Inside TNSuccess

Tennessean (Op-Ed): Why students need to be main priority in distribution of federal stimulus funds

In a new op-ed this week in The Tennessean, our President and CEO Adam Lister advocates for accountability and transparency in how the nearly $2.5 billion in new federal funding for K-12 education allocated by the American Rescue Plan is spent.

“We know the management and distribution of these funds will be a heavy lift,” he writes. “At Tennesseans for Student Success, we will continue our work to give parents a voice and promote transparency from every district and school. And we stand ready to work with Governor Lee, the General Assembly, and local school districts to ensure every single action taken and every single dollar spent puts students first.

“With each dollar in federal relief for education, we must ask ourselves: will this give every child in Tennessee an equal opportunity to succeed with real and measurable results that will help make our state the best in the nation for education?

“With transparency and accountability from local school districts, we can achieve this, and not only help students recover, but realize their full potential.”

Read Adam’s full op-ed here.

TN Legislative Corner 

Tennesseans for Student Success worked to secure a number of positive outcomes in the General Assembly last week.

• HB647 (Rep. Faison), which would have created a different 11th grade assessment for a student who intends to attend a career and technical college or pursue a career path, was taken off notice in House Education Instruction Subcommittee.
• HB858 (Rep. Powers), which would have expended virtual schools enrollment size, was also taken off notice in House K-12 Subcommittee.
• The House Education Instruction Subcommittee voted in favor of TSS-supported HB1446 (Rep. Hicks), which directs the department to provide career and technical education opportunities for students in middle school. The bill will next be heard tomorrow in the House Education Instruction Full Committee.

This week, we will work to support the Senate companion to HB1446, SB1240 (Sen. Crowe), which is scheduled for a vote in the Senate Education Committee.

On the final calendar in the Senate Education Committee is SB1324 (Sen. Hensley), which was introduced as a caption. The House companion, HB1407 (Rep. Haston), which TSS opposes, is scheduled for K-12 Subcommittee consideration this week. The House version has had numerous amendments filed, the most recent one deleting all of the existing teacher evaluation code sections, replacing them with a teacher evaluation advisory committee to rework the entire teacher evaluation system. The bill would effectively ensure there is no teacher evaluation system in place for the next two years, the same time period after which the committee is expected to make recommendations to the legislature on new evaluation procedures and methods.

Announcing Team Kid PAC

Last week, we announced the formation of Team Kid PAC, a political action committee (PAC) that will support candidates for Governor and the General Assembly who put students first and pursue strong policies that support educational opportunities for all Tennesseans. To learn more about Team Kid PAC, visit teamkidtn.com.

In Case You Missed It

Times News (Kingsport): New PAC designed to help children
Times Free Press (Chattanooga): Library partners with Hamilton County Schools to increase e-book access, and more education stories this week
The Tennessean (Nashville): Tennessee Tutoring Corps will return for second year to tackle pandemic-related learning loss
News Sentinel (Knoxville): ‘It’s about time’: KCS and community leaders break ground on new elementary schools
The Tennessean (Nashville): Dickson County Schools move to hire project manager for using COVID relief funds