(Updated 3/22/24 with Correction at end concerning testing requirements)
Although having grown up in a rural county meant that I never needed to put a leash on my family pets, I do appreciate whoever came up with the idea of a retractable leash. You can strap the leash on and grant your pet of choice a feeling of great freedom until you shorten the retractable leash and they hit their allowed limit. Sometimes you can give them 20 feet of open leash, sometimes you have to shorten it to 3 feet so they don’t cause trouble.
Government regulations often operate much like a retractable leash, attaching accountability measures which initially seem quite permissive, but later get tightened down when they decide you are not doing what they think you should do. The school choice legislation before us in the 2 houses of the Tennessee General Assembly are a great example of such a retractable leash which will be placed upon the necks of those trying to escape their failing local public school. Not only will escaping families be held accountable to the program’s rules, but the private schools and homeschool communities which accept them will also have a leash attached to their necks.
Multiple public statements have been made denying the reality that government money always has strings attached. The strings are euphemistically labeled accountability measures. On face, this is quite absurd as the explicit content of the legislation in both houses places specific limits on the money’s use:
- The money cannot go directly to the parent or student.
- The money can be used only for expenses approved by the Department of Education and require receipts for reimbursement.
- Expenses without receipts or which are not approved will require parent to return that money.
- A parent or school which is believed to commit fraud in regard to the expenses may be remanded to civil authorities for criminal prosecution.
- Schools which are not in compliance with DOE’s promulgated (and potentially changing) academic standards and regulations will lose the right to participate in the program.
- Testing requirements are attached to HB1183 which comply with the federal ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act). — CORRECTION AT END
- Compliance with ESSA is required to receive federal funding with its strings.
Parents and their private schools should be concerned about these strings or leashes in their present form, but future prospects for the leash shortening are even more troublesome. We may (or may not) feel comfortable with the leash length right now, under the current administration and the current General Assembly, but the future holds no promises that future state leaders will allow such leash lengths to remain unrestrictive. Once the leash is attached to our neck through funding and the regulations which always follow such funding, we will have great difficulty extracting our necks from the leash when it shortens.
The best option is to avoid the leash being attached in the first place by rejecting the legislation and rejecting the promised money for educating our children.
Please take a few minutes to contact the House Government Operations committee and share the ideas above in your own words in opposition to this bill. You can email (good), call (better), or make an in-person / phone appointment (best). Their committee oversees the regulations written by various state government departments which would eventually tighten the leash. Tell Legislators that private school parents and homeschool parents DO NOT WANT a leash attached through this legislation, especially one which can be tightened later by future leaders. Their contact information is below. Parents can further warn their private school or homeschool umbrella program with this information.
Thank you.
Dr. Eric Potter
LINK to the Contact List for the House Government Operations Committee Members
CORRECTION 3/22/24
From details learned during Moms for Liberty legislative day 3/20/24
You Learn Something New Everyday
In this brief post we offer a correction in part of our review of House Bill 1183. Because HB1183 has language dealing with the scholarships and even more language dealing with public education issues, we need to clarify the testing requirements for scholarship recipients. Previously, we noted that the testing requirements in the bill for the scholarship students follow the federal guidelines and testing schedule. However, that testing schedule is for the public education portion of the bill.
While the scholarship students in private schools will have their academic performance indicators monitored by the Department of Education, they are not required to test according to the federal guidelines like the public-schools. Instead, a third-party contractor will be collecting data from the private schools regarding the scholarship student’s academic performance per the school’s chosen measures. These will be included in a yearly report to the house education committees. We have been told that the third-party contractors will be prohibited from selling the student’s data for profit but do not see the language for this provision in the current version of the bill.
Despite its less rigorous testing schedule, the house bill still contains the same Department of Education approval oversight, DOE rules promulgation issues, and public-private funding concerns. Because the funding schema in this bill involves government money (not tax relief) being paid directly to private education institutions, it tips the balance of power over private education in favor of ever greater state oversight- especially in the future as the size of the program grows.
While some of the public education measures in this bill seem to have some merit, we continue to oppose the bill for reasons discussed. Let’s find another way to help children stuck in a bad education system, not extend the power of that system over the private sphere.
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