This week, the legislature heard two bills with the exact same intent, to collect data from school districts in order for the General Assembly to form informed decisions.
It was determined this week that transparency in regards to illegal immigration is desired among Republicans, but data that would help shape the Education Freedom Scholarships, or “school voucher” program is not a priority.
We’ll start with the debate regarding HB0793/SB0836 by House Majority Leader Rep. Lamberth (R – Portland) and Sen. Watson (R – Hixson).
The bill was written last year and would have given local school districts the right to require non-citizens to pay school fees upon registration. If a family chose not to pay the fees, the school had the right to not allow them to enroll. It gave the power to the schools to make decisions based on what is best for the financial situation they are facing and the population of children they are educating.
This year, all of that language was removed and what was left was simply a measure to collect data. The bill would require schools to report the number of students who register without their American birth certificate or citizenship paperwork. The bill does not track any names or personal identifying information.
In response to the bill presentation by Leader Lamberth, Rep. Jones (D – Nashville) referred to the bill being racist and vile. He stated that students will be afraid to come to school if the bill passes. He feels the teachers will be required to serve as ICE agents.
There is no language in the bill which would support those claims, but nevertheless, they are great talking points for social media and to rally the cries of the left, which it did.
During the House floor session on Monday, Leader Lamberth said, “Data and facts are never something we should be afraid of, period, end of story.”
He continued, “When we have all of the data at our fingertips to be the voice of our districts, [we are] able to make decisions in the best interest of Tennessee.”
Currently, Tennessee public schools require two proofs of residence with the child’s guardian name(s), which could be from a mortgage, lease, utility bills, court documentation, insurance or current financial statements. They also must provide the state’s immunization form and physical. The immunization form can have a religious exemption attached. Those are the only two requirements for registration.
Tennessee prefers to have the student’s birth certificate and a copy of the guardian(s) driver’s license or state-issued ID, but neither of these are required.
Leader Lamberth stated, that according to this bill, “If they cannot prove that they are legal citizens, that information will be compiled at the LEA level or public charter school and sent to the Department of Education here in our state and then shared with us (the General Assembly) to be able to make whatever decisions we wish to utilize it for down the road.”
Currently, because there are no mandatory reporting requirements, there is no way to know how many illegal students are in each school or district.
He closed his presentation by making the point that this data would directly impact how the legislature should spend the 9.5 billion dollar education budget.
As a quick aside, the reason we do not require families to prove citizenship is because of another case where the Supreme Court created policy rather than interpret the Constitution.
In 1982, Plyler v. Doe made education a right in this country, rather than a privilege. In Plyler, Texas, children of illegal immigrants were being turned away because they could not prove their citizenship. A group of families sued the state and won, in a 5-4 Supreme Court case, which ensured that every child who enters a public school building must receive a free education.
On Monday, the House voted in favor of HB0793/SB0836, 70 ayes and 25 nos.
The next day, HB1544/SB1643, a bill sponsored by Rep. Barrett (R – Dickson) and Sen. Walley (R – Savannah), was heard in the House K-12 Subcommittee regarding another set of education data.
This bill would require the Department of Education to share the data they already have regarding the Education Freedom Scholarship Program. Currently, the only data the state is sharing is how many applications the state has received and how many scholarships have been rewarded.
For this current school year, over 42,000 applications were received and 20,000 scholarships were provided. For next school year, over 56,000 applications came in, so the state is looking to double the scholarships given, to 40,000. With each scholarship being $7,295 this year and likely to increase to $7,530 for next year.
The total for these scholarships next year will be $3.1 billion tax payer dollars.
This bill would require the Department of Education to publish the following data points:
How many applications are coming out of each county? Each school?
How many scholarships are being given to each county? And to each school?
What are the income brackets for the families applying and receiving scholarships?
Same as the first bill, no personally identifying information is being asked for, names and addresses are not to be published.
Information like this is vital to the tax payer and to the legislation who is responsible for managing such a large program and budget item. Are there schools where there is an unusually high amount of applications coming from that needs attention? Are there more higher-earning income families receiving scholarships than those living below the poverty level?
The program was designed to give children a choice to move out of their home-zoned school who would not otherwise have the option because of income. This type of data would prove whether or not the program is indeed helping those families or if it needs to be re-evaluated.
Rep. Barrett said during the committee meeting, “As fiscal conservatives, we need to make sure the money we are spending is accomplishing the goal of the program.”
Unfortunately, the bill failed in committee with a tie vote.
The four Republicans who voted against data to support the Education Freedom Scholarship Program voted for the bill which would provide data on illegal children in our schools.
Data is the driving force in education. At the local level, every decision a principal makes is based on data, how many students are in classrooms, how many support staff are needed based on numbers, what extracurricular programs can be offered on budget. On an even more micro level, every student is a data point, from their attendance, their behavior, their grades, their test scores, their socio economic status, their gender, their race.
As Leader Lamberth said, “Data and facts are never something we should be afraid of, period, end of story.”
Tax payers are footing the bill for thousands of students to attend private schools, we should not be afraid of what that data shows either.
When Data Becomes Political in Tennessee
This week, the legislature heard two bills with the exact same intent, to collect data from school districts in order for the General Assembly to form informed decisions.
It was determined this week that transparency in regards to illegal immigration is desired among Republicans, but data that would help shape the Education Freedom Scholarships, or “school voucher” program is not a priority.
We’ll start with the debate regarding HB0793/SB0836 by House Majority Leader Rep. Lamberth (R – Portland) and Sen. Watson (R – Hixson).
The bill was written last year and would have given local school districts the right to require non-citizens to pay school fees upon registration. If a family chose not to pay the fees, the school had the right to not allow them to enroll. It gave the power to the schools to make decisions based on what is best for the financial situation they are facing and the population of children they are educating.
This year, all of that language was removed and what was left was simply a measure to collect data. The bill would require schools to report the number of students who register without their American birth certificate or citizenship paperwork. The bill does not track any names or personal identifying information.
In response to the bill presentation by Leader Lamberth, Rep. Jones (D – Nashville) referred to the bill being racist and vile. He stated that students will be afraid to come to school if the bill passes. He feels the teachers will be required to serve as ICE agents.
There is no language in the bill which would support those claims, but nevertheless, they are great talking points for social media and to rally the cries of the left, which it did.
During the House floor session on Monday, Leader Lamberth said, “Data and facts are never something we should be afraid of, period, end of story.”
He continued, “When we have all of the data at our fingertips to be the voice of our districts, [we are] able to make decisions in the best interest of Tennessee.”
Currently, Tennessee public schools require two proofs of residence with the child’s guardian name(s), which could be from a mortgage, lease, utility bills, court documentation, insurance or current financial statements. They also must provide the state’s immunization form and physical. The immunization form can have a religious exemption attached. Those are the only two requirements for registration.
Tennessee prefers to have the student’s birth certificate and a copy of the guardian(s) driver’s license or state-issued ID, but neither of these are required.
Leader Lamberth stated, that according to this bill, “If they cannot prove that they are legal citizens, that information will be compiled at the LEA level or public charter school and sent to the Department of Education here in our state and then shared with us (the General Assembly) to be able to make whatever decisions we wish to utilize it for down the road.”
Currently, because there are no mandatory reporting requirements, there is no way to know how many illegal students are in each school or district.
He closed his presentation by making the point that this data would directly impact how the legislature should spend the 9.5 billion dollar education budget.
As a quick aside, the reason we do not require families to prove citizenship is because of another case where the Supreme Court created policy rather than interpret the Constitution.
In 1982, Plyler v. Doe made education a right in this country, rather than a privilege. In Plyler, Texas, children of illegal immigrants were being turned away because they could not prove their citizenship. A group of families sued the state and won, in a 5-4 Supreme Court case, which ensured that every child who enters a public school building must receive a free education.
On Monday, the House voted in favor of HB0793/SB0836, 70 ayes and 25 nos.
The next day, HB1544/SB1643, a bill sponsored by Rep. Barrett (R – Dickson) and Sen. Walley (R – Savannah), was heard in the House K-12 Subcommittee regarding another set of education data.
This bill would require the Department of Education to share the data they already have regarding the Education Freedom Scholarship Program. Currently, the only data the state is sharing is how many applications the state has received and how many scholarships have been rewarded.
For this current school year, over 42,000 applications were received and 20,000 scholarships were provided. For next school year, over 56,000 applications came in, so the state is looking to double the scholarships given, to 40,000. With each scholarship being $7,295 this year and likely to increase to $7,530 for next year.
The total for these scholarships next year will be $3.1 billion tax payer dollars.
This bill would require the Department of Education to publish the following data points:
How many applications are coming out of each county? Each school?
How many scholarships are being given to each county? And to each school?
What are the income brackets for the families applying and receiving scholarships?
Same as the first bill, no personally identifying information is being asked for, names and addresses are not to be published.
Information like this is vital to the tax payer and to the legislation who is responsible for managing such a large program and budget item. Are there schools where there is an unusually high amount of applications coming from that needs attention? Are there more higher-earning income families receiving scholarships than those living below the poverty level?
The program was designed to give children a choice to move out of their home-zoned school who would not otherwise have the option because of income. This type of data would prove whether or not the program is indeed helping those families or if it needs to be re-evaluated.
Rep. Barrett said during the committee meeting, “As fiscal conservatives, we need to make sure the money we are spending is accomplishing the goal of the program.”
Unfortunately, the bill failed in committee with a tie vote.
The four Republicans who voted against data to support the Education Freedom Scholarship Program voted for the bill which would provide data on illegal children in our schools.
Data is the driving force in education. At the local level, every decision a principal makes is based on data, how many students are in classrooms, how many support staff are needed based on numbers, what extracurricular programs can be offered on budget. On an even more micro level, every student is a data point, from their attendance, their behavior, their grades, their test scores, their socio economic status, their gender, their race.
As Leader Lamberth said, “Data and facts are never something we should be afraid of, period, end of story.”
Tax payers are footing the bill for thousands of students to attend private schools, we should not be afraid of what that data shows either.
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Anne Lowery
Anne Lowery