THE SESSION IS OVER. READ ABOUT HOW THE MEMBERS OF TEA PROTECTED STUDENTS AND SCHOOLS.
TENNESSEE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION
PUBLIC SCHOOL 15
ADVOCATE
years!
TENNESSEE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION
TEA LEGISLATIVE REPORT | MAY 5, 2015 | VOL. 1, ISSUE 8
VOUCHERS DEFEATED
Bipartisan coalition against privatization stops vouchers in House
Strong anti-voucher fighter Rep. Karen Camper (D-Memphis)
For a third straight year TEA has led a successful fight against private school vouchers. With strong support from educators, a bipartisan group of legislators, parents and other public education advocates statewide we were able to protect our public schools from a dangerous voucher proposal again this year.
state organization’s checkbook.
Another decisive defeat for deep-pocketed privatizers proves the voices of constituents back home are more powerful than an out-of-
“TEA saw a huge increase in members from one end of the state to the other engaging in the fight against private school vouchers,” said TEA President
It is easy to brush aside the threat of private school vouchers if you teach outside one of the districts targeted in the proposal, but this is a real threat to all public schools in Tennessee. As we have seen with other unproven reform schemes, what starts in one district can quickly spread across the state.
Barbara Gray. “Together, with strong, clear and frequent communication with legislators, we defeated this threat for a third year.” Representatives Karen Camper and David Alexander were instrumental leaders in this fight to defeat a plan that at full implementation would have served a minimum of 20,000 students – which meant an estimated cost of $130 million. “That’s $130 million not being VOUCHERS DEFEATED go to page 3
Anti-privatization champion Rep. David Alexander (R-Winchester)
$127 MILLION RECURRING ADDITIONAL FUNDS
IEP bill passes on 4% increase for teacher pay, 10% for insurance final day, measure focuses on autism and intellectual impairments As we celebrate a major victory—calling for and getting a 4-percent state pay increase for Tennessee teachers—it’s important to remember that, according to current law, even though the raise has been passed in state budget, it does not guarantee that local school systems will use this
$97.6 million
for teacher compensation.
money to fund teacher raises.
“TEA called for a much-needed raise for public school teachers and fought to ensure that it stays in the budget,” said TEA President Barbara Gray. “Now we are calling on all school systems across the state to pass on this raise to their teachers.” Gray cited the example of Williamson County Schools, whose budget for the 2015-16 school year includes a 5 percent pay increase for all teachers, as well as a plan to open new schools
RAISES AND INSURANCE COSTS NOW A LOCAL ISSUE go to page 4
TEA members made the difference! When members of the Greene County Education Association drove to Nashville during their spring break to visit with Rep. David Hawk and other lawmakers as part of this year’s TEA Civication, they didn’t know what impact those conversations would have.
As it turns out, that conversation had enormous impact because hearing from the teachers helped solidify Hawk’s vote against vouchers— and allowed TEA to defeat the dangerous and unproven schemes of the out-of-state special interests.
Hawk helped pass some critical TEA legislation last year, making sure TVAAS didn’t influence observation scores, and the Greene County folks thanked him for it.
“Every time a teacher gives a first-person account of their day-to-day life and work, it has a tremendous and positive impact on the battles MEMBERS MADE THE DIFFERENCE go to page 3
Work to protect students with special needs continues in rulemaking process As proposed, it was an unmitigated disaster. Any family with a child having an IEP – 120,000-plus students statewide – qualified for a debit card linked to a bank account filled with state and local school dollars. It was a recipe for funding homeschooling. It was a path to rampant fraud as seen in Florida. It incentivized bad behavior and would put thousands of special needs students in academic and personal jeopardy. Demands for IEPs would explode as word got out about the debit cards and could taint the often difficult work involved in setting up learning plans. There was no guarantee that hard won gains for students would remain. What barely passed the House was a smaller, tighter bill that delays implementation so that the special education community can help develop rules and regulations to protect children, require informed decisions by parents, and cut down on the possibility of fraud. IEP FIGHT CONTINUES go to page 6
TENNESSEE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION
THE STRONGEST VOICE FOR SCHOOLS AND EDUCATORS ADVOCATE 1 PUBLIC SCHOOL
TENNESSEE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION