Ezra Howard, Pinch Hitter.
@EzraHowRU
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TN teacher to EU researcher back to TN as an ed admin. Views are my own, or of a sentient potato. ESL, TEFL, GERM, BYOB.
The Forgotten Realms
Joined August 2023
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Migrated over to the other site
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One thing that appears no one has noticed yet: no provision limiting this to non-profit private schools.
Big red flag: Public education dollars for for-profit private schools. Ripe for a scam.
A fiscal analysis for Gov. Bill Lee’s voucher scam was released today and the “conservative” estimates are damning:
—Vouchers could cost taxpayers almost $600 million
—Vouchers will drain *at least* $141 million from neighborhood public schools
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He doesn't even help push off.
There’s nothing like sledding at the farm on a Tennessee snow day.
Stay safe & warm, Tennessee!
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@DeAngelisCorey
@TheTNHoller
@GovBillLee
@BetsyDeVos
@NC5PhilWilliams
You know what's a better policy for higher ed? Tuition-free public colleges and universities. Universial public early childhood education too. And universal healthcare, especially since the TN Lege refuses to expand medicaid.
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I went through TCAP scores for every district in the state for Math and ELA (Grades 3-8 and 11) compared to the ESA pilot group. There are 140 public school districts in this group.
In ELA, all but 11, so 129, outperformed the ESA group.
In Math, it's all but 2, 138 did better.
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Couldn't sleep and saw Gene's tweet here and I had to double check.
This was a wild ride.
Indeed, thisis the Tennessee Code for the qualifications to be education comissioner.
Tennessee’s commissioner of education does not have a background in public education, either as a teacher or administrator. Neither is she legally qualified.
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This you?
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This is amazing.
Wasn't feeling well, so I stayed home. After a long nap, I've slowly been collecting tuition from 2021 and 2022 school years.
In 2021, before vouchers, one school's tuition was $3,500. In 2022, after vouchers, it jumps up to $7,000. Most egregious instance yet.
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When people say that private schools in TN are doing better than public schools in educating students, show them this.
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@TheTNHoller
@CepickyTn64
They keep trying this line that vouchers won't effect public school budgets. They tried this in Arizona, too, but the evidence is just not there for it. It will negatively impact local districts and schools.
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This right here.
And don't forget that vouchers aren't dead. They are very much still a thing for Nashville, Memphis and Chattanooga. We're definitely going to be seeing the negative effects either this budget cycle or the next.
They need to be gone too.
They’re waiting for their scam to become old news so they can reintroduce it later. We see right through this.
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Thanks for being out there and keeping the pressure on when a lot of us got day jobs.
Privatization is not a democratic or republican issue, no one wants this but elites.
WATCH: “Did you see the
@TEA_teachers
poll that shows 55% of Republican primary voters oppose
@GovBillLee
’s vouchers?” 👀
@SenShaneReeves
@SenBoWatson
@kerryeroberts
and other
@tnsenategop
members somehow missed the poll showing even their own party is against Lee’s scam.
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I have tuitions for 230 schools all across TN.
The range of tuitions is $1750 (a homeschooling assistance program) to $49556 (the day-school tuition for a very elite boarding school).
Average tuition is $12.6K, so $5k+ over the voucher amount.
Median is $10.6k, so over $3k+.
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*Puts on ELT hat*
The use of "it's grammatically correct" is itself ignorant here. No one was concerned about morphology or syntax.
The concern was whether or not is was appropriate for the situation, audience, and context. In language, this is part of "pragmatics."
It was not.
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White showed multiple times that House Rules were whatever he wanted them to be in the moment, not what was agreed upon months before.
In Tennessee House committee last night, GOP leadership did NOT have the necessary two-thirds vote to end debate on school vouchers. They did it anyway.
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From the folks I've been talking to not only is not over this session it's only just begun for next session.
Keep the pressure up. Come May, it's time for planning.
WATCH: “Is
@GovBillLee
’s vouchers scam really dead?”
We just asked a dozen lawmakers about the report of its demise — Republicans said it’s on life support but “talks are still ongoing”. Dems said “it ain’t over til it’s over”
Translation: Don’t relax. Keep up the pressure
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I'm going through policies at private schools currently approved for TN's ESA pilot.
I'm far from finished but I've found at least 24 explicit instances of discrimination.
24 out of 80 schools minimum.
ESA vouchers create state-funded hate, allowing taxpayer-funded private schools to openly discriminate against LGBTQ+ students & families 😥
Public schools accept ALL students, which is why they are publicly funded.
Video clip
@MorePerfectUS
– full 📽️
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This is why I go hard in the paint for public education.
These are people's kids. People's grandkids. People's communities. My community. Your community. Our community.
Ain't no igits with deep pockets and bad intentions going to tell us what should happen in our neighborhoods.
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I, for one, was never in doubt that vouchers could fail in TN, but to do so would take a combined effort across TN with people from all backgrounds.
Rural, suburban, urban, conservative, liberal all have reasons to support public education and push back on privatization.
If you asked us when session started if Lee’s voucher scam would pass, we would’ve said 95% it would.
This is a testament to all the parents, teachers, school officials who put party aside and stood up for public schools & our kids. Take a bow. (Then get ready for next year)
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The mother providing testimony against the voucher bill discussed 12 private schools that she contacted said they could not provide special education services for her special needs child.
There are only 12 private schools in my count in Williamson Co. from the TDOE.
“And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, members.”
- Rep. Scott Cepicky giving big “But wait, there’s more!” vibes trying to sell vouchers
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Lobbyist not from TN, doesn't live in TN, and has a super-pac calls regular folks from TN, who live in TN, and don't want vouchers "special interests."
Irony is dead.
But, you know, stay mad, Corey.
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So, Cameron Sexton a little over a week ago said this was not an ESA program. Mark White is saying it is. Who do you believe?
WATCH: “They keep saying public school funding won’t be affected by the voucher expansion? And that they’re not vouchers? Will you guarantee that?”
@RepMarkWhiteTN
is the house sponsor of the expansion — and SPOILER: No, he wouldn’t guarantee that. 🤔
#LeesVoucherScam
💰
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The thing people say will happen with voucher expansion will definitely happen because it's already happened in the pilot.
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The next task, which I will start tonight but likely only get so far, is calculating by county the fiscal impact using these metrics.
All. 95. Counties.
When I consider these tasks, I have to ask myself: do I hate me? I feel like I might hate me.
I also believe in public ed.
Now apply the $7,075 voucher state-wide.
The low end, 30%, 46.2K students is $326.8 million.
The middle, 55%, 84.7K students is $599.9 million.
The high end, 80%, 123.2K students is $871.6 million.
And the majority of voucher recipients elsewhere never attended public schools.
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I don't mean to be an old man but...
STOP DOING VOICE VOTES. ROLL CALL. EVERY TIME.
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What is Sexton talking about? Florida is number 1 in attainment? Attainment on what?
It's certainly not on NAEP. There's no reference here.
WATCH: “Every school board, admin, teacher says ‘this is going to hurt us’. Why do you not think this will hurt public schools?”
Speaker
@CSexton25
grilled on
@wbir
says he supports an income cap— and also doesn’t.🤔
#LeesVoucherScam
(Also: Florida vouchers DO have requirements)
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@MichaelLotfi
@adrianeking
@AFPTN
Is that why the TN ED Comissioner said TCAP results for kids in the ESA pilot were "nothing to write home about?"
Or why the one school in the pilot we have TVAAS scores for a 1?
Just be honest about it and say you don't want any oversight and accountability measures.
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I'm going through the TDOE's list of private schools finally trying to wrap up collecting tuition rates where available.
Some of the TDOE's records are an absolute mess. This is where one school's website redirects...
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I'm up way to late cause I was on a role estimating immediate fiscal impact of ESAs on districts county by county.
Madison (Jackson) is one that would be hit particularly hard. Anywhere from 5% to 15% negative impact on their budget.
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Lot of folks out here rallying for public education and against vouchers this afternoon. Dwarfs he AFP rally I went to.
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@NC5PhilWilliams
@TEA_teachers
When they bash teachers unions, they're bashing teachers because it's regular teachers who pay into their unions.
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So I have finished looking for tuitions for all non-profit K12 private schools. I also took out schools that were obviously more treatment center or mental health center than school.
In total 399 schools. 169 schools either did not have tuition listed or did not have a website.
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Looking at different ways to view some of the data related to vouchers.
Here's a map.
Blue dots are non-profit k12 private schools (note: not all will likely participate in vouchers)
Yellow dots are various median incomes for all the counties in TN.
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Too funny. All the think tanks and lobbyists pushing for privatization of public schools are sharing this Fox17 video and the still is me and my dad mustache.
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We got another scammy betting website. This time for a "prep" schoolin Carksville.
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Sexton not even trying to hide it. Only religious preference mentioned during the voucher announcement was Christian.
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There's still many schools to comb through with the Wayback Machine, but there are also at least two schools that expanded grades (or adding lower or upper schools, rather) in 2022. How convenient.
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@NC5PhilWilliams
It's incredibly cyncial that they included disability provisions for vouchers when accepting vouchers means you have to waive your rights to disability services.
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Covenant Academy Lions... right.
I'm really glad I have an adblocker installed.
And this is what the TDOE is putting out to people to "inform" them on priate schools around the state.
Is no one checking this stuff?
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@DeAngelisCorey
Lobbyist not from TN, doesn't live in TN, and has a super-pac calls regular folks from TN, who live in TN, and don't want vouchers "special interests."
Irony is dead.
But, you know, stay mad, Corey.
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Hey Corey, that's me in the still. Good seeing you today. Enjoyed fact checking you in real time on Tennessee public school, private school, and voucher data. Sorry you didn't want to engage more. I even took the day off work to come down. Safe travels back to Texas.
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Apparently "Togel" is the indonesian slang for "illegal betting."
It's supposed to be the website for a 7th Day Adventist school in Apison.
Bang up job, TDOE.
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@DeAngelisCorey
@Campbell4TN
@YouTube
You're leaving out the part where private schools in Finland can't charge fees if they receive public funds.
Big difference from what you're peddling. Where only 7% of private schools in the voucher pilot here in TN would be covered by the $7,075 voucher amount.
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Heck mine's still up there. Doesn't expire until 2027.
Am I... Am I more qualified to be Commissioner of Education than the Comissioner of Education?
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@GovBillLee
Lighthouse's tuition and fees for a new student is $10,345.
Current ESA is $8,192, so about $2k less than tuition.
With the expanded voucher amount proposed at ~$7,075, it'll be ~$3k less than tuition.
An ESA alone does not and will not "cover full tuition."
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I'm creating a thread to try and keep track of what districts have passed resolutions opposing vouchers.
Feel free to jump in the replies with additions. I haven't seen these put all in one place yet
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@yarbro
Rural Republicans just tanked vouchers in Texas because its bad policy and hurts rural communities. Hopefully rural Tennessee Republicans see the same thing and vote this stinker of a bill down.
"How School Voucher Programs Hurt Students"
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@johnpaulkeith
@rgvliberty
@TheTNHoller
@GovBillLee
Plus, chances are other people's kids are going to be taking care of your elderly self in the future one way or another. Not investing in future generations because you didn't "personally benefit" is so myopic he shouldn't be allowed to drive.
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We got charts.
Here's the state-wide comparison.
There's a 22.4 percentage point (pp) gap in Math and 15.2 pp gap in ELA.
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Okie dokie. I'm still getting the briefs together, but here are the files for everything I've done on ESAs and the A-F Rating for viewing and downloads
Private school participation
Tuition rates
Tuition hikes
TCAP rates
A-F demographic breakdowns
Enjoy.
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@scavendish
Have you tried publishing mug shots before a conviction and charging people thousands of dollars to have it removed from your website?
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And here’s the other thing. This was pretty well known. I called this conservative estimate months ago.
I do not like being right but too often I am.
If I’m right, it’s going to be a heck of a lot worse.
Now apply the $7,075 voucher state-wide.
The low end, 30%, 46.2K students is $326.8 million.
The middle, 55%, 84.7K students is $599.9 million.
The high end, 80%, 123.2K students is $871.6 million.
And the majority of voucher recipients elsewhere never attended public schools.
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@RJWhitfield1
@TheTNHoller
@GovBillLee
What is apple to apples? Especially, when the voucher pushers want to eschew the same accountability standards as public schools.
Would you agree with having the same accountability standards to make an informed decision?
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@MichaelLotfi
@adrianeking
@AFPTN
Also, not for nothing, average private school tuition in TN is higher than average per pupil funding in TN.
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@TheBoroHoller
@yarbro
@MTSU
@smithdanj1
@PERIatMTSU
@AFPTN
Here’s another. It’s a lesson in how these folks try and launder push polls on policy, put them in with more straightforward polls on the candidates.
@smithdanj1
@TheTNHoller
@GovBillLee
I'm sure you know this, so I think you're being obtuse, but cross tabs don't matter in push polls, it's the language
Notice the limited definition of ESAs in the question to put them in a positive light, not discussing their costs like waiving SPED services.
It's a push poll.
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Welp, make that 25.
Imagine opening up to an educator you think you can trust cause you didn't read the Parent Handbook like a normal 6th grader and not only do you get outed, you get suspended as well.
Being trans, it's on the same level "serious vandalism."
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If I've said it once, I will say it a thousand times...
Privatization of public education is neither liberal nor conservative. It's elitism.
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@TheTNHoller
@GovBillLee
@TNedu
I haven't worked for a district since 2021, I remember what AMO stands for. I remember what most of those acronyms stand for.
There are some things I don't know as well because I didn't have to, like Ready Graduate scores, but I'm also not the state commish on education.
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Strong turnout at the rally against bill SB2576/HB2124, an anti-immigrant piece of legislation, despite the chilly weather.
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A website for a catholic school on Loretto.
This is now a full blown trend. Just basic stuff to check.
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I think the area with the strongest contrast is Franklin County. They have 3 private schools.
St. Andrew's at Sawanee, which is a boarding school, has a day-school tuition of $24.5k (boarding is $60k+).
Ave. household family income in Franklin Co. is $49.5k.
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@TheTNHoller
@GovBillLee
And we got charts to go with it too.
Here's the state-wide comparison.
There's a 22.4 percentage point (pp) gap in Math and 15.2 pp gap in ELA.
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This should be at a point where it's good to share.
Here is an updated map of all the Non-Profit K12 Private Schools in TN.
The other map is still up. This one just includes the tuitions and fees I could find.
Also corrected urls given how bad TDOE did.
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It should be noted that individual schools often have different tuitions for different grade levels. I didn't collect every tuition being just one person, plus I'm trying to get a sense of private school tuition in TN. So I chose the middle tuition
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@AnnaCaudill4
@Campbell4TN
@GovBillLee
Apparenty they made a secret FB group and started swarming his employer. While he was fine, it was obviously troubling. So many folks end up getting death threats after he targets someone because of his weirdo far right following he actively cultivated but thought no one noticed.
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It’s not much, but she’s mine.
Hopefully should help resolution number one of more buses less driving
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When everything is viewed through the lens of markets, you end up making some really dumb comparisons.
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If I've said it once then I will say it a thousand times, privatization of public education is not a democrat or republican issue. It's not liberal or conservative. It's not urban or rural. It's an elitist issue.
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Another shocker.
Three private schools accepting ESA switched from "for-profit" to "non-profit" status following voucher passage.
First pic from the 2021 TDOE list of private scools in TN (Memphis and Nashville with this timeline), latter two from the 2023 TDOE ESA approved list.
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Can someone explain to me like I’m five why Metro Legal, a department full of lawyers, is hiring outside counsel to take on other Metro departments?
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Alright, I keep getting followed by district folks around the state of TN, particular rural and suburban, which I am a fan. Are we ready to coordinate in this voucher scheme? I have thoughts.
DMs are open.
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This is silly. The “incentives” for renters are not a rent decrease. If it was, they’d just lower rent.
It’s another form of market manipulation, to lock you into a contract at high rates. Lease terms are getting longer for most complexes in Nashville for exactly this reason.
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@TheTNHoller
@tnhousegop
@GovBillLee
So the whole "vouchers will be from a seperate funding source than public schools" turned out to be false.
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Turns out OneSchool Global is a network of schools run by and for The Plymouth Brethren.
They have... not the best reputation among kids who grow up and leave their church. They;re aso very insular.
They've taken vouchers elsewhere, specifically IA, so I expect they would here.
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I'll make some additional visuals for this after work to compare locations. Unfortunately, I only found this available in the .pdf presentation. So I'm going to have to translate it to actual useable data later.
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It would be interesting to know if Ms. Reynolds could even hold a TN license.
But just to check, Penny Schwinn's license is still up there.
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This whole thing on trying to compare different tests is laughably absurd. Adding so many layers to hide the ball on testing. The ESA pilot requires TCAP, just require TCAP.
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Going to all these websites, this one stood out to me.
It was because when I was trying to find tuition I came across the map in the second photo and I went, "wah?"
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It's always funny to me that Corey never replies.
The guy's shook. He knows I knows.
C'mon man, "debate me, bro."
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Notice that private schools tend to be in urban and suburban areas, despite rural counties certainly will be affect fiscally given the limited nature of public resources.
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These photos make me feel a lot of ways. Sad that it started cause Cepicky called MNPS schools “shit” while he’s pushing to further hobble them with vouchers. Proud for JR posting up in his face for it. And in awe of
@PartipiloJ
’s capture of the moment.
Lookout photojournalist
@PartipiloJ
captured the moment an altercation broke out on the Tennessee House floor Thursday between Nashville Democrat John Ray Clemmons, right, and Republican Scott Cepicky, over Cepicky's alleged disparaging comments about Metro Nashville Schools.
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It does not appear Ms. Reynolds holds any sort of degree in education. She holds a B.A. in Political Science.
Additionally, the Pahara Institute does not grant degrees in Educational Leadership or any sort of degree period. It's weird the way it's listed here as if it does.
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Matt Murphy’s just asking questions about…. Nazis.
So Justin Jones just so happened to come across this evil, disgusting march that nobody (I know of) knew anything about as it was taking place? Was this by accident? Or did he know about?
This is mighty suspect. Aftyn Behn knew. Justin knew. Why? How?
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One school, for example, had a seperate tuition for supporting students with processing challenges that started at $18,775 while also listing an additional $3,000 or so in fees for academic support.
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And the VA, like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, USPS, and other nice public things that should be expanded but the right wants to privatize, has really high rates of satisfaction by the people who use them.
Same with the public schools people engage with.
Same thing happened when republicans tried to privatize the VA. The wait times for private health care were longer, and the health outcomes underperformed those of VA direct care.
Privatization of anything sucks because the rich people care about profits over people.
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@MartinDKennedy1
The problem with your argument is, well, I already looked at that.
Vast majority are much, much more expensive than the value of the voucher.
This is really a question of access. How far will that $7,075 take a person?
For elementary schools, only four of the currently approved schools would be covered by the proposed voucher amount. The vast majority, 55 schools or 82% would not.
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Not going to name names, but I'm not impressed by some of the replies I've gotten after emailing detailed information about vouchers to some local politicians.
Yes, I know this is a state-level issue. Successful pushback is going to come at the local level.
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This school also discriminates based on gender, but it's part of a network whose policy I was already aware of.
But I knew kids that went to this HS while I went to a public one. They definitely wore boots. Like big old army boots. I wonder if they got a note from a doctor...
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Me: Look, there’s some pretty egregious errors on the TDOE’s records of private school info.
Some rando: haven’t heard of Google? Do your research.
Me: that’s not the point.
Rando with fingers in ears: I can’t hear you. Lalala.
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I know they have pretend to be professional...
But once, just once, I'd like a politician to say "nazi punks fuck off."
That would get my vote.
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I don't like speaking on personal matters for political points, and I verge on this being that, but my FIL worked damned hard as a cancer researcher and was a few years shy of 65 when he passed.
All he wanted to do was fish and tend to his garden.
Shapiro adds nothing to society.
Ben Shapiro: "No one in the United States should be retiring at 65 years old. Frankly, I think retirement itself is a stupid idea unless you have some sort of health problem."
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@freddieoconnell
@MetroSchools
Normally I wouldn't suggest this, but kowtow to the special interests.
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He successfully pantsed the house.
SCOOP
REPUBLICAN Tennessee House Caucus Chairman
@JeremyFaison4TN
apparently misled his entire caucus, GOP leadership, the Governor & school choice advocates telling them he was in support of the school choice bill.
A lot of people voted yes on the bill in committees and
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@EricWelchWCS
@DavidDark
@ChrisBurgerTN
The private K8 school I went to that currently accepts voucher in the pilot didn’t provide comprehensive special ed, grouped two grades together with one teacher, and the algebra I learned in all of 8th grade was covered in the first 6 weeks in the public high school I went to.
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And for those retweeting this, cool. I finished combing though what was available after nap 2 yesterday. Below is the breakdown of all schools.
I did this while sick, but I was diligent and double checked. Wait until I'm 100% and we'll dig in by city.
There are 69 elementary schools approved for vouchers. After cleaning for schools with no tuition listed as well as taking those out where historical data couldn't be found, there are 44 schools with useable data.
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But maybe there's alternative certification, who knows?
So there is TN Compass, where you can search for TN educator licenses. There is no Lizette Reynolds on the site. There's two Lizettes but neither seems to be her (blurred out last names cause I don't know those people)
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