Oak Ridge Today

Council to consider opposing use of public funds for private schools unless certain conditions met

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The Oak Ridge City Council is pictured above in December 2016. (Photo courtesy City of Oak Ridge)

 

The Oak Ridge City Council on Monday will consider opposing the use of public funds for private schools unless certain conditions are met.

The Oak Ridge Board of Education has already taken a position. In November 2016, the Board of Education said it opposed the taking of funds from public education in any Tennessee community unless the local school board agrees, there is statutory assurance that schools receiving the funds will comply with the same curriculum and testing standards required of public schools, and until the Basic Education Program is “adequately funded” by the Tennessee General Assembly.

There has been increased discussion of the potential use of school vouchers, at least in part because of the nomination and confirmation of Betsy DeVos as the new U.S. education secretary.

In a memo to City Council members, Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said the Tennessee General Assembly has debated the merits of implementing a school voucher system for many years as a way to provide quality education for all students in the state.

“This system would allow a freedom of choice for all students to choose to leave their geographical-centered public school to another school, taking the state-allocated funds for that public school system to the new system, be it public or private,” Watson said. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge school board to consider opposing use of public funds for private schools

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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. [Read more…]