At the end of April, the Commercial Appeal ran an important report about guns in the Memphis public schools - 162 incidents over five years. Even with no fatalities and only a few actual woundings, this is a jaw-dropping number - close to one a week during the school year.

Six of the incidents happened at a school I once attended. One happened where my mother taught remedial reading many years ago, another where my father taught math even more years ago. Three guns were found at the high school that I could see from the dining room of the first house I really remember.

I have to wonder how many guns are not being found. Metal detectors only managed to find eight of the guns. Tips led to most of the confiscations. Many of the violating kids started as victims. How many gang members are too intimidating for anyone to rat on? How many of them carry a gun every day without the school system finding out?

After dropping out of high school in the 9th grade, Gretchen Wilson (at 34 years old) passed her GED exam in April.

I'm not sure what she means by this statement:

Wilson told The Tennessean that her 7-year-old daughter was the big reason to finally finish, saying, "I certainly don't want her to think you can be this successful without an education."

I'm pretty sure she already proved you can be very successful without an education.

The veteran's scholarship program and other education bills are advancing in the Tennessee House. The Tennessean reports...

As noted at Facing South recently, the South is experiencing explosive population growth and a changing demographic.

In this report, the Southern Regional Education Board takes a look at the implications for school systems around the South and concludes:

More than half of the nation’s population growth over the next 20 years will be in SREB states. The most dramatic increase will be in the Hispanic population. The preschool-to-college-age proportions of the population are expected to be similar to those today, however. The proportion of working-age adults will decline, and the proportion of older adults will rise.

These projected changes, when coupled with faster minority growth rates, imply ongoing educational challenges for the SREB states. The proportionally smaller working-age population will have to support an increasingly minority and low-income school population and a rapidly growing number of retirees.

States in the SREB region include Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

From 1997 to 2007, the overall growth in SREB states was 17% as compared to 13% nationwide. The four fastest growing SREB states from 1997 to 2007 were Georgia (27%), Florida (24%), Texas (24%), and North Carolina (22%).

It is interesting to note that two of these states, Texas and Florida (along with Tennessee) have no state income tax. They rely heavily on sales tax revenues which many experts say provide less elasticity in growing economies, making it harder for states to keep up funding for education and other government services.

(Originally posted at Facing South)

According to a recent article in the KNS,

High school students who participate in voluntary extracurricular activities could be randomly drug tested under legislation advancing in the Senate.

The amendment is sponsored by TN Repub. Sen. Jim Tracy, Shelbyville. The original TN Code 49-6-4213, testing of students for drugs, can be found here, then search for the section number 49-6-4213.

Is this any way to treat teenagers? I cannot imagine having to take a drug test to participate in sports, band or the chess club. Why is it that so many people think random drug testing is okay?

Tennessean: Bill to offer lottery scholarships to veterans advances in Senate

Honorably discharged veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could use lottery funds to attend school under legislation advancing in the Senate.

The measure sponsored by Democrats Jim Kyle of Memphis and Joe Haynes of Goodlettsville was among the bills that passed the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday.

Republicans on the Senate Education Committee voted down the "Tennessee Rural Health Act" (SB4099/HB4130) this morning -- 4 aye, 2 nay, 3 present not voting. All four Democrats on the committee voted in favor.

The program is supported by the Tennessee Medical Association, Tennessee Nurses Association, Tennessee Academy for Physicians Assistants, Tennessee Dental Association, and the Tennessee Optometrists Association.

Mark Brown, Communications Director for the Tennessee Senate Democratic Caucus, said "Jim Tracy and the Senate Republicans obviously believe that Bedford, Moore, and other rural Tennessee counties don't need qualified medical professionals."

The people who think the public schools should indoctrinate children in whatever the local majority believes about God (as long as it's Christian, of course), may think that allowing public schools to teach about the Bible is a huge victory. You'll find some of them in the comments at the link. They should read the story again.

A couple of interesting bills in the Tennessee General Assembly this week aim to fund training more teachers and health care professionals. From the TN Senate Dems:

SB4099/HB4130, sponsored by Sen. John Wilder, D-Mason, Sen. Roy Herron, D-Dresden, and Sen. Steve Roller, D-Morrison, creates a loan-forgiveness program for Tennessee students studying to become designated types of health care professionals that agree to practice in rural and other underserved areas across the state. Students that enter the program will agree to practice medicine in a "health resource shortage area" for one year for each year of educational funding provided by the program. Recipients will be required to repay all funds received under the program if they fail to practice medicine in a health resource shortage area for the full time required. Health resource shortage areas are designated as such by the Tennessee Department of Health's Office of Rural Health.

SB3229/HB4165, sponsored by Sen. Andy Berke, D-Chattanooga, earmarks lottery proceeds for a scholarship program targeting Tennessee students studying to become teachers. In order to receive TQTF funding, a student must agree to teach for at least three years in a Tennessee public school after gaining their teaching license. Recipients will be required to repay all funds received under the program if they fail to teach for three years or if they fail to obtain their teaching license.

Democrats in the state legislature are going about the work of lifting Tennessee up from the bottom of national rankings on health care and education.

Meanwhile, Stacy Campfield (R-Knoxville) accuses legislators of wasting time while wasting the legislature's time with his own frivolous stunt legislation.

I have taken on a project as a consulting writer for Tennessee with a national nonprofit. I will be gathering stories about how health care and legal issues contribute to the cumulative problems of poor children, particularly children of color. The stories will be put in narrative form, with emphasis on the child’s viewpoint. I was given numerous leads by the nonprofit, but thought it wouldn't hurt to seek out some more leads. If you know of someone personally who might be willing to share their story, or if you know someone who works with this population, please contact me privately with their contact info.

I've copied over below issues that are of particular concern. From my end, I’m especially concerned about the big picture – how they got to this point and what happens after this point. The information will eventually be used to help develop policy and legislation at the state and national level.

Thanks,
Pam

o Pre-natal care/low birth weight
o Lack of health insurance coverage
o Red tape (being dropped from insurance, difficulty enrolling, etc.)
o Insufficient health benefits
o Aging out of system
o Medicaid versus SCHIP coverage issues
o Lack of access to a health care provider
o Mobility of health insurance/care(state-to state)
o Eligible but not enrolled for any health benefits
o Education
o Child care
o School drop out
o Juvenile detention/criminalizing children at younger ages
o Health and mental health
o Substance Abuse
o Abuse and neglect
o Poverty
o Homelessness
o Girls in the Pipeline
o Child gun deaths
o Single parents
o Grandparents raising grandchildren needing support
o Alternatives to the streets
o § Community supports
o § Mentors
o § Positive role models

Knoxville News Sentinel: Expert says Tennessee’s Pre-K program is model for other states

The director of a national pre-kindergarten advocacy group says Tennessee is a model for other states because of the way it has expanded its pre-K program and shown bipartisan support for it.

[..]

Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, has budgeted $25 million to create up to 250 new pre-K classes, which means about 4,000 more 4-year-olds will have access to the program.

Bredesen has also said he wants to grant universal access to pre-K programs before he leaves office in 2010.

Senate Republicans are out of step with their party leadership on Pre-K. Last Wednesday in the Education Committee, they voiced their opposition to opening Tennessee's voluntary Pre-Kindergarten classrooms to middle-class students.

According to the Senate Democratic Caucus, other prominent Republicans don't see it that way.

An interesting new report from the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) looks at how various tax incentives skew BEP education funding:

When a local government earmarks local sales tax revenues for a sports facility, for example, it has voluntarily diverted school revenues to another purpose. A TIF is a voluntary diversion of property tax revenues to a development project. A property tax abatement results when a public entity voluntarily grants a private entity the use of publicly-owned tax-exempt property.

When property is removed from the county and municipal tax rolls, this diminishes the property tax base, lowers tax capacity, and, in effect, rewards local governments that have voluntarily relinquished revenues that would have gone to public schools had the abatement not been granted. While abatements effected through leases are legal under Tennessee law, officials in counties that have utilized (or over-utilized) them should not be subsidized by excluding the values of abated parcels from their property tax bases.

In 2002, tax abatements were estimated to have cost counties and municipalities approximately $104.3 million in forgone revenues. The loss to county school systems was at least $33 million. The actual total revenue loss was undoubtedly much higher because of under-reporting. The fact is that no one knows the total amount of school revenues that are diverted or abated, and no one knows to what extent the economic benefits of abatements compensate for those losses.

If I read all this correctly, the concern is that counties that use such tax incentives understate their tax base and revenue generating capacity, thus getting a bigger piece of the BEP pie for education than they might otherwise be entitled to.

In their report, which is a follow up to a 2004 report regarding the effects of tax incentives and school funding, TACIR recommends a number of steps to address these concerns. They include improved reporting and oversight of tax incentives, accountability for cost/benefit analysis, and maintaining up to date records used in analyzing the tax base with the goal of leveling the playing field based on comparable information.

Discussions about youth involvement in government and politics frequently turn to the question: "Do they still teach civics these days?"

With early voting underway, State Sen. Rosalind Kurita reminds parents they have an excellent opportunity for a real life civics lesson: Take your kids with you when you vote!

Sen. Kurita (D-Clarksville) introduced legislation a while back to require a separate civics course in at least one grade between fifth and eighth, saying "We have responsibilities to our community and to other people to be good citizens, and I think that civic classes are a way to teach how comprehensive this responsibility really is."

The bill was deferred and the Tennessee Commission on Civics Education, chaired by Sen. Kurita, was tasked with studying the current status of civics education in Tennessee and making recommendations. The state does not currently require separate civics classes, which have been in decline partly because of attention and resources shifted to No Child Left Behind.

The commission reviewed the current state of civics education and surveyed every school in Tennessee about their programs. The commission also heard from Secretary of State Trey Grayson of Kentucky who has made civics education one of his main initiatives.

The Commission on Civics Education reviewed the survey results and other findings to recommend legislation, which Sen. Kurita will introduce.

One simple suggestion was to "take your kids with you when you vote." The committee found that children are far more likely to become active voters as adults if their parents take them with them when they vote.

This morning, Sen. Kurita passed SJR604 which "encourages every parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or other adult guardian to take a child with you to vote on election day as a first-hand civic learning experience and an example of good citizenship in action."

USA number 1!

Keep yelling that loud enough, and it might cover the truth.

Last year, Gov. Bredesen proposed a free community college tuition program for C students who wouldn't otherwise qualify for a HOPE scholarship.

The House passed it, but it got buried in another bill and died in the Senate Education committee. Wasn't State Sen. Jamie Woodson (R-Knoxville) chair of that committee?

Gov. Bredesen had said at the time that he hoped it would get consideration in a future session when there weren't so many distractions. Yesterday, he sounded less hopeful:

One area where Bredesen said he expects to make little progress is in resurrecting last year's failed proposal to offer free community college tuition for any high school students with a C average.

"There was strong opposition to that in the Senate Education Committee, and for that reason I don't have any great hopes for it this year," he said.

The article also says Gov. Bredesen has abandoned a plan that would leverage $100 million in reserves into $1 billion of funding by bolstering local school district credit ratings, but "The legislature wanted to spend it, they didn't want to put it aside to enhance credit."

Did you know there are two General Assemblies in Tennessee? I didn't either until I recently learned about the Tennessee Intercollegiate Student Legislature (TISL).

Founded in 1966, TISL is a student legislature with senators and representatives elected from colleges and universities across the state of Tennessee. Each year they meet at the State Capitol in Nashville to draft bills, work them through committee, and debate them on the floor of the Tennessee General Assembly chambers, just like the real state legislature.

You may recall Dr. Mark Harmon's call for action to help save the UT McNair Scholars program.

Mark posted an update at KnoxViews yesterday, saying he had no success with Dr. Linda Byrd-Johnson and suggested that those interested contact Secretary of Education Diane Auer Jones (diane.jones@ed.gov). I did, and here is her response:

The "National Association of Scholars" says that social work education in U.S. colleges and universities is a "national academic scandal" because it promotes social and economic justice.

Utah voters rejected a statewide school voucher program that would have subsidized private school tuition up to $3000 depending on family income.

It was the first voucher election in the U.S. since 2000, when voters in Michigan and California rejected efforts to subsidize private schools. There have been 11 state referendums on various voucher programs since 1972, all of them unsuccessful, according to the National School Boards Association.

Utah, with a conservative electorate, a Republican governor and GOP-controlled Legislature, was seen nationally as a key test of voter sentiment for vouchers. But opponents, with millions of dollars from a national teachers union, persuaded residents to say no. Experts had said a green light in Utah could have led to similar programs in Texas, Arizona, Louisiana and elsewhere.

This is somewhat surprising but good news for public education.