Questions for Gov. Haslam from school board members
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March 20, 2015 Dorsey Hopson Jim McIntyre Superintendent Superintendent Shelby County Schools Knox County Schools 169 S. Hollywood Street 912 S. Gay Street Memphis, TN 38112 Knoxville, TN 37902 Jesse Register Rick Smith Director Superintendent Metro Nashville Public Schools Hamilton County Schools 2601 Bransford Avenue 3074 Hickory Valley Road Nashville, TN 37204 Chattanooga, TN 37421 Dear Superintendents Hopson, McIntyre and Smith, and Director Register: We are writing as members of the local boards of public education in Davidson, Hamilton, Knox and Shelby counties to express our support for your upcoming meeting with Governor Bill Haslam regarding the inadequacy of the state’s Basic Education Program (BEP). As our local boards contemplate next steps in single or multidistrict legal dialogue and litigation, we would like you to present the following questions to the governor at this meeting for his responses: 1. Does the Governor acknowledge that the BEP does not adequately fund public education costs in Tennessee? 2. Will the Governor commit to exploring all options concerning additional revenue sources to fully fund the BEP for the 201516 school year? 3. Will the Governor agree to immediate state and local moratoriums on unfunded mandates, including but not limited to the state’s charter law and expansion of the Achievement School District, which continue to put fiscal strains on urban school systems? 4. Will the Governor oppose additional unfunded mandates, including but not limited to vouchers, which would drain additional resources away from urban school systems at a time of fiscal duress? As representatives of school systems educating more than onethird of Tennessee’s public school students, we believe the governor’s answers to these questions will help inform the growing local and statewide conversations about education funding adequacy. We look forward to continued dialogue. Sincerely,
Questions for Gov. Haslam from school board members
School board members from Knox, Hamilton, Shelby and Davidson counties sent questions to the district superintendents from the counties to ask Gov. Bill Haslam regarding Basic Education Program funding.
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March 20, 2015 Dorsey Hopson Jim McIntyre Superintendent
Superintendent Shelby County Schools Knox County Schools 169 S.
Hollywood Street 912 S. Gay Street Memphis, TN 38112 Knoxville, TN
37902 Jesse Register Rick Smith Director Superintendent Metro
Nashville Public Schools Hamilton County Schools 2601 Bransford
Avenue 3074 Hickory Valley Road Nashville, TN 37204 Chattanooga, TN
37421 Dear Superintendents Hopson, McIntyre and Smith, and Director
Register: We are writing as members of the local boards of public
education in Davidson, Hamilton, Knox and Shelby counties to
express our support for your upcoming meeting with Governor Bill
Haslam regarding the inadequacy of the states Basic Education
Program (BEP). As our local boards contemplate next steps in
single- or multi-district legal dialogue and litigation, we would
like you to present the following questions to the governor at this
meeting for his responses:
1. Does the Governor acknowledge that the BEP does not
adequately fund public education costs in Tennessee?
2. Will the Governor commit to exploring all options concerning
additional revenue sources to fully fund the BEP for the 2015-16
school year?
3. Will the Governor agree to immediate state and local
moratoriums on unfunded mandates, including but not limited to the
states charter law and expansion of the Achievement School
District, which continue to put fiscal strains on urban school
systems?
4. Will the Governor oppose additional unfunded mandates,
including but not
limited to vouchers, which would drain additional resources away
from urban school systems at a time of fiscal duress?
As representatives of school systems educating more than
one-third of Tennessees public school students, we believe the
governors answers to these questions will help inform the growing
local and statewide conversations about education funding adequacy.
We look forward to continued dialogue. Sincerely,
Patti Bounds Chris G. Caldwell Knox County School Board Shelby
County School Board Amy Frogge Donna Horn Nashville School Board
Hamilton County School Board Mike Kernell Stephanie Love Shelby
County School Board Shelby County School Board Will Pinkston Amber
Rountree Nashville School Board Knox County School Board Jill
Speering Jonathan Welch Nashville School Board Hamilton County
School Board
