Issues like inflation and abortion may on the top of the voters’ minds nationwide, but there’s evidence education will also be key for voters in Tennessee next month.
29.5 percent of respondents in a new poll of East Tennessee residents cited education and children as the topic they want elected leaders to focus on. That’s 6 points higher than the 23.2 percent who listed price increases and inflation in the poll.
If the rest of the state is as focused on education as those polled, voters will have plenty to consider when deciding the Governor’s race between Governor Bill Lee and Democrat Dr. Jason Martin.
Governor Lee made improving education one of the top goals of his first term by changing the way public schools are funded and providing new support for students dealing with learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The reason we place so much focus on education is because students should be prepared for productive lives, not just the latest standardized test,” said Governor Lee in his 2021 State of the State Address.
That address came right after a historic special session to address learning loss related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the negative effects on student proficiency in reading and math marked by time away from the classroom due to COVID-19.
Literacy Legislation
During that session, Governor Lee signed the Tennessee Learning Loss Remediation and Student Acceleration Act that required interventions for struggling students, including after-school learning mini-camps, learning loss bridge camps, and summer learning camps.
The special session also produced the Tennessee Literacy Success Act to require local education agencies to utilize a phonics-based approach for kindergarten through third grade reading instruction.
“COVID-19 has severely disrupted education in Tennessee. Our decisive action to intervene on behalf of Tennessee students will equip them for success, educating our kids better in the future than before the pandemic,” said Governor Lee. “I thank the General Assembly for their swift passage of legislation that will benefit our students.”
The legislation that passed during the special session is widely credited with producing the improvements in this year’s Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) results.
On the campaign trail, Martin has largely put the focus of learning loss on inadequate school funding.
“Tennessee schools would not have been hit nearly as hard during the pandemic had our schools been properly funded before. Ranking 45th in the nation in per-pupil spending, we need a better way to fund our schools that takes into account the different economies across communities and resources needed for each district,” said Martin in an interview with Chalkbeat Tennessee.
Martin is less supportive however, of legislation that did put additional funding into schools.
TISA Passage
Earlier this year Governor Lee signed the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) into law. The legislation puts a billion new dollars into public education and changes the way schools are funded to a student-based formula that’s utilized by most states, including California and Texas.
“Today is a tremendous day for Tennessee students,” said Governor Lee after the legislation passed. “After months of engagement with thousands of Tennesseans, our state will have a new, innovative K-12 funding formula that improves public education by putting kids first.”
Martin has criticized TISA saying it needs to be re-written, but the Democratic candidate has not offered any specific plans for how the new funding formula should be changed. On his website, Martin still references a “need to reevaluate the Basic Education Program.” TISA will replace the old Basic Education Program next year.
At an October 11th event with teachers and media, Martin attacked TISA calling it, “a weapon to get charter schools in your community, whether you want them or not.”
“Governor Lee in my opinion has waged a war on public education his entire time in office,” said Martin in a Q&A with the Tennessean that same day. “The charter school experiment for the most part has been a failed experiment in the state of Tennessee, and we need to invest in traditional public schools.”
State testing results do not back up Martin’s charter school comments, especially in Nashville where the candidate lives. Public charter schools have played a prominent role recently in annual state testing and Reward school recognition.
