Sumner County School Whistleblower Makes Explosive Allegations About Policy Violations Against Only Candidate Recommended by Tennessee School Board Association for District Director Position

A Sumner County Schools employee whistleblower has made explosive allegations of multiple policy violations and the creation of a hostile work environment against the only candidate recommended by the Tennessee School Board Association (TSBA) for the district director position.

Dr. Scott Langford, the Sumner County Schools (SCS) Chief Academic Officer (CAO), was the sole candidate recommended as a finalist by the TSBA for the director position that will be open at the end of June.

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Freshmen GOP Legislators Ignore TSBA Scandal

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – When presented with an opportunity to hear a bill that would bring accountability and transparency to the Tennessee School Boards Association (TSBA), nine GOP legislators in the Tennessee House of Representatives– primarily freshmen – voted against it on Tuesday. This, despite the fact that the sponsor of the bill, Representative and House Finance, Ways and Means Subcommittee Chairman Andy Holt (R-Dresden), laid out the details of the special carve-outs that the taxpayer-funded Tennessee School Boards Association (TSBA) enjoys. Six freshmen GOP legislators–State Representatives Charlie Baum (R-Murfreesboro), Scott Cepicky (R-Culleoka), Mark Cochran (R-Englewood), Kirk Haston (R-Lobelville), Tom Leatherwood (R-Arlington), and  Iris Rudder (R-Winchester)–joined three other GOP legislators– State Representatives Jim Coley (R-Bartlett), David Byrd (R-Waynesboro), and  Kevin Vaughan (R-Shelby County)– and four Democrat legislators–State Representatives Vincent Dixie (D-Nashville), Jason Hodges (D-Clarksville), Harold Love (D-Nashville), and Antonio Parkinson (D-Memphis)–in defying the House GOP leadership’s wishes to have Holt’s bill recalled for consideration by the full House Education Committee. The final vote in the committee was 13 against recalling the bill, and 8 in favor of it. The bill failed in the House Education Administration Subcommittee last week, largely through an administrative oversight. The Tennessee Star has featured several reports on the taxpayer-funded TSBA…

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The Tennessee Star Report: Senior Reporter Laura Baigert on Why The Education Savings Account Bill Cleared a Big Hurdle in Committee This Week

On Thursday’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 – guest host and Nashville Tea Party Activist Ben Cunningham spoke with The Tennessee Star’s own senior reporter Laura Baigert, co-guest host for the day, about the key 14 to 9 favorable vote in the Education Committee this week that moved the Education Savings Account legislation closer to a vote on the floor of the House. Kevin Baigert, Laura’s husband and a long-time conservative activist in the state, was also a special in-studio guest during the broadcast who provided key insights into the vote as well. Cunningham: Had a really interesting episode yesterday at the General Assembly the, one of the Governor Bill Lee’s main legislative initiatives is what’s called an ESA , educational savings account and a real important vote occurred yesterday in the education committee. Laura, you were there. Give us just the two paragraph version of what happened. I saw it was fourteen to nine vote. That’s really is more than I thought the bigger majority. Is that about what you expected in terms of the committee vote. Baigert:…

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Steve Gill Commentary: ‘Pay-to-Play’ Schemes Not Limited to College Admissions When Vendors Can Pay School Board Association for ‘Leads’

The past several weeks have seen collective outrage at the revelation that some wealthy celebrity parents had paid bribes to gain unmerited admission for their children to elite colleges and universities. Criminal charges, lawsuits, and resignations have already resulted from the scandal.  Few expect that the list of those involved in these sorts of efforts to get unqualified students accepted into the nation’s top schools with bribery and fraud to be limited to those identified so far. Investigations will certainly continue. It is also abundantly clear that “pay to play” schemes are not limited to those photoshopping their unaccomplished child onto the faces of actual athletes in order to gain access to opportunities that might otherwise not be available. Here in Tennessee we see something remarkably similar. But instead of photoshopping the Tennessee School Boards Association actually publishes a price list to sell access to vendors seeking contracts with local school districts. The TSBA “Business Affiliates” program encourages those seeking contracts for the sale of products or services to Tennessee school systems to pay the TSBA in order to gain “credibility with boards or school system personnel who make decisions regarding products.” To make it even more clear, TSBA points…

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Taxpayer-Funded TSBA Has $5.3 Million in Assets, Paid Top Two Execs $499k Annually, Offers Special Access to Business Affiliates

The taxpayer-funded Tennessee School Boards Association (TSBA) had $5.3 million in assets at the end of 2017 and paid its top two executives $499,000 annually in 2016, according to audited financial statements and IRS Form 990 reports. The TSBA filed those reports, which The Tennessee Star obtained copies of this week. Tennessee taxpayers contributed more than 85 percent, slightly more than $2 million, of the TSBA’s $2.3 million revenues in 2016 through Local Education Agencies (LEA- the formal name for public school districts in Tennessee) dues and no bid contracts. The no bid contracts were a gift to the TSBA, which was organized way back in 1939, provided by the Tennessee General Assembly in 1990. “In 1990, the Tennessee Legislature mandated that school board members attend one full-day training session each year. The State Board of Education authorized the Tennessee Department of Education to plan and implement the program. The Department of Education contracts with TSBA to conduct all of the training. TSBA also conducts a variety of meetings, workshops and seminars throughout the year to inform board members and administrators about key issues and topics affecting public education, ”  according to the TSBA website. Taxpayer funding to TSBA came in at…

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