American Federation for Children Senior Fellow Shaka Mitchell joined The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Wednesday to dive into the details of Gov. Bill Lee’s newly unveiled Education Freedom Scholarship Act, set to revolutionize school choice in Tennessee.
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Tuesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, guest host Ben Cunningham welcomed AFC’s Shaka Mitchell to the newsmakers line to further describe the mechanics of ESA and school choice and announced a rally will be held on Thursday, June third at 8 am at Legislative Plaza to show support.
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Wednesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed the American Federation for Children’s Tennessee State Director Shaka Mitchell to the newsmakers line to discuss the pending lawsuit for Governor Lee’s new education savings account pilot program.
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Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed American Federation for Children’s Tennessee Director Shaka Mitchell to discuss how families deserve education options for their children.
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Live from Music Row Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Tennessee Director the American Federation for Children Shaka Mitchell to the show.
During the third hour, Mitchell gave updates regarding the education savings account (ESA) lawsuit that was challenged unconstitutional mainly by Mayor John Cooper. He stressed how important it was to get the Tennessee Supreme Court ruling on ESA as parents who had applied and already been approved are losing time to make plans for their children in the fall.
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American Federation for Children-Tennessee this week announced the launch of a website dedicated to helping parents navigate school options for their children ahead of the Education Savings Account program open enrollment period, which is expected to begin this month.
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NASHVILLE — Metro Nashville Law Director Bob Cooper filed a 44-page legal complaint in Davidson County Chancery Court Thursday to fight Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s Education Savings Account Pilot Program.
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On Friday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – hosts Gill and Leahy welcomed Shaka Mitchell, Tennessee Director the American Federation for Children to the show to talk about the Gov. Lee’s education savings account legislation finally passing. Towards the end of the segment, the men questioned whether or not the bill might face future litigation since the House and Senate had opposing views on the illegal alien aspect of the bill. The education savings account is expected to be signed immediately by Governor Bill Lee. Gill: Teachers are apparently on a sick out in Davidson County today. Protesting that they’re not getting as big a pay raise as they would like. They want a ten percent pay raise instead of the three percent that Davidson County has apparently budgeted. Well, see if that will help spur more people to leave the public schools where the results are bad and the teachers are demanding more pay with the Education Savings Account coming to Davidson County in a couple of years. One of the guys that was behind that successful…
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On Tuesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – host Steve Gill welcomed Shaka Mitchell from the American Federation for Children to the show to talk about the Gov. Lee’s Education Savings Account legislation that is up for a vote on the floor of the Tennessee House of Representatives this morning, Tuesday, April 23. Mitchell told Gill he expected the bill would make it through the Tennessee House in today’s vote. Gill: One of the other bills that’s coming up today in the legislature as we get this mad rush to conclude this legislature session is the education savings account legislation that’s working it’s way through still through the Senate and the House. Big House vote coming up today and Shaka Mitchell from the American Federation for Children is on with us to give us a little update on what’s going on there. Shaka good to have you with us. Mitchell: Hey good morning Steve. Thanks for having me. Gill: This bill is changing hourly maybe momentarily. At lease the Senate version now instead of being in five counties will only be in…
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In a detailed discussion on Wednesday morning’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – host Michael Patrick Leahy talked exclusively with Tennessee’s director for The American Federation for Children’s, Shaka Mitchell about today’s House Education Committee’s vote on Governor Bill Lee’s ESA proposal. Leahy: And we are joined now by Shaka Mitchell. Shaka was going to tell us a little bit about the details of what’s going on at Capitol Hill. Shaka welcome. Mitchell: Hi. Good morning. Thanks for having me on. Leahy: We’re delighted to have you on. So tell us a little bit about what’s going on with the education savings account bill. It’s really a number one priority for Governor Lee. How did you get involved in this and what’s your view on it? Mitchell: It sure is. You know you’re absolutely right. This is I think, probably the top priority for the governor right now and we’re seeing a whole lot of activity here at the legislator surrounding this bill. And really surrounding education. I think the reason why is pretty clear. You know out…
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A new statewide poll released Thursday by the Tennessee Federation for Children shows that when voters receive information about Education Savings Accounts, they are overwhelmingly supportive of a program being passed by the Tennessee Legislature. The poll by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc. of 625 registered Tennessee voters was conducted between January 31 and February 4, and has a margin of error of +/- 4 percent. Six survey questions were asked during the telephone interview, in addition to participant demographics such as the region of the state, sex, age, race and party identification. The initial question presented to interviewees, “Education Savings Accounts, also known as E-S-A-s, allows parents to use their education tax dollars to customize their child’s learning and development. Approved ESA expenses include technical training, K-12 school tuition, or even special needs therapies from an array of providers, including public and private schools or tutors. Knowing this, would you support or oppose the Legislature passing an ESA program in Tennessee? “ An overwhelming 78 percent of respondents statewide said they support ESAs, of which 54 percent said they “strongly support” the Legislature passing an ESA program. The highest support came from East Tennessee, where 57 percent “strongly support”…
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In celebration of National School Choice Week, Tennessee Federation for Children sponsored a Champions of Choice event at the state capitol to present Representative Bill Dunn with the 2019 Champion award. Standing beside Tennessee Speaker of the House Glen Casada (R-Franklin), Shaka Mitchell, Tennessee’s State Director of American Federation for Children, said that as National School Choice Week is being celebrated this week, they wanted to come together to recognize one of the state’s leaders in education and strong advocate for students, Speaker Pro Tem Bill Dunn (R-Knoxville). American Federation for Children (AFC) is a Washington, D.C. headquartered non-profit organization that seeks to “empower families, especially lower-income families with the freedom to choose the best K-12 education for their children.” The event was held in the Legislative Library located at the state capitol with as many as 100 in attendance including legislators and members of Governor Bill Lee’s staff. AFC’s partner organizations in the effort including Beacon Center of Tennessee, Americans for Prosperity-Tennessee and Tennessee CAN (The Tennessee Campaign for Achievement Now) were also there. AFC’s Mitchell started off by speaking about the quality of education in Tennessee, “The reality is we still have a long way to go,” after…
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