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VOL. 56 NO. 8
www.ShopperNewsNow.com |
FIRST FIRST WORDS WORDS
Opportunity for whom? By Lauren Hopson Tennessee legislators have recently rebranded private school vouchers as “opportunity scholarships.” Vouchers have undergone this transformation Hopson in the hope that unsuspecting taxpayers will forget what they are, but also because they provide real opportunities for poor, minority students to escape underperforming schools in their neighborhood, right? How is this accomplished? A poor minority student in a community far from here, let’s say Memphis, has suffered through the effects of fetal drug addiction. His mother, now in recovery, hopes to improve his chances of success by moving him out of his zoned school, which the state has branded as failing. His teachers work hard, but she fears the influence of his peers with similar issues may be too much to overcome. She accepts an opportunity scholarship with hopes of sending him to an excellent private school. However, the private school of her choice charges tuition substantially in excess of the scholarship. She can’t afford to make up the difference, and pay for books, uniforms and transportation. Consequently, she elects to send him to another private school that gladly accepts the scholarship as payment in full. The school doesn’t provide the special education services needed to deal with the fallout of her son’s fetal addiction, but it’s a private school, so it must be better, right? He struggles without those much-needed supports, and his mother is ultimately forced to return him to public school, where those services are guaranteed by law. Other parents, similarly disillusioned with the “opportunity,” follow suit. But wait, private schools backers were promised an increased enrollment by legislators. Maybe the scholarships need to be expanded to regular education students who can afford to make up the tuition difference. Never mind that this plan has had disastrous effects on public education in other states. Our private school backers need the “opportunity” to make more money, so let’s give our taxpayers the “opportunity” to fund those private schools.
NEWS News@ShopperNewsNow.com Sandra Clark – 865-661-8777 Sarah Frazier – 865-342-6622 ADVERTISING SALES Ads@ShopperNewsNow.com 865-342-6084 Amy Lutheran | Patty Fecco Beverly Holland | Mary Williamson CIRCULATION 844-900-7097 knoxvillenewssentinel@gannett.com
February 22, 2017
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The Episcopalians who love chili The Slammin’ Sammie and Rockin’ Richard Memorial Chili Cook Off is in fond tribute to Richard Matthews and Sammie Weaver, friends who relished the competition.
Sammie Weaver Richard Matthews
Pat Ezzell was the first-prize winner at the original Saint Thomas Episcopal chili cook-off.
By David Hunter It was 1999 when Saint Thomas Episcopal Church, at 5401 Tiffany Drive at the corner of Merchant Drive, had its first chili cook-off. They called it “The Men’s Chili Cook Off,” but first prize went to a young mother named Pat Ezzell, who has figured prominently in every cook-off since then, sometimes with her husband, Tim, sometimes alone. To page A-3
Saint Thomas Episcopal Church is just off Merchant Drive.
MDSave offers diagnostic savings “There’s a lot of empty land By Sandra Clark out there.” Tennova North has changed the face of Smith presided in the North Knox County. The hospital is markabsence of president Bart ing its 10th anniversary. Administrator Clyde Elkins, who was busy with Wood was the spotlight speaker Feb. 14 at Valentine’s Day diners at The Powell Business & Professional Association. Front Porch. Tennova Health & Fitness Center came Wood talked about a profirst, he said, opening in 1999. Next came the gram for consumers with high imaging and cancer center with programs for health insurance deductibles. women’s health. The hospital itself opened Clyde Wood “I see people with $10,000 or in 2007. Since then a flurry of professionals have opened offices nearby. And, as the PBPA $12,000 deductibles,” he said. Tennova is enpresident-elect R. Larry Smith observed, dorsing MDSave to help those patients.
The online service offers diagnostic procedures for roughly half-price with cash prepayment. It’s that simple, according to MDSave.com. A routine fetal ultrasound, for instance, is priced at $146; an X-ray is $98. MDSave also offers physical, occupational and speech therapy. Prices are subject to change, and MDSave will not file for insurance reimbursement. As the federal government struggles with “repeal and replace,” it’s nice to see a free market solution to ever-rising health care costs.
Brooks goes to bat for utility customers By Sandra Clark State Rep. Harry Brooks has slipped on a three-cornered hat and gone to war over taxation without representation. Brooks wants consumers to be represented on utility boards, such as KUB.
Analysis “We want some level of representation for the folks served by the utility,” he said. His bill (HB 0269/SB 0684 by Ken Yager) was slated to be heard Feb. 21 in a subcommittee of the House Business and Utilities committee. In an interview last week, Brooks anticipated amendments and promised a more comprehensive explanation after that hearing. This bill will draw lobbyists like flies to honey. Utilities are iceberg
Open House March 6.
governments – operating mostly out of sight with autonomy to set rates for vital services. Some charge more for the same service to customers who live outHarry Brooks side the municipal boundaries. Many have buy-out provisions and pensions for top execs to rival athletic departments; often they co-opt the very commissioners chosen to oversee them with benefits like health insurance and trips to tradeshows. Godspeed, Brooks and Yager.
Partisan elections State Rep. “Landslide Eddie” Smith has introduced a bill to require municipal elections in cities 100,000 or larger and all of the state’s school boards to be parti-
san. His bill (HB1039/SB0582 by Delores Gresham) allows political parties to nominate candidates. Leaving the cities to fend for themselves, let’s assume this bill is a reaction to Knox County’s last two school board elections. Fed up with S up e r i nt e nde nt Eddie Smith Jim McIntyre’s high-handed treatment of teachers (among other things), several educators mounted successful campaigns: Patti Bounds, Terry Hill and Amber Rountree in 2014; Tony Norman, Jennifer Owen and Susan Horn in 2016. Suddenly, Mike McMillan found allies while Lynne Fugate and Gloria Deathridge saw their former majority eroded. McIntyre resigned. Would partisan elections have
prevented McIntyre’s woes? Doubtful. McMillan and Norman had previously won election to county commission as Republicans; Bounds and Hill are long-time Republicans; Horn had solid support in Farragut where she was active in the campaign of Republican state Rep. Jason Zachary. Political allegiances are less clear for Rountree and Owen, but Owen represents District 2, a toss-up area previously represented on the commission by Democrat Amy Broyles. So the anti-McIntyre majority is firm – with or without partisan elections. If Smith’s bill passes, however, it could have the unintended consequence of getting education activists involved in partisan politics at the district level … and their next election just might be to run for the Legislature.
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For more information, call 859-7900 or visit TennovaFitness.com.
For more information, call 859-7900 or visit TennovaFitness.com.
Located off Emory Road in Powell
Located off Emory Road in Powell