Maury County mayor: Charter opponents want to deny school choice to families | Opinion

Correction: An earlier version of this guest opinion column incorrectly identified Public School Partners leaders as teachers’ union operatives. The article has been updated to communicate that the group has ties to the union.

Re: Columbia mayor: "Charter school operator tries to sidestep ban on Common Core," by Chaz Molder, June 7.

Parents know what’s best for their children – not government. If the pandemic showed us anything, it’s that we should empower families to have more say in their children’s education.

In almost every aspect of our lives, we have choices. Take grocery stores for instance. Maury County families can go to Kroger, Piggly Wiggly, Food Lion, Walmart, ALDI or any number of local markets. We can even travel up to Publix or Whole Foods. Each of these stores meets state and national standards while providing for different needs.

Charter schools provide the same sort of choice. They are public schools that follow all state requirements while providing families with alternatives to the approaches offered by ZIP code-assigned public schools.

The Columbia City Mayor and I believe differently about charter schools. I respectfully, but adamantly, disagree with his guest opinion column. The talking points in his article appear to reflect the same talking points that the teacher’s union uses to deflect from the truth about charter schools. Thankfully, I believe that Maury County families and our School Board will do their homework and find out the facts and do what’s best for every one of our students.

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What the Federalist says about this issue

A new nonprofit group, Public School Partners, has been formed to combat school choice.

Will Pinkston – a former Nashville School Board member and Democratic supporter – and Donna Wright are spearheading this group.

Basic research shows that Pinkston has donated a supermajority to Democrat candidates and former superintendent Donna Wright has donated a majority to Democrats as well. Consequently and honestly, it is disingenuous and misleading for them to claim that their group is independent or nonpartisan.

(Editor's note: Pinkston contested the veracity of the claim on the partisan donation, providing links to The Tennessean that he had made contributions to Republican candidates Bill Haslam in 2010 and Sam Whitson in 2016).

Their group has ties to Tennessee Education Association, a strong opponent of parental school choice and an affiliate of the National Education Association. The study the group uses concerning costs, was actually funded by a grant from the TEA, another reason the group cannot claim to be independent or nonpartisan.

Why are superintendents across the state hosting these presentations under the guise of independence?

Joy Pullman in The Federalist has their number:

“Only the left should be allowed to shape people’s minds...boxing out of public education anyone who doesn’t think exactly like politically extremist teachers union leaders do. This is another illustration of the reality that today’s left doesn’t believe in sharing the public square, public funds or anything else with people who don’t parrot their views. This is why leftist-run schools don’t educate, they indoctrinate: You can’t educate without conversation.”

Pullman exposes the NEA as a political group that rakes in over $600 million annually:

“So it’s quite rich for an organization connected to some of the biggest leftist political organizing operations in the United States to complain about politics in public education. What they’re really complaining about is competition, which is gaining steam because of how badly these far-left union activists are mangling public schools.”

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Consider these four points

It is easy when you are opposing something to cherry-pick stats or not be 100% accurate in making your case. Knowledge is power. Consider the following facts:

• An ad from Workers for Opportunity highlights the TEA’s radical activism including sending money to the NEA which advocates for critical race theory, supporting Planned Parenthood and funding far-left super PACs.

• A report from SCORE shows that charter schools serve a higher percentage of minority and economically disadvantaged students than their district counterparts while significantly outpacing them in both academic growth and graduation rates.

• A national study from Stanford shows charter students make more progress in math and English than traditional public school counterparts and are showing continued improvement over the past 15 years.

• Opponents of school choice are trying to connect Core Knowledge – started in the 1980s – to Obama-area Common Core. I believe they know this is not true. Basic research proves these are not the same.

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American Classical Academy should be approved in Maury County

Unfortunately, the education establishment – which might be grasping at straws – tends to view kids as dollar signs, not as unique individuals. I have often heard them speak and many times what’s best for the children individually does not even come up in their presentations.

We all realize that even the best school is not right for every student. What are opponents of choice afraid of? If families are happy with the education their children are getting at their zoned public school, they will stay.

The most basic form of local control is a parent having a say in their child’s school. Some families move into their preferred district, pay private school tuition or even home school. However, not every family has the financial means or flexibility. I believe every parent in Maury County deserves a choice for their child.

I’ve heard from dozens of families that desire a public classical charter. I have faith that the Maury County School Board will do the right thing by approving American Classical Academy because parents, students and teachers desire and deserve this high-quality, tuition-free option.

Sheila Butt serves as the Mayor of Maury County, Tennessee.

Columbia Mayor Chaz Molder's column was published in The Daily Herald on June 11.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Public education: Charter critics want to deny families school choice