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Sen. Kelsey and Rep. White Take Control of TN Education: Proceed to Defund Shelby Schools And Improperly Retain Third Graders

Written by Tiffany Crow

Picture this: an eager Shelby County third grader receives a final report card for the school year. Despite the challenges of virtual learning, a seemingly never-ending global pandemic, attempting to return to a sense of normalcy in school, and the emotional toll of the combination of these, the child has managed to make the honor roll in all subjects. Upon closer inspection, however, the student notices a stamp, with the words “Retained” plastered across the crisp, white paper. It appears that this bright pupil did not score in the proper proficiency range on the ELA portion of the TCAP, meaning that the student will not be promoted on to the fourth grade.

Unfortunately, this could be the reality of potentially two-thirds of the third-grade students across the state of Tennessee due to House Bill HB7004.  This bill and its Senate counterpart came out from Rep. Mark White and State Senator Brian Kelsey’s Education Committees and were ultimately passed in the January of 2021 Special Session of the Tennessee Legislature.

TN Education

The result of the Special Session called by Governor Bill Lee was the passage of a whirlwind of changes and additions to education policies. One of the more controversial and potentially damaging being HB7004, outlining that third graders who do not score in “on track” or “mastery” on ONE high stakes test, the ELA portion of the TCAP, will be retained or “held back.” While there is some language of exceptions, there is no real guidance set forth in the bill outlining these and, even more alarming, the bill lacks any parameters around students covered under disability protections or students with IEPS or Section 504 Plans.  In short, stakeholders (parents and teachers) would no longer be the primary decision-makers related to retention of their students.

Local schools push back

Local school districts are already sounding the alarm.  For instance, the Germantown Board of Education, in a joint statement expressed concern around the third grade retention bill, stating “even third graders who are performing at grade level could be subject to retention,” and the bill gives no “consideration of possible negative life-long effects retention can have on children.”

Arguably worse is the effect of SB7001, which also passed.  This law requires that 80% of a school district’s students report IN PERSON, THIS YEAR, to participate in TNREADY/TCAP testing, despite being enrolled in state-approved remote learning options.  If the district does not meet these requirements, it will be negatively affected in next year’s state funding.  Put simply, White and Kelsey have passed into law a provision that Shelby County, as a whole will likely not be able to achieve (80% in person testing) and have thus created a back-door method to partially defund our schools.

The financial impact

In failing to meet the 80% requirement, SCS is going to immediately lose safe-harbor funds that would otherwise go to the schools.  More importantly, it opens the district up to financial penalties from the state.  This basically means it will allow the state to withhold more funds and presumably use those on more favored districts  (tnedreport ).  

Because of the convoluted way education funding is determined, Rep. White and Sen. Kelsey likely believe that they can avoid scrutiny for cutting the funding of schools in their own districts.  What is likely to happen next year is that SCS will face an increased funding shortfall as state money is withheld.  It will be superficially at the discretion of state officials.  I am willing to bet that there will be a couple of concerned quotes from Kelsey and White on this, despite the fact that they had complete control of creating this situation and they put the future “decision” to cut funding in the hands of state officials that are openly hostile to Shelby County.

Mark White and Brian Kelsey now owe their constituents answers as it becomes clear that the rushed job in January is creating major educational problems.

 The fact that Germantown Municipal Schools, with all of its resources, is grappling with the problematic nature of these bills should be even more concerning to parents and stakeholders in Shelby County Schools, a district that traditionally faces a greater degree of challenges with insufficient resources. Most would agree that it is unsafe, and likely impossible to have students report in person with the still prevalent, Covid-19-related challenges and optional remote learning. It is also not acceptable that a third grader should not be retained on the basis on a single portion of a high stakes test.  Parents deserve a voice in making those decisions, not state legislators.

What can we do?

Luckily, there is something that we can do.  Constituents and educational stakeholders should contact our local legislators, particularly Rep. White and Senator Kelsey to express the need for them to fix their mistakes and amend these laws before they harm our funding or our kids. 

Rep. White’s email: rep.mark.white@capitol.tn.gov

Senator Kelsey’s email: sen.brian.kelsey@capitol.tn.gov

 Written by Tiffany Crow

Robert Donati