Low census participation may cost Memphis power in government – and school funding
Shelby County Schools, for instance, is budgeted this academic year to receive $308 million in federal funds, more than a fifth of the district’s revenues.
Marta W. Aldrich
Chalkbeat Tennessee
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.
There are 185 articles by Marta W. Aldrich :
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August 2020
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Education -
Education Governor lists school vouchers among his biggest accomplishments – and disappointments
Gov. Bill Lee expects the voucher rollout, which was halted when a Nashville judge overturned the 2019 law in May, will be resurrected in 2021. The Tennessee Court of Appeals is expected to rule this fall on the state’s appeal.
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Education Tennessee, among first to reopen schools in person, serves as ‘experiment’ in COVID safety
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.
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July 2020
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Education Lunch duty, P.E., class size: School systems seek hundreds of waivers from state mandates
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.
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Education Teacher anxiety grows as COVID cases surge weeks before school reopenings
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?
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Education Judge sets trial date in 5-year-old school funding lawsuit
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.
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Education To reopen schools, Tennessee plans to distribute millions of masks to teachers, 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.
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June 2020
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Education Tennessee’s charter school commission widens search for leader
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.
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Education Calls grow to cancel TNReady testing second straight year
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.
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Education COVID or not, Tennessee expects 180 days of ‘quality instruction’ for students next year
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.
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Education With applications down, Tennessee colleges nudge Class of 2020 via new social media campaign
Dozens of colleges and universities joined together last week to announce a monthlong social media campaign called #ItsGoTimeTN.
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Education Pared-down budget scrubs proposed teacher bonus
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.
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Education State urges districts to buckle up for school bus issues
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.
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May 2020
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Education Lee promises to preserve state funding for schools in budget crisis
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.
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Education Tennessee considers commission to help education rebound from the pandemic
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.
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Education Five education issues to watch as Legislature resumes
As lawmakers begin returning to the Capitol, they’ll face cratering revenues and the need to make deep cuts to Tennessee’s spending plan.
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Education Alexander questions DeVos plan to shift coronavirus relief to private schools
“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.
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Education After canceling TNReady exams, state must pay millions for testing prep work
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.
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Education Haslams want to hire 1,000 college students to tutor children
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.
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Education Judge denies motion to proceed with school vouchers pending appeal
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.
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April 2020
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Education Tennessee will wait to award school vouchers until judge rules
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.
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Education Memphis, Nashville districts consider charter school applications
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.
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Education Tennessee’s 1M students will learn less because of coronavirus closures
Students will miss at least 50 days of classroom instruction — almost a third of the school year — because of the pandemic.
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Education SCS hires state official overseeing voucher launch
Amity Schuyler will work for a school system that opposes the Education Savings Account program she hustled to launch.
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Education SCS to get $49M in emergency funds
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.
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