Nashville mayoral candidates to face off in education focused debate

Nashville mayoral candidates Freddie O’Connell and Alice Rolli have taken part in numerous debates in the last few months but education hasn’t always played a large role in the discussion.In the forums leading up to their advancement to a runoff, mayoral candidates have largely only fielded one question at most on their educational positions.  That changes this Thursday.Rolli and O’Connell are scheduled to face off in an education-focused public debate sponsored by Opportunity Nashville and moderated by veteran education and policy reporters Pat Nolan and Vicki Yates of News Channel 5.“Our aim is to provide a platform for a substantive discussion, enabling voters to gain a better understanding of the choices before them,” said Tanaka Vercher, Executive Director of Opportunity Nashville. “Education is arguably our city’s most critical issue, as its outcomes impact all facets of people’s lives. To make an informed decision, voters need to understand the candidate’s perspectives and their plans to improve opportunities for our public school students.”The debate will specifically include questions from Metro Nashville Public Schools’ current and former students, parents, and teachers along with questions sent in by the public.Voters can watch the event live on Nashville Public Television at 7 P.M. and viewers are encouraged to participate in conversation online using #NashEdDebate.“The very foundation of Nashville Public Television is built on education and we are excited to partner with Opportunity Nashville to feature our final candidates in a conversation that will reflect the challenges and opportunities within public education in our great city,” said Becky Magura, NPT president and CEO. “The state of public education requires all of us to be informed and engaged. I’m excited that NPT and Opportunity Nashville are working together to provide a timely debate for our citizens to learn more before they vote.”Perhaps the most publicized role education has played in the race so far came during a forum in late June when Rolli declared she’d consider a takeover of the Metro Nashville Public Schools Board of Education if members continue to push back on public charter schools.The board has a history of opposing new high-quality public charter schools, including this year when members voted down three proposed schools.“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 in the June debate. “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.”In that same debate Metro Council member Freddie O’Connell rejected the notion that board members are to blame for educational challenges students in Nashville are facing.“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 in the June debate.Throughout the campaign O’Connell has said he plans to be directly involved in public policy surrounding education and that includes putting a focus on what happens outside of the classroom by addressing problems with hunger and pursuing partnerships that improve household stress.Voters will decide the mayoral runoff on September 14.