By Teresa Henry, LSB member
On Monday and Tuesday (2.18/2.19.19), the LSB (Lakeland School Board) traveled to Nashville along with Dr. Ted Horrell, Lakeland School System superintendent, advocating for the needs of public schools.
Representing the LSB were Chair Kevin Floyd and members Teresa Henry, Geoff Hicks and Deborah Thomas.
The first meeting was with the Tennessee School Board Association (TSBA). We were given an update on the legislation which will most affect public schools.
Speaking during the sessions were Lt. Gov. and Speaker of the Senate Rand McNally; Speaker of the House of Representatives Glen Casada; and Commissioner of Education Penny Schwinn. They thanked the elected officials for seeking the office of school board members and the important roles they play. They also spoke on the direction they see public education going. Rep. Casada stated that, “There is no better economic driver than quality public schools”.
During our visit, we were able to speak with:
- Mark White, House Education Administration Subcommittee, k-12 Subcommittee, Curriculum, Testing and Innovation Subcommittee
- Tom Leatherwood, Curriculum, Testing, and Innovation Subcommittee
- Brian Kelsey, First Vice-Chair Senate Education Committee
- Dolores Gresham, Chair Senate Education Committee
We were able to share some of the challenges our district faces with the current BEP (Basic Education Program) funding. We explained what positions are mandated by the state and are not funded by the BEP.
We also shared our support for some of the bills that they were sponsoring. One bill we voiced concern about is the bill for an elected superintendent/or the funding body can send the retention to referendum. We feel that this position should not be a political position. The superintendent should feel free to do what is best for students without fear of political backlash. That is why the school board is elected.
Vouches were another topic we discussed and let them know why we opposed them and how they would affect our district.
We voiced support for funding for school safety, funding more school nurses, reduction in allotment of time for standardized testing, allowing grades 9-12 to use the ACT/SAT Suite of Assessment instead of TNReady for math and language arts.
The TSBA has launched a new tool to assist local boards and residents. The dashboard provides district and regional labor market statistics, district demographics and academic and financial data. This will help boards with district planning. Boards will have data from the labor market to help determine course offerings that will help students receive career and technical training for their local industry and occupational needs. This tool will allow boards to establish a direct link between their educational programs and the local economy.
The dashboard link is https://tsbadatadashboard.com
… Photos courtesy of LSB
