The Oak Ridge school board on Monday will consider opposing the use of public funds for private schools.
A resolution to be considered by the Oak Ridge Board of Education “strongly opposes” taking funds from public education in any community in the state without agreement from a local school board, without a legal guarantee that the schools receiving the funds will comply with the same curriculum and testing standards required of public schools, and until the state’s Basic Education Program, or BEP, is fully funded by the Tennessee General Assembly.
The resolution says the Tennessee General Assembly, the state’s legislature, will consider legislation in 2017 that would use public funds to pay tuition costs for students to attend private, religious, and non-religious schools.
The General Assembly and Tennessee State Board of Education have adopted high standards for student and teacher performance in public schools, but private schools are not held to the same accountability standards as public schools with regard to academic performance or student access, the resolution says.
Many private schools in Tennessee have not adopted similar standards, refusing to administer the same tests given to public school students, the resolution says. Also, many private schools don’t provide special education services required of public schools or accept all students regardless of ability, making it impossible to determine the academic value of funding private education, the resolution says.
In addition, the proposal to take resources from public schools “comes at a time when the state’s Basic Education Program is not fully funded, made worse in the City of Oak Ridge by the repeal of the Hall Income Tax that will sharply reduce local revenues needed for education,” the resolution says.
It says the motivation for taking funds from Tennessee public schools comes primarily from groups in California, Texas, and Washington, D.C., that seek to establish and manage private schools on a for-profit basis.
Large numbers of legislators have “openly expressed their desire to expand the use of public funds to all students, regardless of their income, school, or community,” and once authorized, “the pressure of interest groups to expand the transfer of public funds to private schools in all communities will be enormous,” the resolution says.
“It is critical to the vitality of Oak Ridge that we protect and sustain a system of public education that for decades has proved to be among our city’s most valuable assets,” the resolution says.
If approved, the resolution would be forwarded to legislators who represent Oak Ridge and to the Oak Ridge superintendent.
You can find a link to the BOE resolution in the Monday night meeting agenda. You can also see the resolution here:Â oak-ridge-board-of-education-resolution-on-public-funds-for-private-schools-nov-2016.
The Monday meeting starts at 6 p.m. in the School Administration Building at 304 New York Avenue.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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Mark Caldwell says
I don’t have any children in the local school system, but I’m ok with using a large part of my property tax for our school system. If my money is used for private schools (i.e., vouchers), then I want money for a private school. Maybe I’ll take a photography or gardening class.