Tennessee Senate District 1 includes Meigs, McMinn, Rhea, and most of Bradley County in East Tennessee.¶
Senator Adam Lowe, R-Calhoun, won the seat four years ago and has played a key role in education issues by serving on the Senate Education Committee, the Advisory Committee on Innovations in K-12 Education, and by sponsoring legislation such as this year’s open enrollment bill, designed to make it easier for families to enroll children in districts other than their own.¶
Two Republican challengers qualified to run against Senator Lowe in next month’s GOP primary, including former USDA State Director Dennis Beavers and real estate professional Teresa Congioloso.¶
As part of an ongoing series, the Tennessee Firefly reached out to all three candidates with questions about key education issues the General Assembly will face next year. Only Lowe and Beavers responded.¶
Expanding the Education Freedom Scholarship
The topic of private school choice is perhaps the area where both challengers most disagreed with the incumbent in Senate District 1.¶
Senator Lowe voted for the Education Freedom Scholarship program, which allows families to use taxpayer dollars for private school expenses, as well as for its expansion this year. Beavers wrote an op-ed expressing his opposition to the program, while Congioloso has also posted her opposition on social media.¶
Both Lowe and Beavers explained their position on whether to expand the program further to the Tennessee Firefly.¶
“We will eventually find a sweet spot on demand. Currently, those who likely would be Beneficiaries of an expansion likely don’t have conveniently located availability. Those options should incubate over time. This is why I think we saw such little increase in Priority 1 (renewal) applications, this second cycle. Arguably, if we improve public education, fewer people will want to leave it,” Lowe said.¶
“I am against the voucher program. We need to protect our tax dollars and resources as a state. This program has no accountability, set standards, nor direction to be successful. It's a boondoggle created to divert money to special interests. The program should be audited for corruption and fraud,” Beavers said.¶
What Should Happen with the Education Savings Account
The Firefly also asked candidates whether they would support expanding Tennessee’s first private school choice program, the Education Savings Account (ESA). It has stricter income requirements than the Education Freedom Scholarship program, and only residents in Hamilton, Davidson, and Shelby counties have access to it.¶
“I would hope that the Education Freedom Scholarship over time would be a more usable tool to those families than ESA expansion, but in the meantime, especially without statewide open enrollment, the ESA serves a very positive purpose for families to choose,” Lowe said.¶
“I would support the Education Savings Accounts to operate much like a 529 College Savings Fund. Educational Savings Accounts would fix much of the corrupt problems with vouchers. Giving parents a tax credit with an Educational Savings program would be a better fix than a voucher program. The Republican Party should look at this as a fix to the voucher debate. Having served 8 years on a 529 College Savings fund board, we grew accounts from a value of $780 million to a value of over $1.4 billion in 8 years. If ran like a banking investment portfolio, these accounts could prove to assist many as they do on a collegiate level,” Beavers said.¶
Expanding Public Charter Schools
None of the school districts in Senate District 1 currently have a public charter school, but the state is seeing more proposed each year. Charters are free public schools run by a non-profit under a “charter” with a school district or the state.¶
The Firefly asked candidates whether they would support seeing more charters in the state.¶
“I would like to see charter schools available throughout more of Tennessee, and I would like to see local school boards take more initiatives to submit charter applications and innovate their learning environments,” Lowe said.¶
“Cleaning up the curricula for our schools is important. Much of the debate for charter schools comes from the want to have a different curriculum... Why are we teaching all students the same materials for a certain grade level? Some students in fourth grade may read on an eighth grade level... then teach the child based on the level they have attained in that subject. My belief is charter schools can be beneficial only if the current system has issues. We need to have the debate over teaching individuals to be the best they can be. Standardized testing can be useful but should not rule the classroom,” said Beavers.¶
Preserving Accountability for Students and Teachers
Recent years have seen proposals in the General Assembly to weaken both the state assessment and teacher evaluation systems, despite research showing both have contributed to improved student performance. The Firefly asked both candidates whether they support protecting the existing systems or believe changes are needed.¶
“I think we could reward perennially high-performing teachers with a respite from assessment but only after we own assessment to actually capture what teachers are doing. It was clear through the education task force that the observation component of the assessment is being inflated to increase teacher scores. Once there is more confidence in the actual evaluation, there may be room for some flexibility,” Lowe said.¶
“If a system continually gets a high mark from our Department of Education, then the continual testing and evaluations could be lightened so that those systems that do not meet standards are dealt with. We have seen the success of several schools, many of which do not get the acknowledgment they deserve. We have also seen school systems failing for the same behaviors that should be dealt with... in a failing school system sometimes you're better off starting from scratch so firings and (retirements) are merited,” Beavers said.¶
How Would You Improve Education Outcomes?
Firefly staff also asked each candidate how they would improve student outcomes in Tennessee, especially given that polls routinely rank education as a top priority for voters.¶
“I would love to see us pass the bills for open enrollment and expanding school counselors. Youth mental health is a growing obstacle, and even teachers report classroom behavior as a reason for burnout. Grades need to matter again. We must confront inflated assessment,” Lowe said.¶
“First of all, polls can be manipulated to get targeted results for a special interest. Some of that has been going on with certain groups as many of the people in Senate Dist 1 have not been surveyed. This is not good overall for Tennessee Education. So who did the survey? Are we using Nashville data to justify what we do in Bradley, McMinn, Meigs, and Rhea counties? In my op-ed that I wrote, my desire is to see all students succeed wherever they choose. Homeschool, Public Schools, Christian Schools all are important, and we must protect several set standards for Tennessee Education,” Beavers said.¶
Early voting begins today in this primary and others across the state. No Democrat qualified to run in Senate District 1.¶
