Marta W. Aldrich is the senior statehouse correspondent at Chalkbeat Tennessee. A newswoman for The Associated Press for most of her career, Marta has covered state government, politics, business, education and other Tennessee news. She has served as news editor of United Methodist News Service and features editor of American Profile magazine. Marta is a graduate of Memphis City Schools and the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
107 articles by Marta W. Aldrich :
Starting with small clusters of students, a Tennessee school became one of the nation’s first to reopen its campus to students during the pandemic. Within two days, a teacher with the sniffles tested positive for COVID-19.
The state Board of Education will consider the first round of requests Friday. That vote will offer an early glimpse of how far Tennessee will go to help schools navigate COVID-19 at the expense of statewide policies aimed at improving the quality of public education.
Teachers in Tennessee and across the nation face hard choices. Should I return to my school building? Should I pursue a remote teaching option if my district offers one? Should I leave the profession altogether?
The case pits school districts in Memphis and Nashville against the state over whether Tennessee allocates enough money for K-12 education, especially for its urban students.
The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency last week began delivering 298,000 masks to school districts for the state’s 66,000 public school teachers and other school staff.
Tennessee’s charter schools sector has grown to 118 since a 2002 state law opened the door to the publicly funded, independently operated schools. Most are in Memphis. And its new overseeing body, the Tennessee Public Charter Schools Commission, is extending its search for an executive director.
Groups began lining up both for and against testing after Superintendent Joris Ray, who leads the state’s largest district in Memphis, said he would petition the education commissioner to drop the annual assessment known as TNReady in 2020-21.
The State Board of Education approved an emergency rule on Monday requiring districts and charter leaders to submit plans for how their school communities will teach students in 2020-21 while navigating the pandemic.
Dozens of colleges and universities joined together last week to announce a monthlong social media campaign called #ItsGoTimeTN.
For educators, the retreat marked a disappointing end to a budget process that was so promising in February when Gov. Bill Lee asked the legislature for nearly $650 million in new dollars for K-12 education.
Tennessee Department of Education has also warned districts to plan for driver shortages. On social media, some drivers have suggested that returning to their bus jobs may not be worth the hassle.
It will be up to the state Legislature to set priorities on new education spending, such as a teacher pay hike, a scaled-down literacy initiative, and the state’s embattled education savings account program, the governor said.
The nine-member commission would report its findings to the Legislature by Jan. 1, in the face of learning setbacks for school children, disruptions to university life and the likelihood of more school closures next year.
As lawmakers begin returning to the Capitol, they’ll face cratering revenues and the need to make deep cuts to Tennessee’s spending plan.
“My sense was that the money should have been distributed in the same way we distributed Title I money. I think that’s what most of Congress was expecting,” the Tennessee Republican said, referring to the federal program that supports students from low-income families.
Decisions about payment and future tests are among scores of questions and adjustments that all states are dealing with after the pandemic shuttered schools nationwide before testing season got underway.
At a price tag of about $1 million, the program marks the first major statewide investment in addressing learning loss due to the public health emergency.
Davidson County Chancellor Anne C. Martin also scolded the state education department for its “mixed messaging” in continuing to take applications for the voucher program without alerting parents about the status of the legal case.
One lawsuit over education savings accounts, or vouchers, pits the state against Metro Nashville and Shelby County governments, as well as Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools. Another was filed on behalf of parents in Memphis and Nashville.
The coronavirus has ground most of the economy to a halt and created financial uncertainty for both traditional and charter schools. Last week in Memphis, charter network KIPP announced plans to close two of its schools, partly because of its struggle to secure long-term funding during the pandemic.
Students will miss at least 50 days of classroom instruction — almost a third of the school year — because of the pandemic.
Amity Schuyler will work for a school system that opposes the Education Savings Account program she hustled to launch.
The money will cover short-term needs as schools address students’ learning loss and anticipated trauma from this year’s shutdown, as well as uncertain future revenues due to a likely recession.
For some students just short of a 3.0 grade point average, two extra months of grading could mean the difference between obtaining the state’s HOPE scholarship to attend college – or not.
The rules – which also direct the state to drop overall effectiveness scores in this year’s teacher evaluations — position Tennessee to weather the rest of the school year in remote learning mode.
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