Are Tennessee’s public schools headed for extinction? Not if it’s up to Memphis teachers.
A group from Shelby County recently packed a House committee meeting room at the Legislative Plaza in an effort to turn back bills they consider damaging to their profession and the future of public education.
They couldn’t stop the panel from approving legislation to add teachers to the Little Hatch Act, prohibiting them from campaigning for public office on school time. But they feel their presence might impact a voucher bill to provide public funds to low-income students in struggling public schools so they can attend private institutions.
“When they sit and look out at us, it’s hard to lower the hatchet, as it were, on us,” says Sarah Kennedy Harper, a Memphis teacher and member of the Tennessee Education Association board of directors.
“But we will be back, and (continue reading)