Americans for Prosperity activists outside a committee room during the 2023 voucher debate. The group has launched a statewide ad supporting a new effort. (Photo: John Partipilo)
Never one to get ahead of itself, the lobbying group Americans for Prosperity announced the start of a statewide ad campaign in which Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn and Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs back Gov. Bill Lee’s private-school voucher campaign.
(Incidentally, Lee traveled to the funeral for former President Jimmy Carter and was to visit President-elect Trump at Mar-a-Lago Thursday evening, presumably for marching orders. Readers might remember Trump called Lee a RINO, Republican in name only, during last year’s election.)
In the radio spot, Blackburn and Jacobs urge lawmakers to stand with conservatives and vote for parents’ rights to send their children to the school of their choice. We’re not certain where the right to private-school vouchers is enumerated in the Constitution, but those tiny details can wait for another day.
A press release from the group says the ad will run on stations across Tennessee “leading up to an expected special session” at the end of January. While the rest of Tennessee speculates on whether the governor will call the special session, AFP just couldn’t wait to make the announcement, which makes one wonder who’s running this joint.
The governor is close to making the call, but his biggest problem appears to be lining up the votes for his “legacy” education initiative. It wouldn’t be wise to call a session on private-school vouchers without 50 votes in the house and 17 in the Senate, which are hard to master.
But with Blackburn and Jacobs entering the fray, Lee could pick up a bounce — or threat — to persuade straddling lawmakers.
Jacobs, a former wrestler called Kane, has been considered a leading gubernatorial candidate to replace Lee for more than a year. He’s made no commitment, but he’s bound to run for something.
As the gubernatorial campaign ramps up in 2025, Blackburn could become a wild card candidate, potentially pitting her against Republican U.S. Rep. John Rose, the only person to make overtures toward the race.
A Blackburn candidacy would be a joyous occasion.
Next thing you know, all Chinese-made products, including fine China, will disappear from store shelves before she goes from store to store smashing plates to smithereens. (She did this in her U.S. Senate campaign, so why should we think things will change?)
And what about all those court settlements the state is making with opioid sellers? They might not be possible without the 2016 legislation Blackburn co-sponsored that hamstrung the feds’ ability to block suspicious opioid shipments. Some 4,300 Tennesseans had to die from opioid abuse in 2014 before the state woke up.
Blackburn drew criticism for pushing the bill as opioid abuse in Tennessee spiked, all the while receiving $96,000 in contributions from the pharmaceutical industry. She claimed she was trying to make sure people could get pain relief while preventing illegal drug use but said if the law had unintended consequences, she would change it.
What does this have to do with private-school vouchers? Not a ton, but everything is connected.
Gov. Lee, if he ever calls a special session, plans to couple private-school vouchers with relief funding for the eight East Tennessee counties that suffered devastation last year from Hurricane Helene.
The governor irritated a number of lawmakers late last year because he was bound and determined to move forward with the voucher plan, which will cost hundreds of millions every year, while searchers were still sifting through rubble to find victims. Some lawmakers wanted him to call a special session immediately to approve relief funds, but instead he took money from TennCare to help the hard-hit region.
Now that he’s talking about combining flood relief with vouchers, some are considering it a bit of a bribe.
But isn’t that the way things work on Capitol Hill? One way or another, tens of millions of dollars will worm their way into the vote boards.
All of this to usher in the demise of public education, once the great equalizer in Tennessee until lawmakers put their hands on it.
“Abe said, ‘Where do you want this killing done?/ God said ‘Out on Highway 61.’” Highway 61 Revisited – Bob Dylan (A bonus lyric in recognition of the movie, “A Complete Unknown.”)
Just a little testy
Gov. Lee got aggravated this week with a TV reporter who had the temerity to ask – over a phone held by the station’s photographer – why he’s so hyped about private-school vouchers since test scores for students in the state’s education savings account program, which is similar to the new voucher plan, aren’t matching those of public school students.
“I think the statistics that you report are a true mischaracterization of the facts,” Lee said in a press conference.
The governor argued – and it’s not often you see the state’s top elected official argue with a cell phone – that comparing Shelby County inner-city students in the ESA program to a suburban district around Nashville is a “misrepresentation of the true facts.”
Lee said the students using Tennessee’s vouchers to attend private schools really “exceed” their peers. The “greater truth,” he said, is that 99% of parents are satisfied with the program.
He refused to take another question from the reporter. (Take heart, you’re not alone.)
In case readers are wondering, here are the numbers (tell me when your head hurts because nobody’s lighting the academic world on fire): Shelby County ESA students: 25.1% proficient in English language arts, Shelby public schools: 23.7% proficient. Both groups scored 18.7% proficient in math.
Davidson County ESA students 28.8% proficient in English language arts, Davidson County public schools 30.5% proficient. Davidson ESA students 15.7% proficient in math, Davidson public school students 26.4% proficient in math.
Hamilton County ESA students 32.2% proficient in English language arts, Hamilton County public schools students 39% proficient. Hamilton ESA students 18.1% proficient in math, Hamilton public schools students 36.6% proficient in math.
At this point, public school students appear to have an edge. Sometimes the truth can be painful. But that doesn’t justify calling someone a liar for reporting it.
The bigger problem, though, is that we sold our souls for standardized test scores, and as long as those are the most important thing in K-12 education, everyone is going to be miserable.
“Get back Loretta”
Federal officials sent a letter to Gov. Lee this week encouraging him to take a deeper look at the unequal funding over the decades between the state’s land grant institutions, the University of Tennessee and Tennessee State University. Last year, they notified the state that TSU had been shorted by $2.1 billion over the last 30 years.
Similarly, a state committee chaired by Rep. Harold Love, a Nashville Democrat and TSU graduate, reported four years ago that TSU had received up to $545 million less than it should have over the last 80-plus years. (That was from a different funding mechanism than the federal report.)
Lee responded by pushing $200 million for TSU improvements through the legislature.
Yet the leaders of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Education urged Lee to form a bipartisan committee to study historical funding for the universities.
Report: State cost TSU tens of millions in land grant funding
“We are committed to working with you to make sure all institutions receive the support and resources that will allow them to develop students who are prepared to contribute to the economic and social fabric of our nation,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack said in a joint letter.
Asked about the letter, Lee said TSU suffered from “terrific mismanagement of funds” and needs to get on “solid footing.”
TSU received a large infusion to make payroll last fall, and Lee said he is committed to making sure students receive the education, funding and support they need.
“It’s a journey,” he said.
This is where Lee and I agree. At this rate it will take an eternity to reach $2.1 billion.
Ever optimistic, Rep. Love said he is happy to see the White House providing more information to governors about land grant funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
“I was glad that the work that was done on the committee I chaired in 2021 has been highlighted as a possible example to follow when considering pathways to address funding differences,” Love said.
Denying inequity between UT and TSU is hard, but the letter is a day late and dollar short.
Vilsack and Cardona will be gone as soon as President-elect Donald Trump takes office, and the U.S. Department of Education could vanish too, a move Lee supports. It wouldn’t be surprising to see their letter wind up in Mount Trashmore (Rutherford County’s landfill).
Whose pork?
The Beacon Center came out with its annual “pork report” highlighting wasteful government spending in Tennessee.
The Memphis Area Transit Authority’s spree for office space, furnishings and a Grizzlies suite while operating at a $60 million deficit topped the list. It was followed by the state and local funding for a $2.3 billion Titans stadium, then a secret deal for a Lebanon restaurant.
The Beacon poll also found 67% of respondents strongly or somewhat support the governor’s private-school voucher plan, which will give students $7,075 to enroll in private schools. The line of questioning in the poll is dubious, though, and leaves out the fact this will cost hundreds of millions of dollars. No one knows how much yet.
If the governor’s plan isn’t a barrel of pork for private schools and rich folks, then “show me to the mosh pit.”
“The only thing I knew how to do was to keep on keeping on/ Like a bird that flew.” *
* “Tangled up in Blue,” Bob Dylan
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