Americans for Prosperity – Tennessee (AFP-TN) State Director Tori Venable responded to News Channel 5’s investigative segment on Monday accusing the conservative political advocacy group of threatening Tennessee state lawmakers to advance Governor Bill Lee’s universal school choice bill.
On Monday, the news outlet ran investigative reporter Phil Williams’ 8-minute anti-school choice hit piece focused on AFP-TN’s push for state lawmakers to advance the governor’s bill.
Multiple clips during the segment featured Williams confronting Venable on Capitol Hill after she attended a committee meeting. At one point, Williams accused her of intimidating lawmakers for sitting in the front row during the five-hour meeting.
“I sat in committee for five hours, because that’s how much I care. I really care about what’s in this bill – what the final bill is going to look like – and so I sat there in committee for the entire five hours to listen to the debate myself. But somehow that’s a threat because I’m interested in the process,” Venable said during Tuesday’s episode of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
Williams’ segment specifically accused Venable and AFP of intimidating Tennessee State Representative Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill), who voted against the governor’s school choice bill last month in the K-12 Subcommittee.
“It sounds like what some of these individuals are more scared of is our representative democracy. They’re scared of being held accountable to the voters they represent, because if they think about all of the resources that we have to make sure that voters and constituents in their district know exactly what they’re doing up there, that seems to be what is threatening,” Venable added.
Venable (pictured above), who is a graduate of a failing Metro Nashville public school, Antioch High School, said students “deserve better” and parents deserve more choices in dictating the quality of education their children are receiving.
“I grew up in Nashville. I went to Antioch High School, which was a failing Nashville public school, and I believe deeply in school choice. I believe in it because I know the difference that education can make in a child’s life,” Venable said.
“Our kids deserve better. That’s really what it is. Parents deserve a choice. Our kids deserve better. We as a state have to educate the citizens of the state, and it shouldn’t matter if they’re getting that education in a public school or a private school. There’s a reason the first batch of ESAs, education savings accounts, passed for Memphis and Davidson County and, for now, Hamilton County. Those were the worst-performing schools. This is an opportunity to give every parent a choice across Tennessee,” Venable added.
Pivoting back to the anti-school choice hit piece, Vanable addressed a moment in the segment that featured Warner telling Williams he’s “not leadership’s bi***” regarding House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) and House Republican leadership—all of whom support the governor’s school choice bill—and is supposedly voting the way his district wants him to vote.
Venable disputed Warner’s claims, citing polling conducted by AFP on school choice.
“It’s unfortunate that you have some members who just don’t care as much about their constituents because we’ve done the polling and we’ve talked to Tennesseans. We’ve knocked on over 200,000 doors as Americans for Prosperity since the beginning of this year talking to people about school choice. We know this is an issue that many parents, many families care deeply about and he’s frankly ignoring what his constituents actually do want if he’s saying that his constituents do not want to have a choice,” Venable said.
Venable also responded to Warner’s comment to Williams during the segment that money should not be taken from public schools, noting that allocating more money to the public education system has not improved the quality of education in the state.
“We’ve been spending the money. The money’s not making it to the teachers. The money’s not making it to the classrooms and the money is certainly not making it to improve outcomes for kids,” Venable said.
During the segment, Williams played a “secret recording” of a conversation between Warner and Venable, in which Venable told Warner that AFP “cannot protect” him if he’s “on the wrong side” of the governor’s school choice bill.
Venable said her statement was not a threat but instead a “statement of fact.”
“It’s not a threat. It’s a statement of fact saying, ‘I can’t protect you if you’re on the wrong side of this.’ That is exactly what it is. It’s not a promise. It’s not a threat. It is a statement of fact,” Venable said.
Regarding the hit piece’s focus on AFP’s “billionaire” donors, Venable said the organization is also backed by tens of thousands of Tennesseans who participate in its grassroots work throughout the Volunteer State.
“I see [Williams] trying to make this about our donors and Americans for Prosperity – Tennessee is really blessed to have donors from across the country and Tennessee that are supporting our grassroots work that we’re doing. It wouldn’t be without their support that we’re knocking on the doors, we’re making the phone calls, we’re talking directly to these legislators’ constituents. Making this about donors or money is a disservice to end a distraction for the kids who are not having their needs met in the Tennessee public education system,” Venable said.
“I think that’s probably what his biggest problem with Americans for Prosperity is because we are the ones that are not the media. We are going directly to the constituents of each of these districts. We’re talking to real people. I mean, we’ve talked to 200,000 people in Tennessee. We know where parents stand. We know how much desire there is for this. Zip code should not determine a child’s opportunity and a child’s socioeconomic status should not determine whether or not they have access to a quality education,” Venable added.
Venable said that even if she were to win the lottery and become a billionaire overnight, she would still work to ensure that “every student in Tennessee had access to the best education for them” through the governor’s school choice bill and other means.
“Even if I were to win the Mega Millions Powerball tonight and I, myself, became a billionaire, I would still be using my time, my talents, and my treasure to make sure that every student in Tennessee had access to the best education for them,” Venable said. “We know a good education can change a child’s life…I would much rather make sure that we are thoroughly educating our next generations because they are going to be tomorrow’s leaders. If we are trying to put them in a one size fits all education setting, we are not going to get the results that we desire.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo ‘Tori Venable” by Tori Venable.
Where in this article does it even mention what is in this bill? Fine Print? Who will ACTUALLY benefit from this? Will it be hard working middle class Tennesseans or those that already benefit from welfare programs? Let’s get ALL the facts on the table and stop hiding behind headlines.