CCEA and TEA Stand Up for Teachers

In my role as the acting Vice President of the Coffee County Education Association, I spoke at the Coffee County School Board work session on Monday of last week. I brought with me a concern that was expressed to the Association by some teachers, and I left that meeting quite impressed by the Board’s and Dr. McFall’s dedication and desire to stand with CCEA in supporting Coffee County’s teachers. During our discussion, we eventually got on the topic of the importance of continuing to raise teachers’ salaries so that Coffee County Schools can be more competitive in attracting qualified teachers. The school board reassured me that they are dedicated to continue to raise teachers’ salaries.

On that topic Dr. LaDonna McFall, our Director of Schools, also made sure to point out that while other school systems eliminated their step raises for years of experience and advanced degrees, Coffee County has kept theirs in place. These step raises are, in fact, a type of raise that most of the Coffee County teachers receive every year. Dr. Shannon Duncan then reiterated her offer to meet with any member of the Coffee County Commission at any time to discuss the county school’s budget. I sincerely hope that she is taken up on that offer. I have personally talked to several County Commissioners about increasing funding for the county schools (an admittedly tricky thing to do with two city school systems) and, inevitably, they blame the School Board for not sending them a “clean budget” that they feel puts teachers first. As long as both sides are blaming the other for a lack of action related to funding public education, then the stalemate will continue indefinitely. Clearly, an increase in the quantity and quality of communication between these two governing bodies is needed desperately. Dr. Duncan has once again opened her door to that communication and, for the sake of our teachers and especially of our students, I dare say that it would be foolish for the Coffee County Commission to not take her up on her offer. They have nothing to lose, and risk gaining a greater understanding of how the county school’s budget operates.

Missing from this scenario are Coffee County’s teachers. Coffee County Commissioners are much more likely to work with the school board to increase funding for public education if the teachers in their respective districts made their voices heard. They’re more likely to listen when teachers of #TeamCoffee show up to County Commission meetings and make their presence felt. Every educator should ask him or herself who is in the driver’s seat when it comes to funding public education. The answer should be the teachers. We wield an astounding amount of influence when we stand together.

Later in the week, I attended a meeting for officers of local TEA affiliates, and I learned more information about several of the educational laws that passed during Tennessee's last legislative session. For the sake of brevity I will not go into great detail about these bills, but suffice it to say that special interests have a louder voice with our elected officials than teachers. Case in point: The State Board of Education now has the authority to grant charter schools--a right that used to belong exclusively to the local school system. In exchange for the State Board allowing charter schools into local districts that probably don't want them, they will receive a 4% annual kickback of the school's funding. Yes, local taxpayer money can now legally be funneled to the State Board of Education and thereby make it easier for them to allow more charter schools into the state. This, combined with President-Elect Trump’s pro-charter and pro-voucher education agenda can be a dangerous cocktail for a downward spiral of public education in Tennessee. Stay tuned. In the meantime, the Tennessee Education Association is the only organization with a proven track record of defeating special interests, and they will work hard to defeat all voucher schemes while fighting against radical charter school expansion. After all, it's in every student’s best interest to restore local control of school decisions.

Can't We All Just Get Along?

Over the past few years, I have heard the statement from many of my teacher colleagues that they are not encouraging their children or their students to enter the teaching profession. Their sentiment is alarming to me on two different levels--it’s a profession that I love and to which I have dedicated my livelihood, and teachers are the best ambassadors for our own profession. WIth that said, I can completely understand where they’re coming from.

There is an unrelenting focus on standardized tests, and with that comes a slew of related problems. Teacher effectiveness, including their ability to keep their jobs and in some school systems receive bonuses for “exemplary performance,” is tied to these tests. Educators are now also expected to be tacticians in the classroom as the profession is becoming increasingly more specialized. It’s a monumental challenge to keep students engaged in their learning, finding authentic, real-world tasks for them to complete, and designing a curriculum that is challenging to every student, every day in a classroom that is full of students with mixed ability levels. Understandably, enrollment in teacher education programs at universities has declined sharply and nearly half of all teachers leave the profession within the first five years. Add to that teaching in Coffee County Schools, where experienced teachers have set a precedent of transferring to nearby higher-paying school districts.

It’s crucial, now more than ever, for the citizens and elected representatives of Manchester and Coffee County to put our egos and prior history behind us and focus on the future. With the teaching profession becoming more challenging every year, we must do everything within our power to attract qualified and energetic educators to this area. This begins by offering a competitive salary--which is unfortunately difficult to accomplish because, by law, any salary increase given to Coffee County teachers must also be given to Manchester City and Tullahoma City teachers. If we look at this situation with an altruistic mindset, it’s easy to see why Manchester City Schools needs to either consolidate or unify with Coffee County Schools; however, this will not occur without support from the voters. Pressure needs to be placed on the Manchester Mayor and Board of Aldermen and on the Coffee County Commission to come together and work on a viable solution that is amiable for all involved parties.

Another crucial component of improving the teaching profession in this county is more easily solved. There needs to be improved communication and trust between the Coffee County School Board and the County Commission. When I talk to members of the commission, I hear from them that the school board doesn’t put teachers as a top priority in their yearly budgets. They see items like refinishing the track at Raider Academy and purchasing more Chromebooks as superfluous expenses because the communication isn’t there for them to understand why these expenditures are needed. Likewise, when I talk to members of the school board, they point their fingers at the commission and say that they’d love to give teachers raises but they don’t have the final say in the matter. Who gets stuck in the middle of this mistrust are the students of Coffee County because they are dependent upon these two governing bodies getting along with each other.

Is it too much to ask for the members of the education subcommittee of the commission to attend all of the school board meetings? Likewise, shouldn’t the members of the county school board reciprocate and attend all of the county commission meetings? Being present at each other’s meetings would make a grand gesture in improving the dialogue between the two.

Whether the candidate is running for mayor or alderman of Manchester, the Coffee County School Board, or the Coffee County Commission, our children are our hope for the future, and they are depending on a symbiotic relationship among these three governmental bodies. In this election season, I encourage the voters in this county to seek out and support candidates who will put students first. Anything less is a disservice to them.

An Open Letter to my County Commission

Dear County Commissioner:

I would first like to take this opportunity to thank you for all of the hard work you put into making decisions in order to better our community. The work you do balancing the financial needs of this county is certainly difficult and should not go unnoticed. Your position as a county commissioner is a thankless one.

I feel that a very important matter needs your attention, and if it is ignored the community will suffer devastating effects. Over the past several years, the county school’s budget has not been fully funded and pay raises for teachers has been denied, causing highly experienced, good teachers to go to other school systems. As I mentioned in a previous Manchester Times article, there are currently eighteen school districts within an hour drive from here who pay their educators more than Coffee County Schools. Gone are the days when educators will stay with a school system purely out of loyalty. With higher expectations than ever before, and a constant barrage of attacks on the teaching profession by the state legislature, it is difficult to argue against educators deserving to be paid like the professionals that they are. The cost of living in this country has risen by 20.4 percent over the last ten years. In essence, even with the step ladder increases, teacher’s salaries have decreased by an average of one percent per year, every year, for the past decade. Experienced teachers with 25 years of experience or more do not get the meager step increases, so they have beared the full brunt of the increased cost of living.

The current pay increase for educators in this year’s Coffee County Schools budget utilizes money sent to them from Governor Haslam for that purpose. While that money needs to be used to increase the salaries of teachers and teacher’s aides, it’s crucial to remember that the other eighteen school districts who pay more than Coffee County are also getting money from the state for that same purpose. Teachers set the foundation for our society, and the time has come to support education in more than theory.

I submit a three step plan to help get educational funding on the right track in this county. Step one is for you and for the citizens of this county to have important conversations with Mayor Lonnie Norman and the six Manchester City aldermen and implore them to allow the voters of Coffee County and Manchester City to have a voice on consolidating Manchester City Schools with Coffee County Schools. It is not too late for this measure to be placed on the November ballot, but this process would need to be initiated very soon. A substantial amount of taxpayer money is wasted every year by maintaining these separate school systems.

Consolidation would make step two much easier to accomplish, which is to make a goal to fund a 2% teacher salary increase each of the next two years. It’s widely known that property taxes here are the third highest in the state. With property taxes this high, and with a county school system beginning to hemorrhage because of a lack of financial support, the time has come for our tax dollars to be prioritized in such a way that helps people become educated so they can stay out of jail, instead of taking care of them once they’re there. Raising educator’s salaries will help prevent the best and most experienced teachers from leaving for higher-paying positions elsewhere, while also attracting highly qualified, dynamic teachers to this area. Additionally, it will make a statement to local businesses that Coffee County is dedicated to investing in its children and graduating skilled workers.

Step three is for you to submit a formal letter to Governor Haslam and the state legislature asking them to fully fund the BEP, update it to reflect what the county actually has to pay for education, and stop under funding schools leaving our local government and taxpayers to pick up the slack.

Change is in the Air

It's that time of year again! The flowers are beginning to bloom, the grass needs to be cut, and my seasonal allergies are going haywire. It can only mean one thing: springtime. It's so easy this time of year to become distracted by the beautiful spring days and lose focus on what's happening right under our pollen-covered noses.
I learned at the most recent county commission meeting that there is currently a projected $900,000 budget shortfall that will cut into our $2.7 million balance. This budget shortfall does not include additional money that will be requested by the county schools for necessary budget items, such as purchasing new school buses, which is required by law, and finally giving the teachers in this county a much-needed and way overdue cost-of-living raise. It’s been at least a decade.

First, to the county teachers who say that we haven't had a raise in over 10 years, it's important that we are more accurate in our narrative. Teachers with 24 years of experience or less still receive step increases every year for experience and advanced degrees; so, technically, we receive raises. What the county commissioners and the general public need to understand is that these minuscule salary increases don't even come close to the rising cost of inflation--especially if a teacher has to use student loans to obtain the advanced degree and increase in salary.

I'm sure there are people reading this article who disagree with county teachers getting a raise. After all, when the going gets tough, we just need to “tighten our belts” and make due with what we have, right? Here's why a cost-of-living raise for teachers is absolutely essential: The public education system is a service provided by the county government, and you get what you pay for. “Tightening your belt” on a public service leads to a lower quality service. In this case, a poorly-funded education system leads to an even larger inmate population at our new jail. Great teachers are already leaving #TeamCoffee to take positions in nearby systems who pay substantially more money. Not only will this trend continue, but it's difficult to attract good teachers to replace them when they're comparatively not paid very well.

The numbers completely back this up. According to school board member Pat Barton, Coffee County Schools ranks 57th in the state in teacher pay, which puts us slightly above average across a state that ranks 39th nationally in this category. Using median salary, the following middle Tennessee systems pay their teachers more money than us (in order): Davidson County, Murfreesboro City, Franklin Special School District, Manchester City, Lebanon Special School District, Rutherford County, Montgomery County, Hamilton County, Tullahoma City, Fayetteville City, Dickson County, Bedford County, Sumner County, Williamson County, Marshall County, Putnam County, Warren County, and Maury County. That’s 18 school systems within approximately one hour of us. In fact, there are only seven middle Tennessee systems with a lower median teacher salary than Coffee County.

Of the systems listed above, only one--Davidson County--has higher property taxes than us. The county commissions of these other school systems have found a way to pay their teachers more money without a property tax increase. It definitely helps that NONE of them are supporting three independent school systems and a brand new jail that is already in disarray and is being mismanaged, costing taxpayers more money by the day. 
It’s easy to pay lip service and say “I support public education,” but it’s an entirely different thing to actually do it. Supporting public education looks like voters being allowed to choose if Manchester City Schools should consolidate with Coffee County Schools. Supporting public education looks like county commissioners taking action to put teachers first so that we can retain and attract the state’s best teachers because our children deserve it. Supporting public education looks like teachers standing up for themselves and the students they serve every day by filling the room at every county commission meeting because they realize that it’s better to be proactive on the front end than to keep getting it handed to us on the back end. In this season of growth and rebirth, it's time for the spirit of change to grow as plentiful as the pollen in the springtime air.