Memphis teacher Sylvia Anderson had two goals in mind when she joined two dozen students, parents, and educators on a trip to the state capitol Wednesday to meet with members of the Tennessee General Assembly.
Anderson wanted to provide her students at the Memphis Business Academy with a clear understanding of how the legislative process works and she wanted an opportunity to speak with legislators directly to provide them with a better insight to what happens on the ground at public charter schools like hers.
She achieved both through Tennesseans for Student Success’ annual Day on the Hill event where she was able to have a conversation with Memphis Representative Antonio Parkinson about the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement Act (TISA).
“Parkinson mentioned how big of an impact TISA can be since we are a public charter school and hopes that it will create more funds for our school so that we can give them more materials, more supplies, more things that they’re gonna need to increase their money. In addition to that it will put us in a place where they will be more competitive with the private schools or schools that are not considered in minority or struggling communities, as well as have better and more teachers,” said Anderson.
TISA is a funding formula intended to replace and update the Basic Education Program (BEP) formula that Tennessee has used for 40 years. Unlike the BEP which is a resource-based funding, TISA is student-based, and funds will be distributed to public schools based on their students and the needs they have.
Anderson said that she became a supporter of TISA after her conversation with Representative Parkinson and intends to do further research on the new formula’s implementation next school year.
“I really like the fact that the school principals give a proposal to their district as to how they’re going to spend those funds and then the district allocates those funds and if that works the way it should then we should see a big increase in closing the learning gap that we got from the pandemic,” said Anderson.
Anderson’s conversation with Representative Parkinson was one of several she and her students had with members of the General Assembly Wednesday.
Anderson left those conversations encouraged that TISA will also address another concern for public charter school teachers, such as creating and allocating more funds for teachers to use in classrooms for materials and increased learning.
She also hopes that with TISA, all teachers will be paid the full amount they’re entitled to.
During the pandemic, full-time Tennessee teachers were scheduled to receive a $1,000 bonus. The funds were absorbed into overall school funding, but Anderson said some public charter school teachers didn’t see it.
“They allotted that money for all Tennessee teachers. Every teacher in Tennessee should have saw that money… We are a public charter school. Sometimes the district may not give those funds because they say it’s for district teachers but no, it’s for all public school teachers. We are a public school,” she said.
TISA wasn’t the only topic Anderson brought up with legislators who took part in the Day on the Hill event. She was also able to talk with Representative Larry Miller about lottery scholarships and expanding their eligibility to include more four-year institutions in Tennessee.
Anderson said she wanted to provide legislators with a better insight into what happens inside classrooms like hers and why they need to place a higher priority on education before trying to improve it.
“If it wasn’t for a teacher, you wouldn’t have a nurse, you wouldn’t have a doctor, you wouldn’t have a nurse practitioner. You wouldn’t even have a politician if it wasn’t for some teacher who taught them something,” said Anderson quoting one of her students.
