Op-Ed: Leftist Media And Tennessee Dems Attack Hillsdale Curriculum

By Katherine Hudgins [American Classical Education] –

Overview: Tennessee Democrats and their allies in the leftist media have attacked Hillsdale College and its history and civics curriculum. These attacks deploy cherry-picked quotes from a 2,400-page curriculum in an effort to further a partisan political agenda. Their coordinated and concentrated outrage is part of a larger attempt to reject charter schools that challenge the control of the education bureaucracy.

Here’s the issue: Teacher’s union, bureaucracy, and TN Dems don’t want school choice –

The Tennessee Education Association and Tennessee Democrats are more interested in limiting school choice than in presenting fair, academic arguments, as they’ve rallied around inaccurate coverage by the leftist media to criticize The Hillsdale 1776 Curriculum and pressure Gov. Bill Lee to “reject” it.  

Media aligns with biased 1619 contributor to cherry-pick The Hillsdale 1776 Curriculum –

Not only is it troubling that News Channel 5 continues to enlist and mimic arguments from a reported plagiarist and partisan contributor to the 1619 Project, but the local reporter selectively picked quotes from an earlier draft version of The Hillsdale 1776 Curriculum to further a political agenda. 

The Hillsdale 1776 Curriculum, which was endorsed by the National Association of Scholars and praised as the “gold standard” of civics education, uses primary historical documents to relay the facts as they happened rather than using contemporary narratives to achieve political ends. The curriculum is a guide for teachers which considers and recommends scholarship by prominent, mainstream historians and political theorists from Princeton University, Columbia University, the University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, and several other well-respected institutions.

Parents and teachers want a choice in schools and curriculums –

The Tennessee media is out of touch with parents. Nationally, 7 of every 10 voters support school choice, and Tennessee parents recently sued their school district for implementing woke curriculum.

American Classical Education (ACE) does not wish to participate in the present media frenzy, but realizes that a great deal of misinformation has been shared about ACE and our pending applications to open free public charter schools in Tennessee. Here are a few points to clarify the facts. 

Facts:

ACE is a separate entity from Hillsdale College. It is neither owned nor operated by Hillsdale. 

ACE’s board is composed entirely of Tennessee residents. ACE began operation under a provisional founding board. It has since transitioned to a governing board made up entirely of Tennessee residents passionate about educational choice for Tennessee students. The intent to pursue this transition was clear from the beginning in ACE’s application. Current board members include Senator Dolores Gresham, former chairwoman of the Tennessee Senate Education Committee; Michelle Garcia of Murfreesboro; Rick Kucera of Johnson City; and Dennis Pearson of Clarksville. 

ACE’s funding will stay in Tennessee and support teachers and its schools. If ACE’s charter schools are approved, ACE will receive the same amount of federal and state funding per pupil that each local school district receives per enrolled student. This funding, a portion of which is retained by the local education agency and never given to ACE, will stay completely in Tennessee to support teachers and a high-quality classical education. 

Hillsdale College will never receive money from ACE. The support offered by Hillsdale College to all of its affiliated charter schools is free of cost. Additionally, the College has a strong interest in avoiding any payments from ACE: to receive such a payment violate Hillsdale’s long-standing commitment to never accept local-, state-, or federal-taxpayer-subsidized funding.

The Governor’s budget includes no earmarked funding for ACE or other Hillsdale schools. The Governor allocated $20 million for use by all charter schools in the state of Tennessee to help bridge the often-prohibitive costs associated with purchasing or leasing an educational facility. Any charter school in Tennessee may apply for these funds. 

ACE applies for charters where there is strong demand. ACE decided to apply for schools in Rutherford County, Madison County, and Montgomery County to meet the strong demand from local parents in each of these communities for a public classical education model. These parents have consistently advocated for ACE in these communities, and ACE is confident in its ability to meet proposed enrollment numbers if charters are granted. Additionally, by creating and paying for another high quality public school option in these already strong districts, ACE will help each community avoid having to use up to $100M in tax payer dollars to build another school to meet growing enrollment needs. 

ACE applications to work with Hillsdale College are still pending. ACE has filed applications to affiliate with Hillsdale College at each of its three locations. If these applications are accepted, these three school would join more than 50 other charter schools around the country who affiliate with Hillsdale College in a proven model of success. 

The benefits of affiliating with Hillsdale College are clear. ACE would be given free curricular resources, free guidance and consultation in operational best-practices, and, most importantly, free teacher training. Charter schools in Tennessee receive less funding per pupil than their traditional public school counterparts. Any way that ACE can save dollars and redirect them into the school’s success is a fundamentally prudent decision. 

ACE will invest heavily in teacher training and resources. ACE knows that teachers are the key to the success of its schools and believes that a classical education model allows teachers to thrive by enabling them to focus on the students and the classroom and minimizing the immense administrative burden most public school teachers must bear. 

ACE will accept any student within the district that is interested in attending and enrolls at ACE. ACE is excited to enroll any student within the community who believes that a classical education model is the right academic model for their success. ACE cannot and will not reject any student who applies to attend; if applications exceed approved school capacity, a public lottery will be conducted by a third party to determine enrollment.