Memphis State Representative Mark White has long felt education in Tennessee is like a big grandfather clock. Any adjustment you make, impacts the entire system’s ability to operate correctly.
“When you turn it around and take off the back you’ve got this multitude of gears and one thing in education you say, well I’m looking at that gear, I think I’ll tweak that gear and turn it a little bit. What you find out when you’re turning that gear, you’re also turning one way down at the bottom of the clock also, so nothing is really kind of independent, “said Representative White. “When you’re trying to change something what else are you changing either for good or for bad?”
For the last 9 years Representative White has held a leading role in turning the gears of Tennessee’s education system by chairing the House Education Administration Committee.
The Shelby County Republican was a natural fit on the committee, considering he spent 5 years teaching in Memphis and served as the Harding Academy-Wooddale Principal.
“With my background in education and my passion for young people I really enjoy this role,” said Rep. White. “Just looking for the right answers for our children.”
One important answer Representative White helped find last year involved the question of how the state should be funding its public schools. For 30 years Tennessee utilized the complex Basic Education Plan (BEP).
Representative White carried the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) Act last year to replace the BEP with a simpler system that funds public schools based on the individual needs of students. TISA also invested a billion dollars into K-12 education and was among the most important pieces of legislation passed in the session.
White says he liked the change to TISA because the formula is less complex, and it centers funding around student needs.
“We give the districts funding based upon their students,” said Rep. White. “We can hold em accountable and say this population of your students, say your [English] language learners, you’re not moving the needle. Why not?”
This year, White expects the focus to shift to the Third-Grade Retention Law that passed in 2021. It was designed to ensure students who need additional support in reading, receive them before being promoted to fourth grade.
Representative White says he’s open to tweaking the law, but he draws the line at turning all authority of third grade retention over to local education agencies (LEAs) as some have suggested.
White says retention legislation from 2011 that did just that, didn’t work.
“Here we are eleven years later and still talking about it. That didn’t fix it so I’m not in favor of just, like some bills out there, let’s just turn it back over to the LEA. We’ve done that for 11 years and it didn’t work,” said Rep. White.
LEAs will likely play a big role in education this year even if they aren’t given more authority on third-grade retention by the General Assembly.
This year 23 applications are expected to be filed for new public charter schools in counties across the state including 10 in Shelby County. LEAs will decide whether to grant those applications.
Representative White believes public charter schools serve an important role in providing something he believes is essential for education, a parent’s choice in what school is the right fit for their child.
“I’m a big believer that we need in education a parent’s right to choose, whatever that may be, private, public, charter,” said Rep. White. “One size does not fit all and if it’s not working, give a parent an opportunity to take those kids and put em into another environment where they may do better.”
