It was disheartening to see commentaries and news stories during the first few weeks of the new school year highlight challenges faced by public school educators in Tennessee and across the nation. While they contributed valuable insights, however, a crucial element missing from most of those pieces was the detrimental effect of school voucher initiatives.
As colleges welcomed students back to the classrooms in mid-August, a column in The Tennessean by a coalition of deans and leaders of three Tennessee teacher-preparation programs emphasized the decline in aspiring teachers and the urgent need for early-career support in our state.
Less than two weeks later, a Wall Street Journal article declared “teachers are already demoralized and exhausted” in its lead paragraph. Citing a recent Rand poll, the story pointed out that the share of teachers who say the stress and disappointment of the job are “worth it” has fallen to 42%, which is 21 points lower than other college-educated workers. That is a sharp decline from 2018, when 70% of teachers said the stress was worth it.
While students’ mental health and student behavior were cited as the top source of teacher stress in the Rand survey, Tennessee teaching college deans underscored the need for state investment in teacher preparation programs, compensation and other initiatives to attract and retain quality educators.
In fact, Tennessee ranks as one of the worst states in the nation for teacher pay penalty, the discrepancy in pay between teachers and similarly educated professionals in other industries. That makes teacher recruitment and retention in the Volunteer state a tougher challenge than in many of our neighboring states.
Lawmakers shifting money away from public schools is a stressor for educators
Yet the discussion around perennial negative impact of voucher initiatives was largely absent from the conversations. No picture of public education reality in Tennessee would be complete without the constant threat to shift hundreds of millions of dollars away from Tennessee public schools – a reality Tennesseans face every year as out-of-state privatizers push their voucher schemes in our state General Assembly.
Only one recent news story stands out. In it, Missy Testerman, the 2024 National Teacher of Year and 2023-24 Tennessee Teacher of the Year, said Tennessee's focus should be on increasing per-pupil funding for public education — not on implementing a statewide voucher program.
Testerman told the nonprofit education news outlet Chalkbeat that Tennessee should prioritize increasing per-pupil funding for public education instead of allocating funds to a voucher program that failed to pass during the last legislative session. Pointing out the irony of the state budget having a $144 million placeholder for the voucher program, Testerman said Tennessee still lingers near the bottom nationally in per-pupil funding and our public schools continue to lack essential resources.
As the old saying goes, one should not expect a different result while stubbornly insisting on doing the same thing.
Opinion: Tennessee has great teachers, but we need to do more to support their development
If we want young professionals to flock to Tennessee classrooms and for seasoned educators to regain the joy of teaching, it’s time for Tennessee state leaders to listen to the voices of public-school educators, administrators, and directors – the true experts in education policy and student outcomes.
Protect and strengthen Tennessee public schools
A visit to any Tennessee school will reveal a shared sentiment: let educators focus on their jobs and avoid the distractions of harmful voucher schemes, which are proven to wreak havoc on state budgets in states like Arizona, Florida, Arkansas and Ohio, and have failed to deliver promised student gains in Tennessee.
Every year, Tennessee communities, school boards and educators call on state legislators to reject statewide vouchers, only to be told they are coming back again in the next legislative season. It’s time for our state leaders to recognize the enormous drain of voucher programs on budgets in other states and put to rest the idea that Tennessee can afford to “do both” – fund our public schools and experiment with vouchers. This has led every state with expansive voucher programs to see their share of public K-12 investment slip away.
Let’s protect, support and strengthen Tennessee’s great public schools by listening to experts like National Teacher of the Year Missy Testerman and those educators who are working in our schools daily.
Terrance J. Gibson is executive director of the Tennessee Education Association .
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Opinion: Tennessee say they support teachers. If so, move away from school vouchers
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