Members of the Metro Nashville Public Schools Board of Education made the unusual decision last week to push back against a proposal from a candidate for mayor.
Board Chair Rachael Elrod released a statement from the 9-member board to criticize comments made by former public-school teacher and Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Assistant Commissioner Alice Rolli.
During Thursday’s mayoral debate hosted by the Tennessean and News Channel 5, Rolli declared she’d consider a takeover of the school board if existing MNPS board members continue to push back on charter schools.
“Any suggestions about the removal or takeover of Metro Nashville Public Schools Board of Education or Nashville’s public schools reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of public education. Therefore, we are glad to see the majority of Nashville’s mayoral candidates recognize the value of our democratic system that allows parents and citizens to have a voice in choosing their school leaders.,” wrote MNPS board members in the statement. “As the duly elected representatives of the Metro Nashville Public Schools Board of Education, we are rightfully held accountable every four years by the citizens of Nashville. We look forward to continuing to represent our constituents while improving and supporting Nashville’s public schools with our city’s next mayor.”
Rolli made her comments following a question to mayoral candidates about whether they’d consider eliminating the elected school board and move towards an appointed or hybrid model like New York and Chicago. The mayoral candidate said the district needs a board that embraces school choice.
“This school board has the ability, in the next two years, to make a really critical decision. We as a city will either become Detroit, or we will embrace choice and become Miami-Dade, an urban school system that spends less per student in a very expensive city than we do here in Nashville that took their school system from F-rated to A-rated by embracing the choice of parents,” said Rolli. “If this school board continues to deny parents the ability to choose the best school for their child, I think we will continue to see state intervention. Parents had to go and beg the state to reopen our schools when every other school system in the region was reopened. And so, I would like our school board to become accountable to parents and families and if they can do that, I think they can keep their role.”
Rolli’s comments refer to the MNPS board’s recent history of voting against applications for high-quality public charter schools for political reasons. In April MNPS board members voted down every charter application they received including one by a former student.
That vote followed similar decision last year when the board voted down all four charter applications including two from existing charter operator KIPP Nashville and applications from the Tennessee Nature Academy and Saber STEM Academy. The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission overturned three of those applications months later.
Other Candidates Oppose Replacing School Board
Rolli was the only mayoral candidate at the forum who entertained the idea of replacing the school board.
Affordable housing and economic development leader Matt Wiltshire followed Rolli’s comments by opposing her proposal. Wilshire instead proposed creating a better working relationship with the elected body.
“I will work with the school board, which should continue to be elected, so that parents have a voice in who are representing them and how the education system works,” said Wiltshire.
Other candidates weighed in on the future of the school board earlier in the debate including Metro Council member Freddie O’Connell who rejected the notion altogether that the board is to blame.
“I think if I’m choosing which elected bodies offer a threat to public education in Nashville, I’d probably choose the state legislature, not the elected school board,” said O’Connell. “It is very possible for mayor to impact education in this city, and I would say the two projects I would tackle as mayor are ones that affected us directly.”
O’Connell was among those who made the case during the debate that the next mayor should be directly involved in public policy surrounding education. Business leader Jim Gingrich and Property Assessor and former Metro Council member Vivian Wilhoite agreed that the mayor can do more.
“I actually reject the notion that the mayor cannot operate within the current system and have a significant impact on how (the) school system is performing,” said Jim Gingrich.
“As a mayor, I know that what my colleague just stated in reference to that he rejects the notion that fully funding the school board is all that we can do and I agree with him. I agree with him that we need to do more. As a two-term council member, that is what I was told the entire time I served on council, ‘oh, we can’t tell the school board what to do.’ Now if you’re giving more than half of your budget to the school system, we should be able to play a role,” said Wilhoite.
Metro Council member Sharon Hurt also expressed support for an elected school board, saying the process keeps the community engaged and provides oversight. Hurt said oversight would be an important part of her administration’s educational strategy.
“I do plan to have an office of accountability, efficiency, and enforcement. We have great rules, we have great policies and legislations, but they’re not enforced. And I think that if we’re able to have some community oversight in order for us to ensure that the schools are working properly, focusing on what’s actually keeping our kids from learning and focus on that,” said Sharon Hurt.
State Senators Heidi Campbell (D-Nashville) and Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) also expressed support for maintaining an elected school board.
Senator Campbell added that as mayor she’d focus on fixing Nashville’s inequity in school quality while Senator Yarbro talked about helping the district attract excellent teachers.
“We do not fully fund education in this state. And even though Nashville spends over half of its budget on education, we do not fully fund education and we have incredible inequity,” said Senator Campbell. “We have to, as a city, focus on triaging that inequity because we all do better when we all do better, and we have haves and have nots in this city when it comes to schools.”
“I think the first thing the mayor has to do, you can’t control everything, but you can make sure that resources are not the obstacle to our success as a city. That does not mean writing a blank check, but it does mean making sure there’s accountability in place and also resources to make sure that the schools can do what is appropriate for children. And I think the mayor in these times when teachers are facing declines in pay, difficulty housing, and just a genuine lack of respect across the board, the mayor needs to be a full partner in recruiting,” said Senator Yarbro.
Early voting in the mayor’s race begins next month.
