Legislators And State Education Officials Skip Out On School Funding Meetings
Image Credit: TN Dept of Education / Facebook
The Tennessee Conservative [By Jason Vaughn] –
For the past several months, Tennessee legislators and education leaders have attempted to sell the public on the importance of their review of the education funding process, but it seems that many of them did not feel it important enough to attend those review meetings.
Governor Lee and Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn initiated the review in October and then appointed subcommittees made up of parents, teachers, school administrators, community members, and 52 legislators and other state officials. Those committees each held six meetings in which they were to go over public feedback and make recommendations for an updated policy.
The Governor is set to unveil a new funding formula that will change how more than $6 billion dollars is spent on Tennessee schools. Subcommittee members were expected to provide input into that new formula.
According to the Tennessean, nearly a dozen of those state leaders did not attend those meetings.
Tennessean staff members analyzed the attendance records and videos for those 108 subcommittee meetings, as well as three steering committee meetings, as of February 3. That analysis showed that seven legislators, four members of the state board of education, and the state agriculture commissioner failed to attend a single meeting.
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The following individuals skipped out on these supposedly vital meetings:
- Senator Paul Bailey, R-Sparta
- Senator Mike Bell, R-Riceville
- Representative Clark Boyd, R-Lebanon
- Representative Michele Carringer, R-Knoxville
- Representative Jeremy Faison, R-Crosby
- Representative Gary Hicks, R-Rogersville
- Representative Eddie Mannis, R-Knoxville
- Darrell Cobbins, State Board of Education member
- Gordon Ferguson, State Board of Education member
- Larry Jensen, State Board of Education member
- Nate Morrow, State Board of Education member
- Charlie Hatcher, Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Agriculture
Another five lawmakers only went to one of the six meetings.
Many of the lawmakers who were not in attendance said they missed those meetings because of scheduling conflicts.
Both Hatcher and Faison said they had other obligations but that they viewed the meeting videos once they were posted online. Mannis said he simply had a “scheduling conflict.”
“Unfortunately, there were many schedules involved and the legislature was not in session,” Mannis replied in an email. “I take my responsibility here in the legislature very seriously and I regret very much not being able to participate to the level that I would have expected.”
Bell is a member of the Senate Education Committee and is working to push several education bills during this session of the legislature. He says he had “no excuse” for missing the meetings.
“I have no excuse for missing the meetings other than the busyness of life, timing of the calls, and my general dislike for electronic meetings,” Bell said.
An assistant for Bell says she was not aware of his appointment to the subcommittee initially, so that is why he missed the first few meetings. Her email stated that he did finally attend some meetings virtually, but The Tennessean was unable to verify that from meeting videos or attendance sheets.
Bailey also says he was initially unaware that he was on the subcommittee and was unable to attend once he found out because of other scheduling conflicts.
Ferguson said he notified the subcommittee chair that he was unable to attend the meetings, but he did follow the videos and meeting minutes. He expressed his support for the committee’s process.
Responses were not received from Carringer, Hicks, Cobbins, Jensen, or Morrow.
The Tennessee Department of Education says the meetings were not mandatory for legislators or board members.
Lee is expected to release his spending proposal to legislators sometime this month.
About the Author: Jason Vaughn, Media Coordinator for The Tennessee Conservative ~ Jason previously worked for a legacy publishing company based in Crossville, TN in a variety of roles through his career. Most recently, he served as Deputy Director for their flagship publication. Prior, he was a freelance journalist writing articles that appeared in the Herald Citizen, the Crossville Chronicle and The Oracle among others. He graduated from Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor’s in English-Journalism, with minors in Broadcast Journalism and History. Contact Jason at news@TennesseeConservativeNews.com
