We are very happy to report that after a considerable roller coaster ride, the 2013 Tennessee legislation session closed without the passage of the two bills that were the main focus for our group, a voucher program and a state charter authorizer. This is wonderful news for Tennessee students and communities.
Your willingness to speak up and contact your legislators had a big impact on the progression of these bills and their ultimate failure. Every call you made and email you sent expressing your desire to maintain local control and public funding for public schools made a difference. Thank you for joining us in our commitment to strong community schools.
Our heartfelt thanks go out to all the legislators that stood with us and opposed these two bills with conviction. We will continue to work with legislators and everyone involved to foster and promote quality schools. We intend to keep this blog and our Facebook page up and running to share news and discussion of education issues and legislation in the state of Tennessee. We invite you to stay tuned, keep sharing your input, and move forward with us toward the goal of improving education for every student in Tennessee!
Tomorrow, Tuesday April 9, the House Finance Committee will consider the state charter authorizer bill, HB702. The bill creates a new unelected panel with authority to overrule local boards of education regarding what schools to open and fund. Its decisions would mandate local tax dollars to fund these schools. There is no limit on the number of schools or dollars that the panel could obligate a community to fund out of its public schools budget. The negative impact of unchecked and unplanned charter school growth on a community’s schools budget and district schools is not hypothetical. It is playing out across the country, and Tennessee need not make these same mistakes.
In a major change from current law, HB702 allows your local elected school board NO oversight over the charter schools the panel approves. Charter school applicants would not have to worry about accountability to local officials if they believe a more lenient state panel could approve and oversee them, resulting in “venue shopping,” approval of lower quality schools, and less accountability. Although the bill has been amended to apply to only 5 counties currently (Knox, Hamilton, Davidson, Shelby, and Hardeman) the advocates for this power grab will not stop with these five counties. This bill would open a door that special interests would be back again and again to expand, with a goal of being able to override local citizen control in every community across the state. And with charter companies now trying to push through FOR PROFIT charter schools in Tennessee, we must pay close attention to the vision these folks have for our public schools and the direction in which they are pushing our state.
The House Finance Committee meeting is one of the last big hurdles for HB702. Please speak up now to oppose this bill. If you are able to attend the committee meeting at 10 am on Tuesday, legislative plaza room 16, please join us. If possible, wear red. Parking is sometimes available at meters on the street, and also at a large pay parking garage at Deaderick and 3rd Avenue. Please email your own legislators, as well as the members of the House and Senate Finance Committees TODAY! Committee member email addresses are below, so you can cut and paste into one email.
Thanks for all your efforts to protect our public schools and students this year. We were all thrilled when Gov. Haslam withdrew his voucher proposal, and now is the time to step up our efforts.
Unfortunately, HB702/SB830 continues its winding path through the legislature. Last week, the House finance subcommittee discussed a further amendment which would apply the state-appointed charter authorizer panel to just 5 counties – Knox, Hamilton, Hardeman, Davidson, and Shelby. After legislators raised concerns about “checkerboard legislation” and turning some counties into “guinea pigs,” they adjourned. This amendment will presumably be considered by the subcommittee again this Wednesday. A Nashville reporter tweeted that after the meeting, there was a “pow-wow” and “lots of whispering” between the bill sponsor and the head of the Tennessee Charter Schools Association. Here is the latest:
The Metro Nashville Public Schools board has called a special meeting Monday (April 1st) at 3:30 p.m. to discuss the financial impact of this bill on MNPS schools and taxpayers. The board chair invited State Education Commissioner Huffman, who has objected to any financial protections for districts being placed in the bill, to attend the meeting. Huffman has refused to attend and discuss his position or the local board’s concerns about the pending legislation.
Remember, this bill still has hurdles it must clear before it could become law, and we still need to be vocal in opposing it! PLEASE call your legislators and tell them to vote against this unfunded mandate that could create huge deficits for public school districts. A personal email has a huge impact at this stage when you voice your opposition to this bill and your support for local control and local decisions for schools in your community. Please email the members of the House Finance subcommittee and ask them to oppose HB702. Email addresses for you to cut and paste:
The Senate Education Committee will be meeting this Wednesday at 3:30 PM (revised date/time posted 3/18/13 at 12:06 PM) and will be reviewing Senator Delores Gresham’s expanded voucher amendment that she is attempting to link to a Driver’s Education bill (SB1358). Her amendment will make vouchers available to many more children in Tennessee, including those who are not in failing schools and do not receive free and reduced lunch. The limited voucher bill endorsed by Governor Haslam is also going to be heard at this meeting (SB196).
If you are the constituent of one of these representatives, please let him/her know you are opposed to public funds being given to unaccountable, private schools/companies. Private schools that accept vouchers are not required to provide transportation, special education services, or English Language support. Many of these schools also have admission policies that exclude children who have not met specific academic goals, which means that many children in “failing” schools will not be able to get into private, voucher schools. This bill will, therefore, likely serve children who are already doing well academically and don’t necessarily “need” to go to a voucher school in the first place. Please see the below list for the members of the Senate Education Committee and take 5 minutes to contact your senator. If you do not know who your senator is, go to http://www.capitol.tn.gov/legislators/ and enter your address in the “Find My Legislator” text boxes at the top of the page. Thank you for your support of public education!
Fiscal Impact Of Charter School Authorizer HB702 Reviewed Wednesday
The House Finance, Ways, & Means subcommittee will be meeting this Wednesday at 10:30 AM (revised time posted at 3-18-13 – 11:23 am) to discuss the State Charter Authorizer Bill (HB702). The members of the full committee are as follows: Charles Sargent, David Alexander, Joe Armstrong, Kevin Brooks, Kent Calfee, Mike Carter, Barbara Cooper, Lois DeBerry, Craig Fitzhugh, Steve Hall, Michael Harrison, David Hawk, Matthew Hill, Curtis Johnson, Gerald McCormick, Steve McDaniel, Larry Miller, Gary Odom, Dennis Roach, Johnny Shaw. If you are the constituent of one of these representatives, please call or email them and let them know you are opposed to the State Charter Authorizer because of the financial strain it could likely place on counties across the state. (We know that you are likely opposed to it for other reasons, but this committee focuses on finances.) The bill in its current form will affect every county in Tennessee and will allow the state to authorize an unlimited number of charters irregardless of the financial status of a district. This could jeopardize funding for all the schools in a district and result in a decrease in services, school closings and/or tax increases.
You can find the contact information for these legislators at the following link: http://www.capitol.tn.gov/house/members/. If you are not sure who your representative is, you can go to this same link and enter your address at the top of the page in the Find Your Legislator text boxes. Please take 5 minutes to place a call or send an email–we need to make our voices heard! Thank you!
CALL TO ACTION:Sign the NEW petition on the amended state-wide authorizer bill that will affect all counties in Tennessee. Respect Local Control: Stop the State Charter School Authorizer HB702/SB830.
When you sign the petition you will be urging opposition of the Bill HB 702/SB830, which would allow a newly appointed panel to override our locally elected school boards’ decisions regarding charter schools and then cut local boards of education out of the oversight of those schools. A state-level charter authorizer would increase the reach of state government into local affairs and create additional bureaucracy. We want decisions about opening and funding schools in our district to be made by our local officials, elected by our local citizens, who understand the needs of our unique communities. Please respect the rights of local voters to shape the direction of their community’s schools and vote NO on HB 702/SB830.
By signing this you can automatically send an email to the entire Tennessee Legislature and ask them respectfully to vote no.
This bill has NO cap on how many charters the state may approve and districts will be responsible for funding all charter schools approved by the appointed panel. Sign the petition and ask your legislators to respect local control and vote no on the authorizer panel.
Thank you for supporting Tennessee Public Schools.
UPDATED 5pm cst House Education Committee passed a State Charter Panel Bill. It will be made up of 9 appointed people (3 from Governor, 3 from Speaker of House and 3 from speaker of Senate). They will have final approval on Charter school appeals. The state will maintain ALL control over the charter it approves but your district (LEA) will have to fund it. The LEA will NOT be able to close the school if it is failing nor will they be able to hold it accountable if it is not providing adequate services to Special Education students or English Language Learners (ELL). There is NO cap on how many charters the state may approve and districts will be responsible for funding all charter schools approved by the appointed panel. Citizens will NOT be able to hold the panel accountable if the financial burden of charter schools forces increases in taxes. The State will be writing checks that districts state wide will be paying for. Tell the members of the House that YOUR city is not going to fund THEIR charter school.
STATEWIDE PARENTS GROUP SAYS VOTE FOR VOUCHERS AND STATE AUTHORIZER IS A VOTE FOR LOCAL PROPERTY TAX INCREASE
Experience locally and nationally show additional taxes will be needed to support new expanded “choices” – Calls for local referendum for voucher program.
Nashville –Standing Together 4 Strong Community Schools, a group of Tennessee parents who oppose proposals for a voucher program to pay for private school tuition and a proposal to create a state authorizer for charter schools, warned legislators today that a vote for these proposals is a vote for local property tax increases.
“Today we learned that charter schools will cost Metro taxpayers $15 million next year. The creation of a second entity with the authority to approve charter schools could cause this figure to increase at an uncontrollable rate, and this should be alarming to taxpayers in Davidson County whose property taxes were just raised last year,” said Chelle Baldwin a spokesperson for the group.
“This legislation amounts to taxation without representation. It removes control of our schools from locally elected officials and places it in the hands of an appointed board at the state level. Under this bill, a voter in Memphis will have as much say about what schools open in Green Hills as a voter here in Nashville. The state will be able to open as many new schools as it wishes while Nashville taxpayers pay for them. Nashvillians will have absolutely no say-so about the performance of the state schools that we are funding and no ability to close them. At the very least, we need assurances that state-opened schools don’t drive off us off the fiscal cliff. The cost of operating charter schools is quite high, and this could be the king of unfunded mandates,” said Metro Nashville School Board member Amy Frogge, who is also a member of Standing Together 4 Strong Community Schools.
Standing Together 4 Strong Community Schools also pointed out that that recent attempts to expand Wisconsin’s twenty-three year old voucher program has stalled over concerns about increased local property taxes to pay for vouchers. The Republican President of the Wisconsin Senate has demanded that any expansion of their state’s voucher program include a requirement for a local referendum approving the use of local public tax dollars going to private schools. Last year“We would suggest that same requirement for local taxpayers’ approval for any voucher program in Tennessee. In Nashville, about two-thirds of the total voucher payment would come from local taxpayers. Shelby County taxpayers would pay about half of the total amount. We need a say in how our public tax dollars are spent,” said Baldwin.
See these articles about property taxes and Wisconsin’s voucher program:
A State Appointed Panel could be in a position to authorize hundreds of charters across all of TN if you don’t voice your opposition NOW! Amazingly, those backing this bill refuse to place any sort of fiscal limit on it. This legislation, as it stands, could have disastrous effects on our city and schools!
Please call Speaker Harwell’s office to express your opposition. (615)741-0709
Tomorrow, Tuesday, the House Education Committee could vote on the State Charter Authorizer bill. It is amended as an appointed panel to approve all charter appeals from ANY CITY STATE-WIDE. Your cities fund a majority of the cost of educating a student. Nashville alone pays 2/3rd of the cost for charter schools. A state authorizer could approve a school your city does not want AND maintain control of that school but not fully fund it. Elected school boards will have NO control over charters they are forced to fund. Call Speaker Beth Harwell’s office Tuesday morning and tell her NO State Authorizer and NO to “State Charter Panel” bill House Ammendment 702! (615) 741-0709
