Editor's note: At the recent Republican National Convention, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said he agreed with former President Donald Trump that school choice is "the civil rights issue of our time." Lee's plan to expand school vouchers from three to 95 counties failed in 2024, but he intends to bring it anew to the state legislature in 2025. Readers below discuss the idea. Agree or disagree? Send a letter of 250 words or fewer to letters@tennessean.com . Include your full name, city/town, ZIP and contact information for verification. Thanks for adding to the public conversation.
School choice is the civil rights issues of our time
“Tenn. Governor calls school choice a civil rights issue,” July 18.
Thank you, Gov. Bill Lee, for highlighting the urgent need for school vouchers on the national stage at Wednesday’s Republican National Convention.
The absence of school choice is a crisis and a real civil rights issue.
Public, e.g., government run, schools are doing a woeful and pathetic job of educating our youth. Our children, particularly minorities, simply can’t read, write and do simple math.
This is a national disgrace that every citizen should be ashamed of.
The National Education Association opposes voucher programs because their sub-par instructors wouldn’t be hired by private, accredited institutions. They are simply interested in their own survival, politics, and DEI, not the education of our children. A new, reinvigorated education system wouldn’t tolerate, much less reward, this deplorable record of failure.
In Tennessee, Democratic state representatives such as Justin Pearson, Justin Jones and Gloria Johnson – the “Tennessee Three” – oppose vouchers because it keeps their constituents and future voters poor, ignorant and dependent. Exactly where these legislators want them to be.
Gov. Bill Lee’s school voucher expansion gets lost in translation in rural Tennessee
I encourage Tennessee voters to learn about school choice and how it will lift our children’s education, lives and prospects for the future. They deserve much better than what they have been receiving.
Dave MacFadyn, Franklin 37064
Reducing school class size should be the solution
This is a follow-up to the letter I wrote in January saying that vouchers for private schools will not benefit many deserving students. Many low-income parents cannot afford private school but have students who are eager to learn.
More money should be allotted for hiring additional teachers in public schools to ensure the success of all students. It is imperative that all students have an opportunity to be in a classroom where the environment is conducive to learning.
Having taught in public schools for 31 years, I believe more money needs to be used to employ more teachers so class sizes can be limited. To benefit the education of all students, smaller class sizes are imperative. Students can receive more individual attention from the teachers and from other students who are interested in learning when the classes are small.
It was a joy to teach English at Mt. Juliet High School from 1988-2009. I loved teaching! I loved watching students have a feeling of accomplishment. I also witnessed that some students feel overwhelmed in large classes. With disruptions in a classroom, it is difficult to concentrate on the subject.
The answer to reaching high goals and minimizing discipline problems is limiting the number of students in classes.
The education of all students is vital. If students haven’t been encouraged to read and to study, they need individual attention to help them succeed. If they are ignored, many will feel so far behind they will give up and drop out of school. Then what is their future? If they can’t obtain employment, many will be robbers, homeless, and destructive to themselves and society in general.
It is essential for class sizes to be small so all students can feel respected, acquire a strong educational foundation, and prepare for a bright future. More teachers must be hired for all classrooms for students to succeed.
Frances Massey, Brentwood 37027
School vouchers aren’t really about choice
Tennesseans do not like anything shoved down our throats, including the governor's flawed school voucher law.
Thankfully, the legislation has been sidelined … for now, but as a lifelong Republican I am disappointed my party chose to ignore most of the elected school boards and taxpayers throughout the State.
The school voucher “plan” is not, nor ever was about school choice. Tennessee children have that now. It is a special interest plan to unconstitutionally redirect State revenue to private schools, plain and simple. In reality, no voucher will benefit special needs children. It certainly wouldn't fund special needs school transportation either.
Nor will it benefit most children in rural areas without any school bus transportation to get to private schools. But this bill was never intended to help these kids anyway, was it ?
If the governor really cares to know whether most Tennesseans want school vouchers in their city or county, follow the state legislation long established for the local option sales tax, liquor by the drink, liquor stores and annexation and put it to a referendum of the registered voters on a county-by county basis. Let the citizens in each of the 95 counties decide.
2024 is an election year in Tennessee. Please remember this issue when you vote.
Charles Stahl, Johnson City 37601
Public schools will lose out to the private sector
Governor Lee and supporters of his universal private school voucher plan appear to be trying to deceive us with their use of terms such as “school choice,” “education freedom,” and “civil rights.”
A $7,000 voucher would not grant most students the choice, the freedom, or the right to attend a private school.
It would leave the choice with private schools to select their students.
Their plan would give Tennessee state government the freedom to divert taxpayer money from public to private schools.
And it would give private school families the right to a government subsidy while diminishing the right of public school families to a quality education.
Frank Carter, Murfreesboro 37129
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: School choice is a 'civil rights issue': Readers debate Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee's idea
Local Tennessee State
Most Popular
Comments / 0