Washington Co. BOE unanimously opposes school voucher expansion

A standing ovation was given to the Washington County Board of Education after the unanimous approval of a resolution opposing the expansion of the Education Freedom Scholarship program during the Thursday evening meeting. The resolution was presented by board member Gregg Huddlestone, who said the expansion of the program doesn't have enough evidence of success to justify doubling the funding creating an additional $150 million cost. "That's 150 more million dollars that could and should be used for public education," he said. "I truly believe it would be premature to allocate any additional funding to this program until the legislature addresses more pressing priorities in public education." According to the meeting agenda, the resolution also states the Education Freedom Scholarship program lacks sufficient data "to demonstrate that the program has produced positive student outcomes, improved educational quality, or provided a clear benefit to Tennessee students or taxpayers". Huddlestone added he is not advocating for the program to be defunded, but instead asking for legislators to wait for more evidence before pouring funds into it "Before this program is expanded, we need to see three things – transparency, accountability, and measurable outcomes," Huddlestone said. "We have none of them yet except with TCAP scores in those three initial cities – Nashville, Memphis and Chattanooga – that have shown voucher children have not performed any better, and in some cases, have performed worse." Huddlestone also showed his encouragement in proper public school funding over the expansion of the voucher program. "Before extending the vouchers, let's address public school funding along with being sure that it's delivering on its promise, and not just handing $7,000 to families already enrolled in private school," he said. The board also approved moving forward with communicative next steps for school reconfigurations of pre-kindergarten through 8th grade schools. This reconfiguration splits the grade groups and considers making two middle schools for just 6th through 8th graders, while also grouping together pre-kindergarten through 5th graders into separate schools. Board member Chad Fleenor was repetitive in clarifying the agenda item, reassuring board members and the public that the approval would only demonstrate moving forward with discussions in the reconfiguration plans with administration, teachers, students and parents. "I just want to be crystal clear – the motion tonight is to move forward with the talks, to move forward with the information gathered, that way nobody has the misconceived notion that tonight we're going to move forward and we're going to do this," Fleenor said. "There are probably hundreds of details that's going to have to be worked out on this that we have not even started…To improve student outcomes is the reason all 10 of us are here, and we need to look and see how we can best serve our students." Fleenor also referenced Ridgeview Elementary and Grandview Elementary as the schools being considered for the reconfiguration in a Facebook post on Wednesday, a day prior to the board meeting. "Yes the current board is in the early stages in considering making two schools (Ridgeview and Grandview) middle school or 6-8 grades," the post states. "Absolutely no one is considering doing away with jobs for teachers or staff. No school closures at all." Huddlestone said even if plans were made to do the reconfigurations, it would not be an immediate implementation for the schools. "It must be stated that this is something that is not going to be occurring for the next school year," he said. "If it were to occur, and that's a big if, we're talking at least the following year after that, maybe longer, that we need to have those discussions the other board members have already spoken about." Board member Eric Barnes added he agreed in the sentiment to have open discussions for public opinion as planning and conversations take place between the board about the reconfigurations. "I would agree that we need to err on the side for lots of opportunities for public input, and that we, as a board, make time to be available for those and hear folks out," Barnes said.