Tennessee Education Advocates BEGGING for Cash

 From Tennessee Education Report: 

While Tennessee lawmakers are expressing concern over investing too much money in schools, one educator is practically begging Gov. Bill Lee to just throw wads of cash at teachers.

Former teacher Gabe Hart has a column in Tennessee Lookout that expresses his frustration at the current situation as it relates to teacher pay in Tennessee.

Here’s a bit of what he has to say relative to teacher salaries:

In December, in an attempt to recruit more corrections officers, Lee gave new officers a 37% raise which put the starting salary for a TDOC officer at $44,500.  First year teachers in Metro Nashville Public Schools will make $46,000 during their first year, and MNPS is one of the highest paying districts in the state.  First year teachers in Madison County make $38,000. The average first year teacher makes around $40,000 — almost $5,000 less than a first year corrections officer.  

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Cause and Effect

It seems State Rep. William Lamberth could use a lesson in "Cause and Effect." In a recent column in the Hendersonville Standard, he states:

Because we have invested over $1.5 billion in K-12 education, and because we have made the largest combined investment in teacher salaries than at any point in state history over the past eight years, Tennessee students were recently named among the fastest improving in the entire nation across math, reading, and science. 

Lamberth neglects to point out that the "fastest-improving" designation was given to Tennessee all the way back in 2013. He further fails to mention that since then, scores have "regressed to the mean," making the 2013 results an anomaly.

No matter how you view the 2013 national testing results, it's not possible for investments made AFTER 2013 to impact our state's 2013 designation.

Lamberth also brags about what he calls the state's big investment in education. Here's another fact check:

A state organization tasked with providing research on the operations of state and local government has released a report suggesting Tennessee’s school funding formula, the BEP, needs at least $1.7 billion to adequately fund public education in the state. TACIR — The Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations — released “K-12 Education Funding and Services.”

So, despite Lamberth's crowing about investing in schools, the reality -- as told by a bipartisan state commission - is that Tennessee is FAR behind where we need to be in school funding. It seems Majority Leader Lamberth should be using his legislative influence to actually make an impact instead of repeating talking points.

On a related note, the state's own Department of Education indicates Tennessee is underfunding teaching positions by at least 9000 teachers. Filling that gap would cost just shy of $500 million.

Sumner County Schools and all of Tennessee is no doubt waiting on Lamberth to push for the systemic change necessary to truly invest in public education.

Oh, and Lamberth fails to mention that he was a leader in the effort to pass school vouchers -- using taxpayer money to fund largely unaccountable private schools. The plan is estimated to cost more than $300 million when fully implemented. Similar plans have caused local property tax increases in states like Indiana.

Investing in our schools SHOULD be a top priority. Our state does have available resources to make up the gap in funding. But, when elected officials paint a rosy picture, they gloss over a disturbing reality: Tennessee public schools need real, sustained investment.


For more on news impacting Hendersonville and Sumner County, follow @HvilleNews 

Sumner County Commission Votes for Schools Budget

The Sumner County Commission adopted the proposed budget for Sumner County Schools for the 2017-18 school year. The budget includes 1.5% raises for teachers and most employees as well as a scale adjustment for bus drivers and an increase in pay for substitute teachers.

A solid majority of the County Commission voted in favor of the budget, while four Commissioners, including Hendersonville's Merrol Hyde, voted against. The other Commissioners voting against funding the school system's budget were Jim Vaughn, Moe Taylor, and Mike Akins.

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