Tennessee Legislation Puts Public Education at Risk

This week I got an experiential, firsthand taste of Tennessee government. Early Wednesday morning a colleague of mine and I, along with scores of other Tennessee educators, packed the state capitol to make our presence known as advocates of true education reform—not the pseudo reform some of our state legislators are proposing.

The Tennessee Senate Education Committee, headed by Chairman Dolores Gresham (R-Somerville) was slated to meet at 10 a.m. to address one of the bills involving education reform. Although we arrived at 8 a.m., the small Senate chamber was already filled over capacity.

We stood outside in the crowded hallway as lawmakers set out to decide the future of one of several bills. This particular bill, SB 113, eliminates mandatory collective bargaining between teachers’ professional organizations and school boards regarding contract items such as salary, insurance, before and after school duties; along with other classroom-oriented issues such as class size, resources, and the like. School boards would have the ultimate say in whether or not to negotiate with employees.

Of the nine committee members, Senator Andy Berke (D-Chattanooga) was the most outspoken opponent of the bill. He suggested that such proposed legislation had little to do with education per se and more to do with opposition to unions. He held up a copy of The New York Times, pointing out the irony of the publication that same morning of an article which stressed the significance of teachers having a representative voice in the operation of the classroom in terms of student improvement and progress.

After some discussion on the bill, government relations director for the Tennessee Education Association (TEA), Jerry Winters, was allowed to speak. His comments were both logical and heartfelt. He refused to get embroiled in a debate over semantics regarding TEA as a union but suggested that the group is a professional organization consisting of teachers themselves, not an uninvolved middleman.

Winters urged legislators to avoid approving this bill, arguing that it skirts real demands teachers face in the classroom and the true obstacles to education reform. He pointed out the idealistic flaw in the logic of making the negotiations process a choice and the necessity of a collective voice by offering a true story regarding educators being forced to negotiate simply to obtain textbooks.

In the end, the committee’s vote on the bill passed, with six Republican senators voting in favor and three Democrats opposing. Of course, now the bill moves to a vote on the Senate floor and then on to the House of Representatives.

By lunchtime, as I sat with other educators, I felt overwhelmed and disheartened. It appears as if legislators are targeting teachers, and while I agree that not every person has the ability to be an outstanding teacher, I do not think that education woes plaguing our states and our nation are linked solely to teachers, the implication of some of the proposed legislation.

I love education—and have since I was a student—and want to see it flourish. I believe whole-heartedly that education can be the single biggest factor in the potential to change individuals’ lives.

I love my students. I want them to succeed. However, if we as a society and a government do not respect and support teachers and education in both word and deed, our educational system and its products are negatively impacted. By contrast, President Obama’s comments during his recent State of the Union address reveal a very telling aspect of Korea’s educational views: the Korean word for “teacher” means “nation-builder.” Until our lack of esteem for educators changes, we will continue as a nation to meet low, self-imposed expectations.

Most importantly, I believe in the power of public education. Everyone is invited to the table to partake, and those who are ravenous for learning may devour as much as they can hold. Knowledge and literacy and enlightenment are not relegated to an aristocratic sector of the population, an upper echelon, as they once were historically. What an amazing, democratic idea. I would like to see that it remains that way.