TN Charter Law removes cap and enrollment restrictions

In a move that most certainly will transform the public education landscape in Tennessee, the TN State Legislature voted last week to:

1. Remove the cap on the amount of charter schools in TN. Currently the cap is 90 statewide.

2. Remove any restrictions on enrollment. Currently, restrictions on enrollment limit the pool of charter school-eligible students to failing students, students from failing schools and students from lower-income families.

The potential ramifications are enormous... not only for the unions and traditional district schools (MCS) but also for local private schools.

Unions-

Since charters are staffed with non-union teachers, the growth in charter schools and their staff (and their potential success) pose a challenge to the the existing norm in Tennessee education.

Memphis City Schools-

MCS will certainly be impacted as more charter schools are created and are eligible to enroll a larger pool of city students. Since public funding follows the students, declining enrollment in traditional MCS schools reduces the funding to MCS. Free and open enrollment very much makes the business of public education a competitive "open" market for students and the corresponding funding implications.

Local Private Schools-

The opportunity for charter schools to recruit and enroll all students (including wealthy and/ or academically high achieving students) will put a tremendous pressure on private schools. For example, a charter school could open in an affluent neighborhood, adopt a rigorous college preparatory curriculum and actively recruit students from the surrounding area. A private school environment could be recreated and offered at no cost to all families.

Children-

While unions and schools (traditional and private) should be concerned with how to navigate this new landscape, it appears the big winners will be the children in Tennessee.

See below for the press release from the Nashville Tennessean:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A proposal by Republican Gov. Bill Haslam to remove the cap on charter schools is headed to his desk.

The measure by Republican Sen. Jamie Woodson of Knoxville passed the Senate 22-9 Friday night after the House version was approved 72-18.

Charter schools are funded with state and local tax dollars but don't have to meet some of the state regulations that traditional public schools do as they try to find different ways to improve student learning.

Under current law, the number of charter schools is capped at 90 statewide. There are currently 40 in all: 25 in Memphis, 10 in Nashville, three in Hamilton County and one each in Knoxville and Shelby County.

Besides removing the cap, the legislation also allows any student in the charter school's jurisdiction to attend.

President Obama and Memphis

President Obama was in Memphis Monday, May 16th to give the graduation commencement address and hand out diplomas to Booker T. Washington High School's 155 graduates.

I was particularly interested in this quote: "So that’s why I came here today. Because if success can happen here at Booker T. Washington, it can happen anywhere in Memphis. And if it can happen in Memphis, it can happen anywhere in Tennessee. And it can happen anywhere in Tennessee, it can happen all across America."

Just a reminder... Everyone really is watching Memphis. The President is watching. Bill and Melinda Gates are watching. The whole nation is watching.

I believe the MTR has this once in a lifetime opportunity to transform education one school and one feeder pattern at a time. And in doing so, we have the opportunity and potential to transform and redeem public education in Memphis for God's glory. We have the opportunity to do the impossible... and by doing so, prove that God is real and powerful and faithful to His promises to those in need.

And the whole world will know of it...

For the text of the entire speech, see: http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/may/16/president-barack-obamas-commencement-speech/

For pictures, see: http://www.commercialappeal.com/photos/galleries/obama-memphis/

Tennessee Hires Chris Barbic as ASD Superintendent

Tennessee is proposing to turn around the lowest achieving schools in the state through the Achievement School District (ASD). This is a groundbreaking approach that will capitalize on the newly created authority of the Commissioner of the Education through the Tennessee First to the Top Act, best practices research on successful school turnaround, and unprecedented partnerships with nonprofit organizations.

Yesterday, Tennessee announced the hiring of the Superintendent of this newly formed district, Mr. Chris Barbic. He is currently the President of YES Prep in Houston, TX.

This hiring is gaining national attention and is another step in Tennessee leading the nation in urban education reform. I thought you would like to see the commentary below from Whitney Tilson, a leading national education reformer from New York City.

1) HUGE news from Tennessee

Chris Barbic has been tapped by the new Tennessee Education Commissioner (TFA’s Huffman) to be the founding Superintendent of the Achievement School District for the state.

I think this is STOP THE PRESSES news! As you doubtless know, YES Prep is among the very top CMO’s in the country. We hope the Achievement School District will become for Tennessee what the Recovery School District is to Louisiana, and more.

As you know, Kevin Huffman is Tennessee’s new Commissioner of Education. Huffman and Chris Barbic were both in the 1992 Teach for America Corps in Houston (along with Dave Levin and Mike Feinberg). Now Huffman and Barbic will be together again, ready to make Tennessee one of the very top destinations for dynamic education reformers. Congrats to Governor Haslam and Commissioner Huffman for this recruiting coup.

Here are various versions of the announcement:

http://blog.chron.com/schoolzone/2011/05/yes-charter-school-founder-headed-to-tennessee/

http://www.tn.gov/firsttothetop/TNASDSuperintendentjobdescription.pdf

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/may/09/texas-education-reformer-named-head-low-performing/

When you send out this news, you might consider sending along this video of the YES Prep college signing ceremony, which I find very, very inspiring: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yp3DMAHh9s