would be good stewards of their personal information and destroy it after achieving the goal of “helping students better understand their natural abilities.” 

Not that we don't trust YouScience but… WE URGE any entity (school boards, TDOE, etc.) contracting with YouScience to add a provision for the destruction of student data after use and ensure compliance with strong penalties for violations. ​

We don't have a rich feller on staff at Momma Bears, so, we could only afford the free version of Crunchbase which provides limited information. So, instead of making us search the internet and you picking & choosing which site is more credible or making us buy a subscription to Crunchbase, maybe you should clear this up by listing all current and former investors? Does that work for you?

​In the meantime, we did a little googling...

Based on our limited research, we are pretty sure that YouScience has more than three investors listed on the free version of Crunchbase. The original SEC filing in 2013 shows 10 investors. There have also been various investors over the years including five investors in 2017. Venture Nashville Connections reports that in addition to Hardin who is listed on Crunchbase, Betsy Wills, Richard Patton and John Ingram also are investors. "[YouScience's] current investors and board members include Co-Founders Betsy Wills and Richard Patton, the latter CEO of Courage Capital Management; and, John Ingram, chairman of Ingram Industries and CEO of Ingram Content Group. Hardin serves as its chief financial officer, as well as CEO. Other investment has come from about 10 other investors, including "a couple" of strategic investors, Hardin confirmed. Total capital-in thus far includes a $1,316,667 from the INCITE fund created by Gov. Bill Haslam's administration and administered by LaunchTN." 

Interesting side note: Richard Patton is married to Robin Ingram, yep, that Ingram Family, same one as John. We have blogged on them before and how they made money off Tennessee adopting Common Core. These rich people—always making money off our kids.

Now, let's talk about Launch Tennessee which is listed, by YouScience's recommended source, Crunchbase, as the lead investor in YouScience. With our free version of Crunchbase, we can only see limited information about Launch Tennessee and its investors. But we do know that back in 2013 when Launch Tennessee invested in YouScience, its vice chairman was none other than Stuart McWhorter. 

We did a final check and CB Insights is still listing Clayton Associates as investors in YouScience, so you be sure to let us know if that changes, ok?

The past seems to be repeating itself. Remember when we told you about Lee's Screwy Choice for Tennessee's Education Commission?

We told you all about when Schwinn briefly served as the Deputy Commissioner of Academics in Texas. It was during that time, she got into big trouble for giving a no-bid contract to her old Teach for America buddy, Richard Nyankori. ​

​Despite having virtually no SPED experience, Nyankori operated a for-profit company called SPEDx that was tasked with helping Texas Education Agency to develop a strategic plan for special education services. Nyankori was given access to student IEP records containing highly confidential information about disabled children and their families. The "controversial data mining company" was supposed to develop a more efficient IEP process. Instead, critics accuse the company of gathering data to justify cuts in SPED services. Mercedes Schneider has all the details her blog. 

We wonder...

​Is Schwinn is up to her same old tricks here in Tennessee with her recently unveiled "Best for All" strategic plan?

What exactly is YouScience???

YouScience is an online aptitude assessment that appears to be a harmless computer game. The program claims to "use psychometrically-valid brain games to uncover users' natural talents, then combine those aptitude measures with interests to generate the YouScience Profile. Within their Profile, users can explore their aptitudes, review personalized career matches, and develop affirming language to better highlight their assets in interviews and resumes."  This computer game is much more than an aptitude assessment, it is an opportunity for a business to have access to data mine our children. 

You never gonna guess who is behind this program to access our children's aptitude data...

YouScience is a for-profit business that was created in Brentwood, Tennessee. Its big investor is a venture capitalist firm called Clayton Associates whose co-founder and chairman is Brentwood resident, Stuart McWhorter.

Yup, that Stuart McWhorter!!!

Stuart McWhorter is none other than Tennessee's Commissioner of Finance and Administration. McWhorter was tapped for the powerful position last year by Gov. Lee after serving as Lee's campaign finance chair. McWhorter also acted as the Chairman for Gov. Lee's Inauguration and served on the board of directors for Lee Company. McWhorter and the Governor live in the same town and go way back. 

But that is not the only reason McWhorter's name sounds familiar. He has been in the news lately, named as a key player in the Lee administration's $4M so-called slush fund scandal. Accusers claim the new grant program was created on the sly to reward lawmakers who voted in favor of the controversial ESA bill last Spring. 

"Critics say the former House speaker put together the grant fund to push the governor’s education savings account bill through the House. Amid an initial tie vote, it passed 50-48 in late April after Casada held the vote board open for nearly 45 minutes to work the chamber."

According to the Tennesseean, McWhorter initially denied knowledge of a list of grant recipients. "But emails between employees in the state’s economic and community development office suggest otherwise. According to a July 26 email between Rolfe and McWhorter, with several ECD employees attached, dozens of 'commitments' had already been identified for the $4 million fund."
​
And of course, no Williamson County conspiracy to privatize public schools would be complete without a Koch Brothers connection. So, there is this.... The YouScience lobbyist, Mark Cate, is also the Koch's lobbyist. 

​Let your school board know that as a parent you have some serious concerns about YouScience and giving a third party vendor access to psychometric personal data on your child.

​Momma Bears want to know: Is YouScience really a program designed to help students discover their natural talents? Or is it a nefarious attempt to data mine and force our kids into career paths that best serve Governor Lee and his rich, business buddies?

Tennesseans across the state are receiving bright & shiny postcards in their mailboxes thanking state legislators for their controversial vote to undermine public education with the new ESA voucher plan.

You remember the ESA voucher vote, don't you?

Oh, let's take a stroll down memory lane and refresh you on what happened that flippity do-da day. 

As the ESA bill made its way to a floor vote, lawmakers began blowing the whistle on House leadership. Tweets and newspaper articles made claims that state legislators were alternately being strong-armed and incentivized into voting for the Governor's ESA voucher bill. But when the bill came up for a vote, there was a dead tie in the House. A tie vote means that the bill failed. But the now disgraced Speaker Glen Casada refused to officially "take" the vote for nearly an hour, trying to persuade at least one lawmaker to change his mind. He succeeded with the now infamous Farragut Flipper, Rep. Zachary. After being assured his district would not be included in the bill, Zachary betrayed his constituents and changed his vote. ESAs became law in Tennessee. But that was not the end. Word leaked out that an FBI investigation was underway. Casada stepped down as Speaker of the House. New allegations emerged that state Representative John Mark Windle was promised a promotion in the Tennessee National Guard in exchange for a Yes vote on vouchers. Casada denied having the power to grant promotions in the National Guard saying only the Governor could do such a thing. 

And now… We have thank-you cards being mailed out to those lawmakers who provided us with this dumpster fire. So, who is paying for this slick marketing campaign praising these flipper sell-outs?

Surprise, surprise…. It's none other than Betsy DeVos' favorite "let's-turn-our-schools-into-Amway-franchises" organization, American Federation for Children.

The postcard asks you to text "TNEDU" to 52886 to say thank you.

Well, we got a better idea…

​We think these lawmakers deserve a big fat "F" 

• F for failing Tennessee's schoolchildren
• F for failing to listen to their constituents
• F for failing to behave ethically

It’s official. The ESA voucher bill was quietly signed into law last week by Gov. Bill Lee despite the controversies and investigations surrounding its passage. But we are left wondering if we even know the half of the shadiness going on in the state legislature. Democrats have been alluding to a climate of arm-twisting and intimidation but now those allegations are being confirmed by Republicans.  

Since the infamous ESA tie when Speaker Casada held the tally until someone switched their vote, Republicans have been coming forward to verify allegations of heavy handed leadership in the state legislature. GOP Representative Jason Zachary, who shall forever be known as the Farragut Flipper, recently corroborated Democrat Rep. Gloria Johnson's suspicions of being under surveillance by leadership "spies" in the legislature.

Republicans have also confirmed a “kill list” was circulated by Rep. Matthew Hill who, of all things, chairs the House Ethics Committee. Hill sent the list to committee chairs in an effort to control which bills died in committee. His fellow East Tennessee legislators, David Hawk and Jeremy Faison allege that certain representatives were targeted by the kill list. This means that bill sponsors who fell out of favor with leadership in the legislature were blocked from getting their bills passed. 

Recently, Momma Bears was contacted by a longtime reader who spilled some tea. This person told us that the Governor himself engaged in similar threats and relayed a narrative of how specially-elected Sen. Bill Powers of Clarksville came to be sworn into office—just in time to cast his vote in favor of ESA vouchers.

Sen. Powers' vote in favor of ESAs shocked his constituents because just days before he won his election, he was campaigning against school vouchers. When asked why he changed his vote, Powers offered little explanation to visiting constituents except to tell them that he is a long-time supporter of public education and sits on the board of the Clarksville-Montgomery County Education Foundation. He then asked them for understanding as he compared being in the state senate to drinking water out of a fire hose. 

Then a few weeks later, we received a message that filled in the gaps. Based on the events relayed to us, we would say that what Sen. Powers described as drinking out of a fire hose is more like being waterboarded by Gov. Bull-Lee. 

On April 23, Republican Bill Powers, with 52% of the vote, beat Democrat candidate, Juanita Charles in a special election called to fill the vacancy created when Mark Green was elected to the U.S. Congress in November. Powers was scheduled to be sworn into office on Monday, April 29. But our source tells us that Powers received an unexpected phone call from the Governor informing him that the Tennessee Highway Patrol was being dispatched to pick him up and deliver him to the State Capitol. ​

As the ESA voucher bill heads to a conference committee and a final vote is expected soon, we thought that now would be a good time to look at the other voucher program in Tennessee, the Individual Education Account (IEA). According to TDOE's website, IEA "is a school choice program for eligible students with disabilities. The program provides options for parents of students in grades K–12 to choose the education opportunities that best meet their own unique needs through access to public education funds." 

Well, at least that is the idea of the program but the reality is much different... 

Parents will receive a credit/debit type of card in the mail pre-loaded with money. We are not sure how much money but it’s probably based on your school district’s BEP funding minus some handling fees. All you have to do is sign away all your child’s IDEA federal rights and their right to attend public schools. Then, you get a handy-dandy card loaded with money. And the TDOE even has a helpful suggestion for you.

“Parents are encouraged to put a small sticker on the debit card to identify that the debit card is for the IEA Program only, and, in cases where the account holder has multiple students enrolled in the IEA Program, distinguish which card is assigned to each student.”

So, what if you were a responsible parent who wanted to use your million dollar baby's voucher card at a legitimate school and not a field trip to Disney World, how would that work?

Could you apply for the school of your CHOICE and use the card to pay for tuition? Well, no. That is not how it works!! You would have to choose a school off the state's approved list. Your school choice is limited to the State's list of chosen schools. And there are only seven schools statewide for 2019-2020 school year. 

Several schools on the list have ties to religious organizations. PEER Academy in Knoxville belongs to the Association of Classical Christian Schools. Barbara K. Lipman Early Learning Center promises "a high-quality academic experience for young children in a Jewish setting…" 

And then, there is Chattanooga Christian School that desires to be a leading Christian school that is distinguished by its redemptive discipleship through rigorous curricular programs promoting Christ-centered critical thinking and co-curricular programs that allow students to fully display their diverse talents and skills while fostering an enthusiastic love for their school community. 
​
You can read for yourself about Silverdale Baptist Academy…

For all the talk of school choice, it is pretty apparent that IEA vouchers can only be used at a limited number of mostly small Christian schools. And we see no reason for this trend not to continue in the ESA voucher program. We predict that TDOE's ESA approval list will also consist of small Christian schools like Tipton Christian Academy in Covington. 

Tipton Christian Academy is a joint ministry with Covington's First Baptist Church, Senator Paul Rose's lifelong church. And it has recently grown from a preschool to a K-12 school. And according to a 2017 article in the Covington Leader, the school received a $1.5M anonymous donation with the stipulation that it be used for a new building. From the looks of the pictures below, it's pretty obvious that Sen. Rose's Construction business got the contract to build the new school. 

Senator Rose voted in favor of the Senate version of the ESA voucher bill which applies to Shelby County Schools, the Achievement School District, and Metro Nashville Public Schools. His Facebook post said that he made the decision to vote in favor of vouchers after prayerful consideration. Specifically, he asked God to give him "the guidance and wisdom to vote in the best interest of the children of Tennessee." He went on to say that this pilot program will "not directly affect any schools in [his] district."

At the risk of being Momma Bear snarky…. We must say, Sen. Rose apparently has not fully listened to God's wisdom since he failed to realize this bill directly affects two schools in his Senate District 32. Students at Bolton High School and Barrett's Chapel K-8 in Shelby County would be eligible for ESA vouchers under the Senate bill. And these two SCS schools are located less than 30 minutes from Tipton Christian Academy's new K-12 school. That is conveniently close enough for some sheep stealing. So, we will be watching to see if Tipton Christian Academy appears on the TDOE approved list for ESA vouchers.

Gather around, children...

​Momma Bears are gonna tell you about that awful day when Bull-Lee took away your public schools. The morning started off with an article from the Tennessean detailing how lawmakers' funding requests would be decided based on their votes on the ESA voucher bill. 

Then later, a tweet from Rep. Carol Abney (D-Celina).

Abney blew the whistle on what she called Gov. Lee's "extortion" plan to secure votes for the ESA voucher bill. According to her, Rep. Bob Ramsey (R-Maryville) notified the three School Superintendents in his district: Maryville City Schools, Alcoa Schools, and Blount County Schools and told them that if he voted for ESA Vouchers then Blount County would receive "a windfall" of money for road construction. But if he voted against vouchers then that money would be withheld from Blount County. 

The Maryville Daily Times followed up the with a detailed article on the allegations. Rep. Ramsey told the Daily Times reporter, “I would not call it extortion. ... There were no threats. ... Strong-armed is not a bad word for it.”

He went to say in the telephone interview,  “There were some suggestions there might be benefits to our district if we supported the bill. I was repeatedly contacted to join the effort on the side of supporters ... and told it might enhance allocations of funds in the future.”

Meanwhile on the other side of the state, Rep. Tom Leatherwood (R-Arlington), who now occupies public education stalwart, the late Ron Lollar's seat, was identified in The Tennessean article as being one of several freshman representatives who received their funding requests from the Governor after pledging to support the voucher bill. Wanna see what he got? Look at item J in the first picture. $110K for sidewalks. And item 22 in the second picture: $30K for creating a cybersecurity classroom at Arlington High School. 

 

While the Senate Finance Committee held its hearing on the Senate version of the ESA voucher bill, the full House was debating their version of the bill. Normally, this is the time when Momma Bears gives you the moms-in-a-hurry version of what happened. But….

We can't…. Really…. We just can't bring ourselves to re-live Penny Schwinn's frothing at the mouth over how much she loves vouchers when she testified at the Senate Finance Committee. And all the unanswered questions on fraud, accountability, and transparency for ESA vouchers that went unanswered. According to Schwinn, these things will be dealt with later when the TDOE promulgates their rules. 

And we simply can not do justice to the debacle in the House which Rep. Bo Mitchell (D-Nashville) described in a tweet as "…some of the most unethical actions that you would only expect to see in a banana republic."

So you will have to look for yourself. We have included links to video below. 

Senate Finance Ways & Means Committee Hearing 

House Debate Video

BUT and this is a BIG BUT, the official video of the House in session does not show the full picture of what happened. So, here's what went on…

After the House debate ended, a vote was held. But instead of the usual, "Mr. Clerk, take the vote," our audio went dead then the video froze on a blank screen. At that point, Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) began FaceBook live video coverage of what was happening in the House Chambers. While, the official video just showed a blank screen and no vote totals were posted, Johnson's video and several tweeted pictures of the tally board showed the votes were tied at 49-49. 

After 30-40 minutes of disorder in the House Chamber, the vote was finally taken and Rep. Jason Zachary (R-Farragut) who shall forever be known as the "Farragut Flipper" flipped his "no" vote to a "yes."

And just like that… the ESA voucher bill passed.

So, children, now you know how it happened. 

In a damage-control attempt to calm down angry constituents, Rep. Zachary took to FaceBook to defend his flipped vote saying in this video that he saved Knox County from being included in the bill and that he was promised no fiscal harm would come to the public schools in his district. 

But we already knew that Knox County had been removed from the Senate version that had passed the Finance Committee just prior to the House vote. And Zachary knew it too because Rep. Matthew Hill (R-Jonesborough) announced it to House members shortly before the House vote was called.

And we also know that the House did not adopt the Senate version meaning Zachary voted yes to a bill that still includes Knox County. 

Super-Easy One Question Survey: Click here for survey link.

As Easter approaches, the Tennessee legislature is spending Holy Week conducting business as usual. The ESA voucher bill is expected to hit the floor for a final vote before Good Friday. As we come down to the wire, we wanted to get some perspective on ESA vouchers from the faith-based community. We found two different pastors with two different views. 

One pastor, Glen Gaugh, who was lucky enough to score an invitation to the recent closed-door meeting with Betsy DeVos in Nashville, describes himself on Facebook as a minister, mental health social worker, fireworks store owner, and faith-based life coach in Jackson, Tennessee. Gaugh was invited to speak before the Senate Education Committee hearing last week in favor of the ESA voucher bill.

Another pastor, Brad Fiscus, a lay minister, director of NextGen Discipleship for the Tennessee Conference of the United Methodist Church, and founding member of Pastors for Tennessee Children, was not invited to the closed-door Betsy DeVos meeting and was not invited to speak before the Senate Committee. Instead, he delivered his speech against ESA vouchers at the Tennessee Strong Rally outside on the Capitol steps. 

Interestingly, both men have ventured into politics. Gaugh ran unsuccessfully for state representative in 2016 while Fiscus is currently an elected school board member in Williamson County. Fiscus wants you to know that when he was speaking on the Capitol steps, he was doing so as an individual and a representative for Pastors for Tennessee Children. He was not speaking as a member of the Williamson County Board of Education.

In alphabetical order, we have listed the views of each pastor below... 
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A message delivered on the state Capitol steps:

My name is Brad Fiscus. I am a founding member of Pastors for Tennessee Children. I am a lay minister and Director of NextGen Discipleship for the Tennessee Conference of the United Methodist Church. I am a former public school teacher in my home state of Indiana as well as Metro Nashville Public Schools. I am a resident of Franklin, the parent of two teenagers in high school in Williamson County Schools, and a member of the Williamson County School Board.

My entire post-college year career has been dedicated to helping young people discover who they are and who they were created to be. 

Pastors for Tennessee Children is a broad coalition of clergy and faith leaders from across the state of Tennessee that provides assistance to our local neighborhood and community public schools, and advocates for those schools, principals, teachers, staff and schoolchildren by supporting our free, public education system, and advancing legislation that enriches Tennessee children, families and communities.

I stand in opposition to Educational Savings Accounts, Educational Scholarship Accounts, Vouchers or any other euphemisms that have been used to promote this legislation.

My opposition is not because I have an issue with Private schools or the parent’s right to choose that for their children, my opposition is much deeper. 

As a person who serves in ministry, I am called to serve all people, while some may choose to go to other congregations, denominations, or may choose not to go at all, my calling is to serve ALL people regardless of ability, ethnicity, socio-economic standing, immigration status, sexual orientation, or belief system. 

God has called me to be in ministry with every person I encounter. 

In the same way, public schools are required to provide a free and adequate education for ALL children in their community regardless of whether they choose to attend.

I am reminded in scripture that I am to Love the Lord my God with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my strength and with all my mind'; and, ‘ to Love my neighbor.’ 

While it is noble to want to provide opportunities for students from low-income, low-performing schools to increase academic performance as a means of breaking the cycles of poverty, vouchers are not the answer. 

The Governor’s plan would eliminate public accountability by channeling tax dollars into private schools or home school programs that do not face state-approved academic standards. 

Private schools do not publicly report on student achievement and do not meet the public accountability requirements outlined in major federal laws-- including laws which protect students with special needs. Whereas public schools are required to accept all children of all abilities in their district, private schools have the choice. 

To be clear, vouchers are an easy, yet ineffective “out” for our legislators-- relieving our state leaders of their responsibility to provide oversight and accountability for public schools as demanded by our state constitution. 

In each of the districts that have been targeted as under-performing, there are amazing teachers, amazing principals, incredible students. However, not every school is the same, other factors influence the ability to enhance student performance. 

Many studies reveal that student academic performance does not improve by just pulling students from their low-performing district. Instead of removing students and funding from underperforming schools, we should invest more funding to provide training and resources for community development. Partnerships must be developed between community leaders, faith leaders, and school leadership. 

We should invest to provide more Social Workers who have the skills to work with families caught in recurring cycles of poverty so that they might gain new skills that will provide new opportunities. A person who is struggling to keep food on their table and their family in housing does not have time to focus on ensuring their child is achieving academically. This effort is working in places like Nashville where a Community schools approach with wrap around care is working.

I believe that my alignment theologically with the United Methodist Church can be attributed to many aspects, but I am grateful for the emphasis on public education found in our Social Principles - 

“The United Methodist Church believes that at a time when public education has become a political battleground, the church is called to remember, first and foremost, the well-being of all God’s children. Education is a right of all children and is affirmed by Scripture which calls us to “train children in the way they should go” (Proverbs 22:6). Furthermore, the Social Principles affirm that education “can best be fulfilled through public policies that ensure access for all persons to free public elementary and secondary schools and to post-secondary schools of their choice”

This statement continues to say, “We acknowledge the debate over whether public funds might appropriately be used to remedy the lingering effects of racial injustice in our nation’s educational system. We do not purport to resolve our differences over this issue, but we do affirm our conviction that public funds should be used for public purposes. We also caution that government aid to primary and secondary religious schools raises constitutional problems and could undermine the private schools’ independence and or compromise their religious message.”

We have been fighting this push for many years now, and we will be for years to come. 

Therefore we must remain vigilant, we must remain united, we must make our voices heard, and our leaders must listen or be replaced. 

There is no line in the Constitution of Tennessee that says that they should “provide for the maintenance, support and eligibility standards of a system of PRIVATE schools,” NO, it says - to “provide for the maintenance, support and eligibility standards of a system of free public schools,”

To be clear, the people pushing this legislation from outside of Tennessee might have more money than we do but they aren’t as connected as we are, they don’t have the ability to vote here like we do, they think they know us but they don’t even want to be in the same room with us, let alone the same zip code. 

They pump money into our legislative system attempting to dictate all of the issues that we face especially how we provide the provision of Education for the public good. They desire to dictate how we should live, what we should learn, where we should learn, who we should love, and how we should engage in public discourse. While they work in private influencing our elected officials through threats of loss of elections, or loss of influence in decision making. 

We are the ones who make those decisions, we are the ones who decide who gets to represent us here in the General Assembly, and we must be bold enough to stand up to their threats, be bold enough to support those legislators who truly listen to the desires of Tennesseans instead of those who offer to pay for their re-elections.

In closing may we be guided by the simple rules that the founder of Methodism, John Wesley, called us to remember - 1. Do Good, 2. Do No Harm, and 3. Stay In Love with God. As Bishop Rueben Job said, "The rules are simple, but the way is not easy. Only those with great courage will attempt it, and only those with great faith will be able to walk this exciting and demanding way.”

In a gas-lighting piece, Knoxville Focus publisher, Steve Hunley, tries to pull one of the oldest manipulation tricks in the book when he calls Tennessee teachers, "bullies."  Typical. Just typical. But we know who the real bully is here. 

He calls them a few other choice names too like mooing cows and hogs that love slop. 

Anyone who has seen a western movie will be familiar with the predictable stampede; the only difference is this particular stampede will occur in the marble halls of the state capitol.  The thundering herd will moo plaintively while the sounds of hooves will echo off the marble walls.  While the number locally is insignificant compared to the number of teachers employed, most of these unionists like personal publicity as much as a hog likes slop and will carry signs and protest and shriek it is the end of the civilized world as we know it if the governor’s ESA legislation should pass the Tennessee General Assembly.

It all started when a group of parents, teachers, and community members showed up at the Knox County Republicans' Lincoln Day Dinner to protest Gov. Lee's ESA voucher plan. About 200 people held signs and waved at traffic in front of the venue where Lee was speaking. Hunley took particular offense to a protest sign that referred to Knox County state representative Bill Dunn as a dunce.

Relax, dude, it's a satirical play on words. Don't you have political cartoons in your paper? If you are going to be a newspaper man, you will need to have some understanding of satire. 

Hunley was also upset that teachers and school board members travelled to Nashville to meet with legislators and watch the hearings on the ESA voucher bill. Apparently, teachers are supposed to "do what other mortals would do- - - send an email or pick up the telephone to make their views known." Well, maybe we should share a little secret with Mr. Hunley: teaching is way too hard for mere mortals. Our Tennessee teachers are superheroes!! And we applaud them for caring enough about our children to arrange a trip to the Capitol to meet with legislators and watch the debates on the ESA bill. 

But we are shaking our heads at poor Mr. Hunley. Doesn't he know that face-to-face communications is far more effective than phone calls and emails? If you are going to be a newspaper man, you will need to realize the importance of attending meetings and personally interviewing people.

And there are a few more things Mr. Hunley needs to know if he is going to be a newspaper man.

First, let's start with getting the facts straight. The information reported in his editorial does not match any of the ESA bill amendments released so far. Vouchers would not be limited to students in failing schools. Instead, ESA gift cards would be available to students in Knox County or any other school district that has at least three schools in the bottom 10%. Students in some of Tennessee's top schools would be eligible for ESA vouchers including Hume-Fogg in Nashville, White Station in Memphis, and Farragut in Knoxville. These are not failing schools. And ESA vouchers would not be limited to districts with failing schools. Under state law, failing schools, known as "priority schools," are those schools in the bottom 5%. This bill could apply to districts that do not have a single failing school.

Yup. If you are going to be a newspaper man, you need to get the facts straight. 

Second, it's important to have an understanding of First Amendment rights. People, including teachers, have the right to free speech, assemble peaceably, and petition the government for a redress of grievances. That means these teachers have the right to express their opinions on the ESA voucher bill. They have the right to criticize Rep. Dunn, the Governor, and all other elected officials. They also have the right to carry their signs and gather together on the street. 

If you are going to be a newspaper man, you really need to understand the First Amendment. Seriously, it's very important that you know about freedom of the press. So, please go read the First Amendment.

And finally, let's get one thing straight. If you are going to be a newspaper man, you need to maintain some journalistic objectivity. That mean that you do not treat women like objects such as cows and hogs. It means you need to better disguise your apparent disdain towards teachers and women in general.

Momma Bears, we are going to give you the link so if you must, you can read the horrible things written about teachers, parents, and local officials who oppose ESA vouchers. But save yourself some frustration and don't give Mr. Hunley's paper any traffic, don't click the link. If you do read it, use a red pen to fix all the grammatical errors.

Oh yeah, that's another thing. If you are going to be a newspaper man, you need to be grammatically correct. 

It's that time of year again!!! And as usual, Momma Bear's in-box is full of requests for information about opting out of TNReady. This year, we have been contacted by a number of homeschool moms who want to opt out. 

I home school. I hate these tests. My two oldest tested over a year ago. I had to take them and pick them up every day for two weeks. They tested way above other students, but I already knew they would. My oldest daughter is 15 and will be taking her SAT next year. My younger son is now having to test. Do I have to go through this dog and pony show again or can I "opt-out"? What are the options for home school families.

I homeschool. How do you suggest that I opt out?

My child is homeschooled in XXXXXXX County, TN as a freshman. We have been asked to bring her to the school for testing for 85 minutes (roughly) on 8 different days. With the TNReady fiasco going on, the dates keep getting pushed. Is it too late to opt out? How does this apply to homeschooled students? I chose to homeschool for very specific reasons (i.e., being in charge of my childs education)

I homeschool my son. He has autism, auditory processing disorder, & expressive/receptive language disorder. My son attended a lab school in Kentucky & participated in the standardized testing in 3rd grade. It was torture for him & his aide. We decided to homeschool after being told that the school we were in district for had “issues” with regard to their special education department & their implementation of the IEP. To be honest, my husband, myself, my son’s behaviorist, & another therapist had to rewrite every IEP so that they contained defined, measurable goals instead of ambiguous goals that were written by the special education department. I am located in XXXXXX County, Tennessee. Is there a statute or is there a way to opt out of standardized testing for my son?

Homeschool Momma Bears, here is what the State says about TNReady:

How will Gov. Lee's ESA voucher program affect homeschooling?  

Right now, Tennessee law, as specified above, allows homeschoolers to take standardized assessments administered by a professional testing service instead of TNReady. But the proposed ESA voucher legislation requires participating homeschoolers and private school students to take TNReady in Math and ELA. 

We know some of you are probably wondering why the proposed ESA voucher bill omits Social Studies and Science. Well, we think we know the answer to that question. Social Studies and Science are not priorities in Tennessee's common core curriculum. So, the State pretty much sold out it's social studies standards and curriculum to someone with a lot of political clout. You can read the details in our past blog. 

Under the proposed ELA voucher bill, homeschoolers accepting the ESA gift card must take TNReady in Math and ELA and there is no provision in the ESA bill which allows those home schoolers to take any other standardized test in place of TNReady. So, is this the beginning of intrusive state regulation of homeschooling?

That is a growing concern among homeschool families nationwide. 

Some state homeschool associations are very careful to distinguish between homeschool and ESA "home-based" education where a family enters into a contract with the State to provide education at home. 

In Arizona, ESA is separate from homeschooling, which is another legally defined education option in our state. Since ESA students taught at home have a very similar day-to-day experience as homeschooled students, there is often confusion about the distinction between the two student classifications.

As evidenced by increased legislation popping up in various states, there is a significant push nationwide to increase regulation for homeschoolers. AFHE has worked hard since its inception in the early 1980s to remove burdensome regulations that did exist for homeschooling families here in our state. In order to maintain that hard-fought freedom, it is crucial to keep homeschooling separate from taxpayer funds.

What the State funds it must oversee and regulate. This is wise stewardship of our taxpayer dollars—however, with government money comes government strings. One key element that has been a hallmark of Arizona homeschooling for more than three decades is that what we value most is our freedom. 


​And in Nevada, the homeschool community is also very protective of the distinction between homeschool and those accepting ESA vouchers to educate their children at home.

First and foremost, Nevada parents, who choose to use the ESA program, will NOT be “homeschooling” under NV statute. Two statutes, NRS 392.070(2) and 388D.020 allow parents, who receive NO MONEY from the state, to educate their children free from government control, although educational abuse and neglect statutes do apply as safeguards.

​Second, “homeschooling” is legally defined in Nevada Revised Statutes, NRS 385.007(3) differentiating it from “home based education” through the NV-ESA. And while imitation is the best form of flattery, Nevada Homeschool Network (NHN) became alarmed when Senator Hammond introduced an amended version of his original ESA bill in April of 2015 that no one had been able to read prior to the hearing in the NV Senate Education Committee (this seems to be a pattern repeating itself in other states in 2016 and 2017 as ESA bills are being mulled over... but not available for public review). 

NHN opposed the bill, SB 302, as introduced due to the Senator’s references to homeschooling in his verbal introduction of the bill. Both public school and homeschool students (but not existing private school students) were to be able to access ESA funding. Further, the Senator’s initial version attempted to use the NV homeschool law as the vehicle for this new program, blurring the distinction between a self-funded homeschool child and a child receiving a “home based” education through the government approved ESA program.  

But others don't like ESA vouchers at all and consider them to be a camel's nose under the tent that allows government regulations to creep into the homeschool environment. 

An Indiana homeschool group has this to say about ESA vouchers:

Homeschoolers need to take this to heart whenever a legislator assures our community that ESAs will cause no harm to our liberty. Once the camel’s nose is under the tent, it is very difficult to keep him out. 

As we’ve shared with homeschoolers, a new public school system is being built. We first noticed it as we read quotes from early reformers from the 1990’s. The question for homeschoolers who worked so hard to have the liberty to teach their children as they see fit, do you want to be sucked back into the public school system? We’ve seen what has happened to it over the past 50 years. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever. ~ John Adams

A Texas lawyer and homeschool advocate had some sharp words about ESA vouchers:

We grumpy-pants HSLDA lawyers eat, drink, and breathe homeschooling—then we come to work. So why on earth do we oppose these so-called “ESAs”?

First, a closer examination of the name is in order. Why is it called a “savings account”? No one is saving money. The happy-sounding name belies what is really happening. For example, the full title of the “ESA” bill in Texas says, “Senate Bill 3 establishes a state-funded subsidy program called an ‘Education Savings Account.’” In other words, as Joe Biden might say, these so-called savings accounts are literally misnamed. Not to be confused with Coverdell ESAs1, these fake “ESAs” are just the old idea of vouchers from the 1990s, repackaged under another name. The funds in these accounts are not “saved” in any normal sense of the word—they are tax dollars.

And what is a tax dollar? It begins as your dollar, then through the hocus-pocus of representative democracy it becomes the government’s dollar—whether you want it to or not. After passing through various sticky agency fingers it then magically becomes 50 cents deposited in your or someone else’s state-funded voucher—er, “savings account,” to be spent with a debit card.

HSLDA believes it is not the government that is responsible for our children’s education. As a matter of first principles, we believe that parents are responsible, and that the freedom to homeschool has been won because parents took that responsibility—including the financial responsibility. “ESA” vouchers are based on the premise that it is the government’s responsibility to ensure that children are educated and to fund that education.

​The homeschooling movement has grown up organically, as hundreds of thousands of parents made a myriad of choices in the best interests of their very own Hunter and Taylor. Innovation, voluntary collaboration, and an entrepreneurial spirit fuel the engine of the homeschooling movement. Not tax dollars.

That sentiment is echoed by the Nevada Homeschool Network:

FACTS:

1. We must understand and proclaim the Biblical truth; ALL parents are ultimately responsible for the education of their own children, not the state.
2. When private schools/parents accept “taxpayer funding” the government sets up “accountability” measures that will limit their Liberty, that may be “choice” but it is NOT freedom.
3. Independent, self-funded homeschool parents and advocates as well as private schools must stay engaged in the debate over “government funded school choice” and its impact on our Education Liberty from the state.

The Constitutional Home Educators Alliance in Oklahoma expressed their concern over ESA vouchers:

What is an ESA? While the EdChoice sect would like you to believe they are savings accounts, ESA's are nothing more than disguised government vouchers because you cannot contribute personal monies to them and you have little or no control over them. A real ESA or Education Savings Account allows private contributions from parents or family members and is not controlled by the government.

ESAs are different than tax credits, which do not increase government regulations. We are currently working on tax credit legislation for 2019 and hope to have built up a great support for this piece of legislation which will help every family with school-age chilren regardless of the method of education they choose.
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After talking with legislators over the past two years, our concerns about the School Choice movement quickly turned from caution to great concern. The thought is that if homeschoolers participate with an ESA program, at the least, they should have to take an End of Instruction exam each year. While participation is voluntary at this point, the influx of new families not familiar with our struggle to remain regulation free, who see nothing negative about taking the government funds and the regulation that accompanies it, could expand the accompanying regulations over into the entire homeschool community. One of the articles below shows just how easily that can happen

Oklahoma has numerous bills introduced each session which will bring ESAs to the state. With the help of HSLDA, we are working to keep home educators excluded from these bill but they still pose a threat to parent-led and directed home education.

Here in Tennessee, we are seeing some strong Conservative advocates that are questioning why Gov. Lee has developed an allegiance to Jeb Bush and Betsy DeVos' ESA voucher plan. Doesn't he understand that many in his base believe that school choice is just a plan to bring all children under the control of the state? 

It is all becoming more and more clear.... 
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As my friend Michael Bohr correctly states…
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“Parents, who are the first and forever educators of their children, are the only people who hold the right to determine “the best interests of their child. Everyone one else has an agenda that puts their best interests over those of the child and they have done so by taking control of our government. Their hope is that we continue to fight the false battles they lay down before us and forget that we, the parents, are the sole authority in determining the education and upbringing of our children.”
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“SCHOOL CHOICE” IS THE MOTHER OF ALL PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS, THAT WILL BE THE DEMISE OF EDUCATION IN AMERICA! 
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What has been written into the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which is the re-authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), is NOT local control. 

Additionally, Education Savings Accounts (ESA)s are an important part of the federal take-over of education. 

Anita Hoge clearly laid it out.....

“Specialized Student Support Services” and “Direct Student Services” mandate equitable services to all private schools, the same as in public schools. This is referred to in the ESEA legislation as “meaningful choice.” 
There are specific lists of providers that must be used, as well as, an ombudsman that will oversee compliance in private schools. This is where the mandate will force teachers to identify students as being At-Risk of not meeting College and Career Ready/Common Core as a disability and perform psychological services paid for by IDEA. These interventions are defined as positive behavior intervention and supports, PBIS, multi-tiered system of supports, MTSS, response to intervention, RTI, and early intervening services, EIS, etc. 

These interventions are happening NOW because of the Flex Waivers. 

By identifying students as At-Risk under Title I, ALL will receive psychological treatment and interventions on your children in private, Catholic, and Christian schools, as well as homeschools (defined as a private school.) THERE WILL BE NO ESCAPE FROM THE COLLEGE AND CAREER READY/COMMON CORE OR THE PSYCHOBABBLE IN THE LEGISLATION. Regular classroom teachers are being trained to identify children who would need services through PBIS, RTI, EIS, & MTSS.

Once EDUCATION SAVING ACCOUNTS (ESA)’s are in full operation, dedicated to each individual student, an individual career pathway meeting College and Career Ready/Common Core soft skills (Grit) interventions and a treatment plan which will be funded by direct student services known as psychobabble. Because these specialized services are defined in the legislation as psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, etc, these services will be mandated. These members of the psych profession will be in a position for MEDICAID TO BE BILLED FOR SPECIALIZED STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES. This is your meaningful CHOICE. Medicaid is on the scene as mental health wrap around services. Your family and child will be assigned a case manager. This initiates an individual family service plan. The federal government has just walked into your front door.

(THIS ORIGINAL PLAN WAS DRAWN UP UNDER SEC BELL UNDER THE REAGAN ADMINISTRATION UNDER THE NAME “KNOWLEDGE REVOLUTION- NETWORK FOR ALL AMERICANS.” Bell has written extensively about parents not being capable to raise their own children.) https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED351771.pdf

Collierville Superintendent, John Aitken recently spoke out about the Governor's ESA voucher plan. “"Public education is an invaluable part of democracy,' he said, that money could be lost to private institutions that are not held to all the same state standards public schools are held to. 'We’re doing the best we can with limited resources.'”

Mr. A has reason to worry. The voucher plan touted by Governor Lee's administration will likely hit high achieving schools such as those in Collierville the hardest. Despite promises from lawmakers such as Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) and House Speaker Glen Casada, also from Williamson County, there will be a devastating impact on successful schools systems including the state's number one district Williamson County and its next door neighbor, Franklin Special School District. 

How do we know that?

USA Today recently exposed what are known as "legislative mills" or "bill-making factories." Special interest groups like Betsy DeVos' American Federation for Children hire a team of professionals to write model legislation. Some of the scriveners actually were hired away from their state jobs as bill writers. Once written, the model legislation is then peddled to state lawmakers usually at high end resorts after a night of heavy drinking and carousing. But it can also take place on a fishing trip to Orange Beach, Alabama. 

The lawmakers bring the pre-written bills back to their home state and push them through their state legislature. And that is exactly what has happened with the ESA voucher plan. Tennessee is on the verge of adopting a law that is written almost exactly like the laws already enacted in other states. So, we have a glimpse into our future...

In Arizona, the ESA voucher came in like our IEA vouchers for students with special needs. One mom described it as a God-send for her two autistic children. But as the voucher plan expanded to included more and more students, her special needs children were pushed out of the program. 

"[S]he realized in retrospect that students with disabilities were used as a Trojan horse to put on the legislative agenda a fringe idea that was part of a much bigger campaign. In the years that followed, 19 other states debated 93 nearly identical proposals based on model legislation. They became law in Florida, Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina and Tennessee.
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"Every single, little expansion, if you look at who's behind it, it is the people that want to get that door kicked open for private religious education," Edwards said. "All we (families with disabled students) are was the way for them to crack open the door.”

So what happens when the voucher law is expanded?

It begins to encroach into the area of high achieving public school districts. In Arizona, more than 75% of the money pulled out of public schools for their ESA program "came from districts with an "A" or "B" rating." "By contrast, only 4% of the money came from school districts rated "D" or lower." And that makes sense. Impoverished families in low achieving school districts have limited means to pay tuition beyond the ESA voucher amount. They have limited access to transportation. And their children may not fit in with the culture of affluent or religious private schools. 

So, why would happy students leave their successful public schools?

​Ask a Momma Bear and we will tell you….

Public school parents will not use ESA vouchers to escape their beloved neighborhood schools but they will use them to escape the heavy handed state regulations that push ridiculous common core curriculum and burdensome testing. These things are hurting our children. And special interest groups looking to profit on education are going to market ESA gift cards as a way to escape common core and abusive testing. 

Every year, we receive messages from unhappy parents about state testing:

Parent #1
My daughter is a sophomore in XXXXXX County, she has been pulled out of her Yearbook class (study hall) because she scored a 21 on the RTI test last year. She was in Honors English and finished with a 89 grade. I am not sure what the deal is but the teacher is giving her grief about this test and is making her go take more tests with classmates that are failing students. I am a little worried because the teacher will not reach out to me and is rude to my child each day. The teacher told my daughter she would send an email out to the staff and they would discuss if she will be eligible to continue Yearbook for she will be testing; she could only get out if she made 3 solid 100s on the tests in a row. My daughter is a SOLID A/B student. So what part of NOT failing does the teacher NOT understand. Also, from what I understand, this is for English and my daughter is NOT even in an English class this semester!! Can we say all screwed up?? Can you please help me see what I am missing with this situation?

Parent#2
The (sort of) short version of our story is that I am a pediatrician. My husband taught Elementary school for 21 years in TN before being a stay at home dad for the last 2 years. We have 4 children, one of whom has Down syndrome. Our child with Down syndrome has too high of an IQ to opt out of regular testing. We had planned as parents to opt her out because we felt it wasn't a good measure and would just re-emphasize her language disability. The state basically told us it was illegal to opt her out. We could have not signed her IEP, but then we would have had to go through due process and we are really happy with our school system and especially the services she is getting at school so we didn't want to go that route. Plus, it would only benefit her and not the thousands of other kids taking this test! We have met with State Senator Jon Lundberg. He basically said he would advocate to get scores uncoupled from grades and teacher evaluations and he was shocked at the number of hours that they will be testing with TNReady. XXXXXX will be testing for 7.7 hours and our middle schooler for 9 hours. My pediatric board exam is 9 hours (that is after 3 years of 50-60 hours a week training! Needless to say we are pretty unhappy with the state. Our next meeting will hopefully be with the president of the state school board. But we wanted to reach out to you, first to share our story and also to get your thoughts and any other people you feel like we should meet with. Thanks!

Parent#3
I am in Sumner County. We moved here for the schools. I thought, we had the best year last year at the new elementary school XXXXXXX in Hendersonville, TN. I found this website while googling various things about standardized based grading. My son is in 2nd grade and this was forced on us without any prior notice. We found out at Meet the Teacher night well into the school year. Are you working on a post about how the SBG is aligned to Common Core (re-branded as Tennessee Standards although they deny this at the SCBOE) We have met for over an hour with his Teacher, then the Principal and finally yesterday with the 2 Instruction Coordinators at the BOE. I feel like yesterday all i did was hand them every logical and valid reason why any person would oppose standardized based grading and the educational atmosphere, so that they can refute them with their canned answers.

But upset parents aren't the only ones who email us. We also receive emails from whistle-blower teachers who give us the inside story about state requirements. Two years ago, one whistle-blower told us about how the new Tennessee Social Studies standards came into being. Now, things are beginning to make sense. Suddenly, it is clear why Governor Lee'e education plan excludes private schools accepting ESA gift cards from teaching or testing on Tennessee Social Studies standards. 

Read what an anonymous teacher told us in 2017:

"I really appreciate your hard work and efforts at protecting students and schools from all of the political assaults that are going on in our state currently. I know that you typically focus on assessment, but I wondered if you are aware of what is currently going on with Tennessee Social Studies Standards?

​A committee of history teachers selected by the state board met this summer, and made fantastic revisions to the standards. The revisions went through a rigorous round of public feedback, and they are now in the hands of a Standards Review Committee that was appointed by Governor Haslam, the out-going Lieutenant Governor Ramsey, and Secretary of State Hargett. 

This committee has a member with a glaring conflict of interest. Bill Carey owns TNhistoryforkids.org, and he makes his living by selling booklets that he writes about Tennessee History to school systems and teachers. The booklets are of poor quality, and they generally sell from $2-$5 a piece. He is serving on the SRC, having been appointed by Ron Ramsey, who is on the TNHistoryforkids.org board of directors. At today's SRC committee meeting, the high school standards were up for revision.

High School U.S. History was intensely revised this summer because there are currently 112 standards and over 600 individual strands of content. This means that teachers literally only have five minutes per strand of content to teach if they never had any interruptions in instruction. Many of these strands of content are TN History trivia items, such as a labor strike in Coal Creek in the late 1800s, and a socialist commune in Monteagle in the 1950s that MLK and Rosa Parks briefly visited before they rose to prominence.

Bill Carey successfully used his political influence, his position as a writer for Tennessee magazine, and a letter from the new Lieutenant Governor McNally to reinsert all these items. He will gain financially from this, and teachers will lose valuable class-time teaching the material because it will be assessed on state assessments. In addition, almost the only place you can find information on Coal Creek in particular, but several of the other trivia items is by purchasing books from Bill Carey. School systems and teachers will waste hundreds of thousands of dollars. Like I said, I know this isn't really what this blog is designed for, but I thought you might want to look into it. The taxpayers, the social studies teachers in 3-12, and especially the students are losing because of one man's financial gain and corruption."

We have put the pieces together. We know that powerful people gained access to our state legislators to burden public schools with outrageous regulations and harmful practices. We know our teachers are leaving in droves. And we know that that the powers-that-be want affluent students to leave too. We know that this is the plan to kill public education. ​

So, Warrior Mom, Dusty Webb, (really? that's her name?) begged Tennessee legislators to pass the IEA voucher bill in 2015. "I need your money," the ringer for Michelle Rhee's Students First (now known as TennesseeCAN) told the House Instruction & Programs Education Committee. Webb wanted Tennessee taxpayers to foot the bill for her son, Josh's private school education at Bachman Academy, a school that offered horseback riding and fishing ponds.

Coincidentally, Bachman Academy with the help of the national School Choice Week group hosted a school-choice event around that same time where Headmaster, Mark Frizzell called public education "a mess" as he urged the state legislature to fund private schools. ​

The IEA voucher bill passed in 2015 thanks to the staged efforts of Warrior Mom, Headmaster Frizzell, and the faux parent organizations. But how much did Josh really benefit from IEA? Only a handful of students received IEA vouchers that first year and less than 150 students statewide receive them now. Parents have to jump through an enormous amount of hoops to apply for the program and there is a lot a bureaucracy to stay enrolled.

So, what about Josh? The IEA program did not go into effect until January, 2017, nearly two years after Warrior Mom begged for her son's tuition voucher. Then, just a few month after IEAs became available, Josh's school, Bachman Academy suddenly closed and sold its property. Yup, the school, that was supposed to save Josh from the horrors of public education, kicked him to the curb within a few months. Student enrollment at Bachman Academy had dwindled down to just 21 pupils while the school continued to employ 30 faculty members according to this news report. And to think, the Headmaster called public schools a mess. Seriously?

Again, what about Josh? Well, if Warrior Mom has an IEA voucher, she can only use it at two schools in Tennessee. That's right, TDOE has only approved two high schools for IEAs: The King's Daughter's School and Silverdale Baptist Academy. You can see the full list of approved schools here. Hint: there are only 5 in the entire state. None in Nashville. None in Knoxville. Only a preschool in Memphis. So much for helping the inner-city children.  

The IEA experiment proves what we already know…..using public school dollars to prop up insolvent private schools is a financial disaster. The private schools close anyway leaving students displaced. And public schools are out their BEP money. And that's exactly what happened with Warrior Mom's IEA voucher.

Our legislators need to hear from us. Unlike out-of-state lobbyists and paid shills who pushed through the IEA voucher bill in 2015, we are real parents, real taxpayers and real voters!!

We need to be heard this time around!! So, gas up the minivans, pack some snacks, and bring the kids, Momma Bears, it's time for us to ROAR!!!

We are taking a road trip to Nashville this week so our voices will be heard at the state Capitol. 

Tuesday, April 9— Rally & Press Conference at Noon

On Tuesday, April 9th, a rally will take place at noon then a press conference will be held at 12:30. All events will be in Legislative Plaza outside the State Capitol. Come and join the fun!! Show your support for public education and let lawmakers know that we oppose the ESA voucher bill (HB939/SB795). We recommend that you carpool if at all possible since parking is hard to find in downtown Nashville. Check out this interactive map for parking lots. 

Hey, we understand. It's hard for Momma Bears to drop everything and go to Nashville. But you can still make your voice heard. How? 

Call the Governor's Office at (615) 741-2001 and tell them that you don't want ESA vouchers in Tennessee. And tell them that you are a Momma Bear!!!  Need a script?  We got you….

Hello, I am ___________________________________ and I live in __________________________________. Please let the Governor know that this momma bear loves public schools and does not support school vouchers. I will urge my state legislators to vote against the ESA voucher bill. Thank you for taking my call. 

Then, e-mail the members of the House Finance, Ways, and Means Sub-Committee and the Senate Education Committee. Tell them to vote NO on HB939/SB795. Explain that Article XI, Section 12 of the Tennessee Constitution requires them to provide for the maintenance and support of a system of free public schools. Let them know that you strongly object to any legislation that will erode support for our public schools especially the ESA voucher bill that takes away public school funding and places that money into the hands of private schools. Remind them that you are a Momma Bear who votes!!

3).  Mix it up:  This step is very important.  Do not skip it.  Legislators, follow the advice of out-of-state lobbyists.  Do exactly what they say.  When they tell you to vote to underfund schools, do it.  When they tell you to vote for vouchers or "education savings accounts," don't question where the funding will come from, who will profit from it, or how they have failed miserably in other states... just shut up and vote yes.  When they tell you to vote to create a charter authorizing board appointed by the Governor that will take away local control, just do it.  These copycat ALEC bills that privatize public education at the expense of their children's public schools are the crucial ingredients to piss parents and teachers off.  ​
​

7). Serve on a silver platter:  Sit back and watch the you know what hit the fan.

Enjoy!  Bon Appetit!  
This recipe was a blue ribbon winner in Arizona, Oklahoma, Colorado, West Virginia, Oakland, and Kentucky.  After following this recipe, the parents and teachers in those states jumped out of the pot like grease out of a hot frying pan!  When they realized that politicians were cooking their children's public school, they were angrier than hornets!  They told their friends, which only added more fuel to the fire.  The results were not pretty for politicians. 

What happened? I followed the recipe exactly!
​First, parents and teachers started calling and emailing their elected officials.  That little indigestion was easy enough to ignore.  But then they started showing up at their offices at the capitol.  Darnit.  Gotta wear blinders and earplugs to work for a bit.   Awwww naaawww, the those pesky teachers and parents had the nerve to work together and all show up on the same day!  Gosh durnit, those teachers were supposed to be in their underfunded classrooms, but they used their sick and personal days.  

Now some might call this action of not going to work (and instead gathering with your co-workers while holding signs at a place where politicians are) a "strike." But everyone knows strikes aren't legal in Tennessee since legislators made TN a "Right to Work" state, which really means "Those teachers better get Right back to Work and stop complaining!"  But you know what?  Other states also have that same law, and that didn't stop those teachers from doing some pretty darn effective "Sick Outs."  Some school districts even had to cancel school because so many teachers were "sick" over their legislators' actions.  Be careful... It is really contagious.  And TN teachers and parents are all catching it.  Must be something in the water in Tennessee...

It is literally boiling over in Tennessee right now:

• Protesting Governor Lee at fancy dinner - Saturday, April 6 hundreds of Knoxville area residents & teachers showed up to protest Governor Bill Lee at a fancy dinner.
• Rally at the Capitol by Tennessee Strong Coalition - A group of volunteer public school supporters created a coalition to stop vouchers and charters.  They are planning action on Tuesday, April 9 at noon.  They welcome any public school supporters to join them.  The more, the merrier!  Click here for more details.
• "Sick" teachers are going to infect the capitol on April 9 - These are healthy teachers who are using their sick or precious few personal days to protest at the capitol and visit legislators before the voucher vote. 
• More "Sick" teachers and parents are expected to visit the capitol on Wednesday, April 10 @ 11am for the House Finance Subcommittee when the Voucher (aka: "Education Savings Accounts") bill is scheduled to be voted upon.
• We hear more actions are coming to the capitol if this goes to a floor fight in the House.

Honestly, we hope you've caught this "sick out" too, by reading this blog.  Follow Momma Bears on Facebook, and kindly "Share the Bear" by sharing our blog.  Infect your friends to make them "sick," too.   Oh, and be sure to politely pester your politicians because persistent parents can often pressure their politicians to do the right thing knowing they need your vote to keep their jobs.

After years of blocking voucher bills in the Tennessee House, we are now seeing the ESA Voucher (Gift Cards for Education) bill barreling its way through the State Legislature at breakneck speed. And we mean breakneck speed… BREAK NECK as in any legislator who stands in the way gets his neck broke… or has his committee chairmanship taken away.  

We first told you about the details of this bill here. Since our last blog, the bill has seen several amendments highlighted below and passed 14-9 in the House Education Committee. See our list of Heroes and Zeroes in the House at the end. 

​But the most significant revelation has been the fiscal note on this bill. Despite the concessions made to reduce possible abuse, the financial impact of this bill on Tennessee's largest school districts will be stunning.

The fiscal note estimates that the LEAs targeted by this bill (Achievement School District, Jackson-Madison County, Knox County, Hamilton County, Metro Nashville Public Schools, and Shelby County Schools) will lose nearly $111,000,000 annually in funding, beginning in year six of the program. Plus, LEAs are conservatively expected to lose another $6.2M annually in federal funding. But the actual amount could go as high as $18M. This will be on top of the LEA's nearly $200K of anticipated expenses incurred from administering TNReady/TCAP tests to voucher students. All that adds to approximately $117,000,000 in lost funding for targeted LEAs.

​With that kind of funding loss to our largest school districts, this bill has the potential to bankrupt Tennessee's system of public education. 

The money lost to vouchers is supposed to be compensated by a state grant for three years to LEAs. But this money goes into a school improvement fund administered by TDOE and will not be disbursed until "after the first three (3) fiscal years in which the program accepts participating students.…" And then, the money may not go into an LEA's general budget. Instead, the grant money must earmarked to support priority schools. 

In addition, to the loss of funding for LEAs, there are even more financial ramifications. The ESA voucher program is expected to cost the State $25,250,000 annually plus a one-time amount of $200K for first year start-up costs. Over $6,000,000 annually is earmarked to outside fund administrator(s). That amount could be even higher as there is a discrepancy between the proposed 49-6-2603(a)(4)(M) which limits the administrative fee to 2% and proposed 49-6-2605(h) which allows the fee to go up to 6%.  

Millions upon millions of dollars are at stake in this proposed legislation. 

Education reformers have had their eye on Tennessee for a long time. For years, they have been trying to undermine our Tennessee schools with bogus school choice legislation. And recently, they carved out a nice little niche in the law books for future school choice legislation.

You can see that effective 2018, our state lawmakers reserved certain sections of the Elementary and Secondary Education statutes for future legislation. And now, we know what kind of special Hell they have been planning for public education. The proposed HB939/SB795 was finally unveiled to the House Education Committee last week. While the bill passed committee, it was not without criticisms so some compromises were made. ​A list of highlighted changes is detailed below. 
​

New Approved Uses for ESA Voucher Money

The latest version of the bill changed some of the things that can be purchased with ESA vouchers. We have listed those changes below with deleted items in red and additional language in blue. 

• Tuition or fees at a participating school
• Textbooks required by a participating school; 
• Tutoring services provided by a tutor or tutoring facility that meets the requirements established by the department and the state board
• REMOVED: Payment for purchase of curriculum, including any supplemental materials or instruments required by the curriculum. As used in this subdivision, "curriculum" means instructional educational materials for an academic course of study
• Fees for transportation to and from a participating school or educational provider paid to a fee-for-service transportation provider
• Tuition and fees for an eligible nonpublic online learning program or course that meets the requirements set by the department and the state board 
• Fees for early postsecondary opportunity courses and examinations required for college admission
• Services provided under a contract with a public school, including individual classes or extracurricular programs 
• Computer hardware or other technological devices approved by the department, if the computer hardware or other technological device is used for the student's educational needs and is purchased through a participating school, private school, or provider
• School uniforms, if required by a participating school
• Tuition and fees for summer education programs and specialized afterschool education programs, which do not include afterschool childcare
• Tuition and fees for at an eligible postsecondary institution
• REMOVED: Contributions to a Tennessee state-sponsored college savings educational investment trust account established pursuant to chapter 7, part 8 of this title and § 529 of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 529), in accordance with state and federal law and all relevant rules, regulations, notices, and interpretations by the United States department of the treasury, including interpretations of the Internal Revenue Code; provided, however, that the contributions and earnings shall not be used for elementary or secondary educational expenses
• Textbooks required by an eligible postsecondary institution
• Educational therapy services provided by therapists that meet the requirements established by the department and the state board
• Fees for the management of the ESA by a private or non-profit financial management organization, as approved by the department. The fees must not exceed two percent (2%) of the funds deposited in a participating student's ESA in a fiscal year.

Homeschool Students Now Excluded 

It would appear that the newly amended bill no longer includes home school or church school kids. The bill specifically provides that the parent must ensure a participating student satisfies the compulsory school attendance requirement provided in TCA 49-6-3001(c)(3) through enrollment in a private school defined in 49-6-3001(c)(3)(A)(iii).

“Private school” means a school accredited by, or a member of, an organization or association approved by the state board of education as an organization accrediting or setting academic requirements in schools, or that has been approved by the state, or is in the future approved by the commissioner in accordance with rules promulgated by the state board of education. It does not include students in home schools or church related schools. 


College Expenses

The bill amendment no longer allows parents to bank unused ESA voucher money into a 529 College Saving program. However, there are new provisions that allow any unused ESA money to be used by a "legacy" student up until the year of their 22nd birthday to pay for college tuition, fees, and textbooks. The bill still hands the ESA gift cards to kids between the ages of 18-22 and makes them responsible for compliance requirements. 


Athletics

Student athletes who play a regulated interscholastic sport are required to sit out a year if they use an ESA voucher to transfer from a public school to a private school. The restriction only applies if the student participated in the sport in the year immediately preceding his transfer and the student has not relocated outside his LEA. 

You can see below House Education Committee members who were the zeroes voting against public schools, heroes voting for public education, and the one dude who sat on the sidelines, not voting at all. 
​

On Wednesday morning at 8:00am sharp, the House Education Committee is supposed to hear the House Voucher Bill (HB939) but you know how those politicians are… For all we know, they just might roll this bill for more time to intimidate the freshmen legislators. 

Now, if you click on that bill link, all you are going to find is a caption bill. Governor Lee has complained that people are misunderstanding his bill and spreading inaccurate information. Well, Bill Lee, or should we call you, Bull Lee, these things happen when information is withheld and the details of a bill are not shared until the last minute. 

We wonder if anyone truly understands the bill including the Governor himself….

According to TNJ on the Hill, Rep. Scott Cepicky (R-Columbia), a member of the House Education Committee scheduled to vote on the bill this week, said in a Facebook post that “because of the risk of fraud, as seen in other states with Educational Savings Accounts, homeschooling is not allowed in this bill.” But the Governor said last week when reporters asked him whether home-schooling would qualify for the ESAs that “If a family is in the district that qualifies, and they are currently in a public school, then they would qualify for an ESA.”

At a Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Lee told the crowd, there's "a lot of misunderstanding about it" and "I encourage you to look deeper."​

Oh, we will...

Basically, an ESA Voucher is different than a normal voucher because instead of funding private schools, ESAs come in the form of gift cards to parents who withdraw their children from public education. Momma Bears has retained a copy of the proposed amendment to the caption bill that has all the nitty-gritty details.

We have also read Knox County School Board member, Jennifer Owen's annotated copy of the ESA voucher amendment. You can read it too by clicking here. And Tennessee Education Reports lists some key facts from the Tennessee School Board Association TSBA in its article here. 

But we are going to break it down for you Momma Bear style. We'll start with a little Q & A then tell you what the impact will be for your kids and your neighborhood schools.

Who is eligible to receive ESA Voucher funds?
Any parent or adult student that

1. lives in a school district where three or more schools are among the bottom 10% of schools                       AND
2. has a child that qualifies for Free or Reduced Lunch under direct certification in 42 USC 1758(b)(4)   OR is a member of a household that annual income for the previous year does not exceed 200% of federal income eligibility guidelines for free and reduced lunch 
3. signs away all their rights to public education

So basically, anyone whose child is taken out of public schools that receives a free/reduced lunch OR anyone who makes an income of less than $78,922 for a family of three; $95,276 for a family of four, $111,630 for a family of five AND lives in one of the following school systems: Knox County, Hamilton County, Metro Nashville, Shelby County, Jackson-Madison County, or state-run Achievement School District.

Does that include illegal aliens? 
Yes… Here is what the Federation for American Immigration Reform (they support the wall) had to say about the bill: Governor Bill Lee campaign ad asked “Why can’t politicians stop illegal immigration?” and answered, “As a businessman, it seems pretty clear to me. It’s about incentives. Driver’s licenses and free tuition for illegal aliens, lawless sanctuary cities. All policies that would make Tennessee a magnet for illegal immigration. I will oppose every one of them as governor.” Despite his promise to dry up incentives attracting illegal aliens to the United States, Governor Lee’s Education Savings Plan will inevitably provide school vouchers for illegal aliens. Vouchers use taxpayer funds and the Plyler holding discourages school systems from asking whether students are illegally in the U.S. Therefore, taxpayer monies can and will be provided for vouchers for illegal aliens.

What can parents buy with their ESA Voucher money?
Parents or adult students may spend ESA Voucher funds on any or all of the following items:

• Tuition or fees at a participating school
• Textbooks required by a participating school; 
• Tutoring services provided by a tutor or tutoring facility that meets the requirements established by the department and the state board
• Payment for purchase of curriculum, including any supplemental materials or instruments required by the curriculum. As used in this subdivision, "curriculum" means instructional educational materials for an academic course of study
• Fees for transportation to and from a participating school or educational provider paid to a fee-for-service transportation provider
• Tuition and fees for an eligible nonpublic online learning program or course that meets the requirements set by the department and the state board 
• Fees for early postsecondary opportunity courses and examinations required for college admission
• Services provided under a contract with a public school, including individual classes or extracurricular programs 
• Computer hardware or other technological devices approved by the department, if the computer hardware or other technological device is used for the student's educational needs
• School uniforms, if required by a participating school
• Tuition and fees for summer education programs and specialized afterschool education programs, which do not include afterschool childcare
• Tuition and fees for eligible postsecondary institution
• Contributions to a Tennessee state-sponsored college savings educational investment trust account established pursuant to chapter 7, part 8 of this title and § 529 of the Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 529), in accordance with state and federal law and all relevant rules, regulations, notices, and interpretations by the United States department of the treasury, including interpretations of the Internal Revenue Code; provided, however, that the contributions and earnings shall not be used for elementary or secondary educational expenses
• Educational therapy services provided by therapists that meet the requirements established by the department and the state board
• Fees for the management of the ESA by a private or non-profit financial management organization, as approved by the department

Can the ESA Voucher be used for homeschool expenses?
The answer is yes. The voucher can be used for tutoring services, cost of curriculum materials, therapy services, and any other costs likely incurred by homeschooling that are listed in the bill as eligible expenses. Sorry to break it to Rep. Cepicky but there are no prohibitions in the bill against homeschooling so it looks like the Governor wins that argument. Not only is there nothing that would exclude homeschooling but in 49-6-2609, the bill specifically mentions home schools. So, there's that…. 

How often do parents/adult students get money?
Quarterly

How much money do parents/adult students get?
Depends on where you live. The ESA amount will be calculated using the BEP formula for your assigned school district. It will include both state and local school funding.

Are participating private schools limited in the amount of tuition they can charge?
No, private schools can charge the full tuition amount and parents or a third party would be responsible for any amount over and above the voucher amount.

Will I be charged income tax on the ESA Voucher payment?
The bill says, "funds received pursuant to this part do not constitute income of a parent or participating student under title 67, chapter 2 or any other state law." But you should know that the State of Tennessee still sends a 1099 form to all recipients of the current IEA voucher program just in case the IRS considers it to be taxable income. So, consult your tax attorney.

Will my child have to take TNReady? 
Probably. The bill states that voucher students in Grades 3-11 will have to take the TCAP assessment in Math and English/Language Arts. It is interesting to note that in private schools, the school just has to administer the state assessment to the voucher kids. No other students in the private school will be required to take the state assessment. For kids not in private school, the parents are the ones responsible for ensuring that their child is administered TCAP testing. 

Can I use an ESA Voucher at a religious school?
Yes, the bill specifically mentions that "neither a participating school nor a provider is required to alter its creed, practices, admissions policies, or curriculum in order to accept participating student…"

Is that Constitutional?
We will let the courts decide that if our state representative are legislating a lawsuit. But the language contemplates that there might be some Constitutional challenges so it provides, "If any of this act is challenged as violating either state or federal constitution, then parents of eligible students or parents of participating students shall be permitted to intervene in the lawsuit for the purpose of defending the act's constitutionality."
​

The Tennessee School Board Association has a detailed list of problems with this bill. It seems to be inherently unfair to public school students often requiring more rigor from them while providing less benefits. Students receiving vouchers can bank any unused monies for postsecondary education in a 529 college savings account while of course, public school students receive no such benefit. Then, what happens if the student decides not to attend college, can mom and dad withdraw the money from the college savings account? Can they keep it? 

So. Many. Questions.
​
TSBA also makes some excellent points about the lack of accountability for ESA Voucher students. Unlike public school students that are required to take TNReady testing in four areas: English/Language Arts, math, social studies, and science; the ESA Voucher kids will only test in ELA and math. ESA Voucher high schoolers are also not required to take the EOC (end of course) tests, those horrible on-line tests that crash and destroy an hour of essay of writing leaving our public school kids exasperated. And every single junior in public high schools is required to take the ACT whether they want to go to college or not. No such ACT test is required of the ESA Voucher kids. 

Let's look how this will likely play out in private schools…. This bill will likely segregate private school students into regular tuition paying students and those with voucher cards. Voucher students will have to take TNReady tests while other students do not, which begs the question, will voucher kids get a teach-to-the-test curriculum while regular students get a rich, well rounded curriculum?

And with all the special requirements of testing for voucher kids, would it be easier for a private school system to create a system within a system for the voucher kids? Something like how the Catholic School System in Memphis operates the Jubilee School System for low income students?

Now, let's look at money— Because that's really what it's all about.

This is going to be an expensive and complicated bill to administer. We won't see the actual fiscal note until the amendment drops tomorrow but we can make some educated guesses that this bill is going to cost a lot of money.

First, a lot of kids could qualify for vouchers under this bill. It includes all the major school districts in Tennessee and the income limits are clearly are in the middle class range. And while there are built-in caps on the number of participating students, there are no safeguards to protect local school systems from the costs of revolving students. 

The bill specifically allows students to exit the voucher program and return to public school at anytime. Every time a kid leaves the program, it opens up a space for a new student. But the child exiting the program's unused benefits rolls back into the program instead of following them back to the public school system. The program will eat up lots of money just by attracting kids to try out vouchers then pushing them out of the program back into public education. 

Second, unlike public schools which only require students to be educated until the age of 18, the ESA Voucher Bill allows for students to be eligible for voucher until the age of 22. And after 18, the voucher gift card is payable directly to the student. Momma Bears know how this is going to turn out. Give a teenager $20 then ask him how he spent it…nevermind, we will let the state figure that out. Good luck finding a teenager that will keep up with receipts to send into the state every quarter. Where's that eye-roll emoji when you need it?

We suspect that language was put in the bill to account for SPED students. But with Shelby County considering a policy of stopping social promotions and holding back second graders who can not read, we could see a flood gate open for students staying in school years well after their 18th birthday. As the Commercial Appeal reports, "It's unclear how many students would be affected [by the new SCS policy], but nearly three-quarters of third-grade students are currently reading below grade level, according to TNReady testing."

Third, some "hidden" costs are built into this bill for things like marketing and program administration. There is a provision for a 6% managerial cost to be deducted from the student's voucher amount. And the bill allows the TDOE to contract with a nonprofit organization to administer some or all of the program. You know what that means…. Schwinn's TFA buddies are going to get a piece of the pie. 

Fourth, this bill creates a student transition fund where the State will award grants to schools districts for the first three fiscal years of the program. The amount of the grant will be "equal to the BEP funds for participating students."  It goes on to say that the student must have been enrolled in the district for one year prior and the BEP funds are only the state part so school districts would still lose out on local funds.

Ahem…. Teachers want Gov. Lee to know that if there is some state money available, the $200 grant for classroom supplies could sure use a boost. Maybe, spend some of that grant money in the classroom instead of for more state bureaucrats, please.

Now let's talk Fraud— Because that is the biggest weakness with these voucher programs. 

"Reports from across the nation show situations in which private-school officials and parents spent voucher money for items unrelated to education. Cards were used at beauty supply stores, sporting good shops and for computer tech support, in addition to trying to withdraw cash, which was not allowed."

While the bill promises that only "approved" schools and providers will be the recipients of ESA Voucher monies, its leaves open the all so important details as to what qualifies schools and providers to be approved. That's asking a lot of constituents to trust appointed officials like Penny Schwinn with her history on unethical contracts to make major decisions on how millions if not, billions of state dollars are spent. 

And the only safeguards built into the bill are a fraud hot line and an anonymous reporting system. That's it, folks. There are NO criminal or civil penalties for abuse. You know what that means??? Schwinn's TFA buddies won't have to go to jail for unethical contracts. And parents can take full advantage of free gift cards from the state. If they get caught not complying with the rules, worst thing that happens is their kid goes back to public schools. 

Well, we could go on for days….

But, you probably know more about the ESA Voucher bill now than your state legislator. So, go and educate them. Remember to reach out personally to your state representatives and as always ask your friends to help.

​#SharetheBear

Well, Well, Well….

While Momma Bears were out on Spring Break, it seems like our new Governor has been up to some shenanigans. Typical. Just typical to try to sneak in some bad bill amendments while we were busy with the kids home from school. 

We are back now and paying attention. So, let's catch you up on what's going on….

Last week, the House Education Committee met and passed a last minute 38 page bill amendment to House Bill 940 without even having time to read it. This amended bill creates an alternate system of charter schools run by a nine member commission hand-picked by the Governor. We have all the ugly detail here. 

​So, how did such a crazy amendment get past committee members when they didn't even get a chance to read it?

​ We are hearing lots of accusations that Governor Lee with the help of Bill Haslam's ed reformy cronies has been bullying lawmakers. And as a result, some representatives changed their vote allowing a bill stuck in committee to get through and get through with a big, ugly, gigantic amendment. So, how did that happen? What could convince these lawmakers to turn on Tennessee's school children? 

There is some BIG money and we mean BIG money from out-of-state lobbyists interested in destroying public education in Tennessee. We saw this in the 2018 elections where Tennessee Federation for Children tried to buy themselves some politicians. Those suckers invested almost a quarter million dollars into various house races last year. They sent out mailers and other campaign materials trying to get certain candidates elected. But as you can see from the list, they lost a lot of races. 

Earlier this week, the State GOP sent out an email asking Republicans statewide to support the Governor's Education Savings Account bill. The email instructs the reader to click a link that takes them to this website that is run by… you guessed it!! None other than Tennessee Federation for Children. The email to state legislators written by Tennessee Federation for Children mentions 78% of Tennesseans support ESA vouchers. What they didn't tell you is that the poll was conducted by telephone in a five day period from January 31 to February 4 by Mason-Dixon polling. Only 625 people participated.

So if the Tennessee Federation for Children can't strong arm politicians into supporting school (faux) choice programs, it now appears that a group called Tennesseans for Student Success is threatening mud-slinging campaigns against any representative who doesn't support the Governor's charter authorizer or voucher bill. Tennessee Education Reports has the details of political attack ads against two GOP lawmakers that voted against the Governor's charter authorizer bill last week. 

Tennesseans for Student Success is a 501(c)(4) who listed their contributions as nearly $2.5M on their 2016 990 Form. They came onto the scene in 2015 to shove Governor Haslam's pro-common core stance down our throats. And they have very close ties to Haslam and Lamar Alexander. According to the Tennessean, Haslam and Alexander's former campaign manager, Jeremy Harrell, opened the doors of Tennesseans for Student Success as its executive director. Their first order of business was to run TV ads supporting Tennessee Standards, our version of Common Core State Standards. 

And they are no stranger to attack ads. In 2016, they ran this ad against Democrat Gloria Johnson from Knoxville. Johnson, who was defeated in 2016, won her seat back in 2018 and ironically, was there to witness some strange goings-on in committee. She posted on Facebook what happened:

And Gloria Johnson is not the only legislator to complain about the tactics of Tennesseans for Student Success. Republican Andy Holt describes the group as a "pro-Common Core group that is funded by multi-millionaire politicians, test makers, book publishers and special interests that make even more millions off of Tennessee tax-payers through the implementation of Common Core." On his website, Holt accuses the group of coming after him for taking a stand for teachers and parents on the issue of TNReady testing. "It's no secret that I'm a conservative Republican. I always have been. However, when I say I'm taking a stand for teachers and parents, I mean it." 

Knox County School Board member, Jennifer Owens said that in addition to the intimidation tactics, constituents are not receiving the correct information about the proposed Voucher/ESA bill from the Governor's office and legislators. She takes you through the ins and outs of the bill and you can read her comments here. 

Stay tuned for Momma Bear's next blog where we tell you all about the ESA bill set for hearing 8:00am Wednesday. Get on the phones and make your legislators understand that money and lobbyists don't vote but Momma Bears sure do!!

Remember our previous blog where we warned you that Tennessee's new Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn would fight for charters and choice?

​Well, that is exactly what is happening now as two horrible bills (HB 940/SB 796 and HB 939/SB 795) make their way through the Tennessee Legislature. We alerted you to the dangers of those bills in a prior blog, but since then, things have gotten much worse. 

The Charter School expansion bill was amended last week and passed through the House Education Committee. With the new amendment, this bill will create a new nine member commission that is hand-picked by the Governor. The commissioners will eventually serve a term of five years. The proposed commission will be powerful. It will be able to approve charter school applications in every county in Tennessee and act as authorizer for its newly approved charter schools. 

Essentially, this nine member commission will be given statutory authority under the proposed law to create an alternate school system of charter schools that is designed to compete against our current public school districts. In the end, we will see public schools run by local school boards declining as charter schools governed by the state appointees are given every opportunity to grow. 

And there's more…

Only five members of this proposed commission are needed to constitute a quorum. So theoretically, a three person majority who knows nothing about your community has the power to make major decisions about your local schools. Three appointees, who have never set foot in your county, can decide who will serve as superintendent, where a school will be located, which company gets the bus contract or the food services contract, etc.

And as charter school proliferate and takeover public education, this commission will effectively replace the decision making power of every popularly elected school board in the state. 

Don't be fooled by the propaganda put out by politicians. They are going to tell you that the commission will only have to power to review the charter school applications that were rejected by local school boards. While that's partly true, the amended bill explicitly allows the proposed commission to act as the authorizer for every charter school application it approves.  

That is a BIG DEAL with many ramifications.

It upsets the power balance between state and local control over our schools. The proposed law will usurp the authority of our locally elected school boards then hands it over to an appointed state commission. This new charter school commission will answer only to the state Board of Education, another appointed body whose members are chosen by the Governor.   

​We have seen this type of power-grab during the Haslam administration when the State targeted underperforming schools for charter school conversion. Most of those schools were located in Shelby County with a few in Nashville and Chattanooga. But now, the power-grab will be statewide and with no restraints, prompting Rep. Antonio Parkinson from Memphis to tell his colleagues on the House Education Committee, "This opens up a nice little floodgate for the rest of y’all to see what we’ve been screaming bloody murder about. Y’all get a chance to feel what that feels like, and see what we’ve been screaming about the last few years.”

Under the proposed legislation, the commission will essentially act as the school board for charter schools. Every time, a local school board rejects a charter school application, the proposed commission will have the ability to approve the rejected application. Then, the commission will act as authorizer which gives it the same autonomy and authority under the law as local school boards.
​
In Tennessee, elected school boards have certain duties including policy making, employing a director of schools, procuring goods and services, as well as approving a budget. Elected school boards act as a representative of their communities in deciding these important matters. And their decisions must be made in an open meeting after giving notice to the public. 

However, under the proposed bill, all the powers of local school boards are explicitly given to this appointed commission. 

The commission will have the power to set policies and procedures for school operations as well as procure goods and services including but not limited to "personal, professional, consulting, and social services." That's a lot of money that gets to be spent by this proposed commission whose only oversight comes from the state Board of Education. And if they follow Penny Schwinn's history of no-bid contracts benefitting her TFA buddies, we are in big trouble. 

The appointed nine member commission will also have the authority to employ a director/superintendent of schools and that director will be answerable only to the commission. In a interesting twist, the bill requires commission members to have collective "experience and expertise in charter schools or charter school authorizing, public and nonprofit governance, finance, law, and school or school district leadership."

That is interesting because ordinarily, elected school boards only have to be adults with a high school diploma. It's also interesting because no such expertise is required of the director of schools who is charged of actually running the district and has the same duties and powers legally granted to all other directors of schools including the sole authority to hire, appoint, terminate, control personnel, etc. In addition to creating a staff, a school director's big responsibility is to develop a budget and make spending recommendations.
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All in all, this bill puts a lot spending power in the hands of unelected people who serve at the will of the Governor. 

Speaking of spending power, let's talk money…. Our Momma Bears bloggers have told you time and time again, if you want to know what's going on, all you need to do is follow the money trail. 

With a new charter-friendly commission in place, you can bet Tennessee will be attracting some big name charter school chains from all over the nation. We all know, when charter school chains smell money, they come running.

And we bet we will be seeing one charter school chain, in particular. 

IDEA based out of Texas touts itself to be "the fastest growing network of tuition free PreK-12 public charter schools in the United States" and it has big plans for expansion.

Oh, and guess who just happens to be the vice president of the fastest growing charter school chain in the country?

Surprise, Surprise...

It is none other than Paul Schwinn, the husband of Tennessee's Education Commissioner, Penny Schwinn. And according to Linkin, he is still employed by the Texas charter school chain despite his family's recent move to Tennessee. And we know, the Schwinns have a history of working together without regard to conflicts of interest. 

"Last Spring, the Delaware DOE hired Mrs. Penny Schwinn, a charter school leader from Sacramento, as the Chief Accountability and Performance Officer.  Months later, Mr. Paul Schwinn, her husband, has been hired as the Director of Leadership Development for the Delaware Leadership Project, which is funded by the Delaware DOE, Rodel and Vision.  I know the Delaware DOE wants family involvement, but this is a clear conflict of interest.  The wheels on the Schwinn go round and round…​" 

IDEA makes a lot of big claims about success. 

But IDEA is just another snake oil selling charter school that promises big success but delivers false promises. 

1)      IDEA Charter schools do not enroll “underserved” students regardless of the measure used to identify “underserved.” Specifically, as compared to schools in the same market, IDEA schools enroll lower percentages of economically disadvantaged students, special education students, bilingual education students, students requiring modifications or accommodations on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS), and students scoring below average on the TAKS mathematics or TAKS readings tests.
2)      IDEA Charter schools send 100% of graduates to post-secondary institutions of higher education only if the actual number of graduates is the group of students examined. If we consider the number of students starting in the 9th grade as the cohort of students of interest, then the percentage of IDEA students entering post-secondary institutions of higher education is, at best, around 65% for the cohort of 9th grader students in 2009.
3)      One reason why IDEA secondary schools outperform high schools in the same area is because IDEA Charter schools lose a greater proportion of lower performing students than higher performing students. This disproportionate disappearance rate of students would increase overall TAKS scores at the school and district levels even if the remaining students made no increase in achievement
While further study of additional cohorts is needed, this preliminary study strongly suggests that claims of academic superiority and helping the “underserved” students in the Rio Grande Valley are simply false or misleading. More importantly, this study calls into serious question the claim that IDEA Charter schools have the background, experience, and track-record necessary to educate all types of students in East Austin. This study suggests that IDEA Charter schools rely in part on the “creaming/skimming” of students and the student disappearance of lower performing students to achieve their success. 
​

Time to call those politicians in office and set them straight on selling off our public schools. And we mean call them. Forget the email campaign, make them explain to you why they are they are taking away funding and local control over our schools!!

Unfortunately, the really bad Voucher bill (aka: "Education Savings Account") passed out of the Education subcommittee last week.  It is scheduled to be heard this WEDNESDAY.  This is bad news, folks.  This bill would devastate our already underfunded public schools.  It most certainly would not help the poor, minority students it is claiming to help.  In fact, it would harm them and their schools even more.  

Our legislators are being repeatedly bombarded with lobbyists paid for with out-of-state money.  It is difficult to ignore generous campaign contributions from those who are eager to get their greedy hands on public tax dollars by privatizing public education.  Not only that, the new Governor is really pressuring the newer legislators to support his bills.  These legislators need to hear from the people who elected them!  Would you please take a few minutes to contact the legislators below, especially if you are in their district?  Your voice CAN make a difference!  The message below has what you need to know and do...

The following is re-posted from Pastors for TN Children:

Friends, we need your help!

A voucher bill (HB939/ SB795) will be heard at 8 am this Wednesday, March 27th, in the full House Education Committee, and this is our best chance to stop vouchers in Tennessee. Vouchers will destroy public education in our fair state!

Please contact the legislators who will vote on the bill. Also, for those who can attend, we need as many pastors and supporters as possible to be there for the vote on Wednesday. The vote will be held in House Hearing Room 1 of the Cordell Hull Building.

Here is information on the bill: HB 939/SB 795 would create a new form of vouchers in Tennessee called Education Savings Accounts (ESAs). ESAs have been described as “vouchers on steroids.” This proposed legislation is targeted not toward “children trapped in failing schools,” but toward wealthier families, with virtually no regulation or public accountability. Vouchers would be available in any district containing at least three schools in the bottom 10% of schools in the state, but vouchers would be made available to ALL students in that district, including those enrolled in high-performing schools and private schools. Families making up to around $100,000 per year would be eligible for the voucher, and private schools would not be required to accept the voucher as payment in full. This means that more affluent families with children already enrolled in private schools could use the voucher to help offset their current payments for private school. It will also allow students to cross county lines with their vouchers, which could wreak havoc on many rural school districts. Local school districts will have to pay for the bulk of these vouchers. (For example, in Davidson County, the state would pay only about $3,600 toward the cost of the voucher, while Davidson County would be required to pay about $8,100 per voucher.) On top of this, the state would withhold a 6% management fee for the voucher program. The governor has claimed that a limited amount of funding will be available to school districts to help offset the cost of the vouchers for three years, but this money could be revoked at any time- and worse, vouchers will create ongoing recurring costs that school districts will be unable to cover for an indefinite period of time.

Once the door to vouchers has been opened, it cannot be shut. Under this legislation, vouchers would become an entitlement for upper middle class private school parents and homeschool parents.

Below is a list of the legislators who will vote on the bill:
Thank you for your help!

Mark White, Chair 615-741-4415
rep.mark.white@capitol.tn.gov

Kirk Haston, Vice Chair 615-741-0750 
rep.kirk.haston@capitol.tn.gov

Debra Moody 615-741-3774
rep.debra.moody@capitol.tn.gov

Charlie Baum 615-741-6849
rep.charlie.baum@capitol.tn.gov

David Byrd 615-741-2190
rep.david.byrd@capitol.tn.gov

Scott Cepicky 615-741-3005
rep.scott.cepicky@capitol.tn.gov

Mark Cochran 615-741-1725
rep.mark.cochran@capitol.tn.gov

Jim Coley 615-741-8201
rep.jim.coley@capitol.tn.gov

John DeBerry, Jr. 615-741-2239
rep.john.deberry@capitol.tn.gov

Vincent Dixie 615-741-1997
rep.vincent.dixie@capitol.tn.gov

Jason Hodges 615-741-2043
rep.jason.hodges@capitol.tn.gov

Chris Hurt 615-741-2134
rep.chris.hurt@capitol.tn.gov

Tom Leatherwood 615-741-7084
rep.tom.leatherwood@capitol.tn.gov

Bill Dunn 615-741-1721
rep.bill.dunn@capitol.tn.gov

Harold Love, Jr. 615-741-3831
rep.harold.love@capitol.tn.gov

Antonio Parkinson 615-741-4575
rep.antonio.parkinson@capitol.tn.gov

John Ragan 615-741-4400
rep.john.ragan@capitol.tn.gov

Iris Rudder 615-741-8695
rep.iris.rudder@capitol.tn.gov

Jerry Sexton 615-741-2534
rep.jerry.sexton@capitol.tn.gov

Kevin Vaughan 615-741-1866
rep.kevin.vaughan@capitol.tn.gov

Terri Lynn Weaver 615-741-2192
rep.terri.lynn.weaver@capitol.tn.gov

Ryan Williams 615-741-1875
rep.ryan.williams@capitol.tn.gov
​
John Mark Windle 716-741-1260
rep.john.windle@capitol.tn.gov