Getting high-quality private schools to sign on is viewed as crucial to the success of the education savings account program, which will launch with up to 5,000 students zoned for Shelby County Schools, Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, and the state-run Achievement School District.
Shelby County Schools board members heard arguments from district staff and from Memphis Business Academy Middle, Memphis College Preparatory Elementary and Veritas College Preparatory ahead of a Jan. 28 vote to renew their 10-year contracts.
Student enrollment at the district’s 57 charter schools is up nearly 14%, to about 18,250 students. That means the share of Shelby County Schools students attending a charter school rose to 16%.
District staff recommended against re-upping operating agreements for Veritas College Preparatory, Memphis College Preparatory Elementary and Memphis Business Academy Middle.
The new hires are expected to further expand the influence of organizations advocating for education policies such as vouchers and charter schools.
Across Shelby County Schools district, 600 more students in kindergarten through second grade are starting in the district’s gifted education program, known as CLUE, which stands for Creative Learning in a Unique Environment. Another 600 older students are waiting for additional state testing to see if they qualify.
Three-day competition will give participants a look inside the design industry while learning about teamwork and giving to charitable causes.
Likely to lead the 2020 agenda will be proposals to improve students’ reading skills and increase teacher compensation, two needs that most every lawmaker can agree on.
The lowest-paid workers at the University of Memphis are to get two raises this year, bringing them to $13 an hour.
State Rep. Mark White says charter schools in the Achievement School District should be under the charter commission, but state Rep. Antonio Parkinson says all 30 schools should return to local districts in Memphis and Nashville.
All 30 schools under the state's Achievement School District would return to their local school districts by 2022, but the process and details of such a transition remain unclear.
A legal challenge by Shelby County Schools and Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools pits Tennessee’s two largest districts against the state over whether it allocates enough money to provide an adequate education to urban students who live in poverty, have special needs, or come from non-English-speaking homes.
Since 1992, $1.7 million has been awarded to 69 educators in Tennessee via the Milken Educator Awards.
Eve Carney, the state’s chief districts and schools officer, said the state would consider more than just test scores and academic growth when placing schools on three "tiers," or levels of intervention. “Just to be frank, we will be in your schools, we will be in your business,” Carney said.
The new charter school policy the school board approved over the summer was the first update in eight years and significantly increased accountability.
PHOTO GALLERY: CN Railway safety train "Little Obie" delivered a Memphis in May World Cargo Crate from Ghana to St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School Jan. 7. Each year the World Cargo Crate, containing items such as maps, local crafts, clothing and coins from the the MIM honored country, visits local schools so that students can learn about the honored country.
According to a copy of the proposal obtained by Chalkbeat, the transition is part of a massive reset for the embattled turnaround model known as the Achievement School District, which has fallen woefully short of its goal to improve student performance since launching in 2012.
At stake is the education of 133 students who could need to find a new high school after May.
The 60,000-square-foot, $21.5 million facility completes the final phase of a 17-year master plan to improve the campus.
House Education Committee Chairman Mark White says two "go-to" liaisons to the Legislature who resigned Friday leave a communication void as the 2020 General Assembly session begins Jan. 14.
Vasile Rus, the lead investigator, received a $2.6 million grant from the National Science Foundation for Phase 1. The second phase is worth a potential $25 million in grants.
Based on 1969 news reports, almost 67,000 students did not attend school at the height of the protest as black leaders advocated for seats on the all-white school board.
Reps. Bo Mitchell of Nashville and Joe Towns of Memphis have drafted separate proposals that would rescind Tennessee’s education savings account law.
Teli White was suspended three years ago for his part in a grade-changing scandal after a district investigation, but was fired a year later for the same offense following an investigation by independent law firms.
The proposal would raise teachers' starting salary to $45,000. Those with master’s degrees ultimately could make a salary as high as $74,000, and teachers with doctorates almost $84,000.
Aspire Public Schools superintendent Nick Manning talked on The Daily Memphian Podcast about the move of the charter organization in Memphis for the last seven years to a local board in the new school year.
Three Memphis schools joined a list of buildings with water sources that contain unsafe lead levels. Many schools in the district have yet to be tested.
LeMoyne-Owen College’s interim president is pleased with feedback from the school's accreditation body.
Corey Johnson was placed on suspension with pay last month and fired on Dec. 3, according to Ricky Wilkins, the charter school network’s lawyer.
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