If you are thinking about voting for a Democrat in the School Board election you might want to reconsider.
There are 95 counties in Tennessee. The Democrats carried three - Shelby, Davidson and Haywood in the 2020 election.
There are 133 school districts in the state. According to Niche academic rankings of districts, Nashville/Davidson is #76. Memphis/Shelby is #97 and Haywood is #112. There would appear to be a direct correlation between voting Democrat and having poor schools. But, I thought the Democrats were the Education party.
Nashville spends $12,896 per student, the most of any district in the state, yet they aren't even in the top half of the rankings. Memphis spends $11,590 and is barely in the Top 100. In addition, according to an article in the Commercial Appeal, the District is short 500 teachers entering this school year and an additional 1,000 are teaching with a temporary permit. It doesn't appear that spending has much effect on these Democrat Districts.
Hamilton County spends $10,853 per student and is ranked #41 of the 133 Districts. Only Knox County of the four big Metro areas is ranked higher. Keep these numbers in mind when you cast your ballot.
Douglas Jones
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I don't argue with the writer's statements or his conclusions. But I do find this sentence disturbing: "Hamilton County spends $10,853 per student and is ranked #41 of the 133 districts."
Surely every taxpayer, every parent, every student, and every so-called 'public servant' and 'educator' in Hamilton County and Chattanooga should find that fact downright insulting.
Why on Earth should any of us be satisfied with being barely in the top third of state school systems? I know, not everybody can be at the top of the heap, but there's no external reason why we shouldn't be; surely the local reason is local, internal, endemic. And it ought to be fixed. Note: money is not the problem here. Money won't fix the problem here.
Someone once said we should be glad that we don't get all of the government we pay for. Nobody in his right mind would claim that we're getting all of the education we're paying for.
Larry Cloud