Live from Music Row, Wednesday 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 House of Representatives District 59 GOP candidate Michelle Foreman in the studio to reiterate her top priority of school choice in the state of Tennessee.
Leahy: In the studio, Michelle Foreman, the GOP candidate for the Tennessee House of Representatives in the southern part of Davidson County. It’s District 59. If you live in southern Davidson County and you’re a Republican, early voting continues until Thursday, and then Election Day is six weeks from today.
Foreman: Six days.
Leahy: Six days, thank you.
Foreman: I’m acutely aware.
Leahy: You are on top of it. We’re doing an election night special here from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Tuesday night, and we’ll probably call you and see how you doing.
Foreman: Yes. Alright.
Leahy: Crom will be here, I’ll be here, Aaron Gulbransen will be here, and probably Clint Brewer. An election night special. And right now you’re in a good position, I think, to win. Our folks need to turn out, though, is the bottom line on that one.
Foreman: Yes.
Leahy: When you were in here before, you told us that improving K-12 education would be your top priority. Is that still your top priority?
Foreman: That is one of the top priorities. I believe, where we are now … Well, let me back up. We’re not in a great place in Davidson County when it comes to our public schools.
Leahy: That’s a kind way to put it.
Foreman: I’m kind. I’m a pretty kind person.
Leahy: I will say the K-12 public schools are terrible.
Foreman: Yes, we’re in trouble. We’re in trouble.
Leahy: I saw this report, it’s called the Nation’s Report Card, that just was released, like last week – the National Assessment of Educational Progress, NAEP, came out. Scores are down dramatically across the country, particularly down in Tennessee, particularly down in Metro Nashville.
Foreman: It’s sad. It’s sad. Once we went through COVID, things just plummeted. But I will say, talking about NAEP, when you go back and look at a few states – and I want to point this out because this is really important for listeners to understand if they’re either on the fence or not really sure about money following the child, which I think right now is the greatest thing in Tennessee.
We are not now able to implement it within a certain category of students. Money now follows the child, so the child can get out of a public school system where they’re not thriving and they can go where their parents feel they need to go.
The state of Indiana and state of Florida implemented this back in 2003. Over a period from 2003 to about 2019, Florida, Indiana, and Tennessee, in this particular report, Tennessee started out in the 45th position in 2003.
Leahy: Out of 50 states.
Foreman: Out of 50 states.
Leahy: Yes, that’s not so good.
Foreman: That’s not good. Florida was 33. That’s not good. And Indiana was 22. I don’t think that’s great either. But over that period of time, Florida and Indiana both implemented school choice. And so the tax dollars followed the low-income students in the third grade and they tracked these students’ progress.
Tennessee did not implement that, obviously. So Tennessee went from 45 to 40. So that’s not great. Now, Indiana went from 22 to number three in the nation.
Leahy: Big improvement there.
Foreman: That’s huge. And Florida went from 33 to number one.
Leahy: So I’m just going to guess that implementing more school choice is going to be one of your priorities.
Foreman: Absolutely. And, you know, the numbers don’t lie. When students are given the tools that they need in an environment in which they thrive, they’re going to succeed.
Now, when students succeed, families succeed, and the taxpayer also succeeds because that return on investment is something that benefits all of us.
Leahy: I get the sense that if you win six days from today. ..
Foreman: And I’m going to.
Leahy: You’re not going to be sort of your average back-bencher. From what I can tell, you’ve already been in contact with the Republicans in the caucus.
Foreman: Yes.
Leahy: And they’re very supportive of your candidacy.
Foreman: Yes, very supportive.
Leahy: They’re sick and tired of not having a Republican voice in Davidson County.
Foreman: Exactly. We don’t have one. We do not have a voice in the general assembly in Davidson County. We don’t have one in the House, obviously. And it will be very, very nice for the taxpayer, for the constituent, the voter, to have that voice, and to have a seat at the table, because right now we just don’t.
And the Republican supermajority, when you want a seat at the table but you’re combative, and I won’t name names (Leahy chuckles), but when we have representatives who are combative and just really difficult to work with, what does that do for the taxpayer in Davidson County, the voter? Absolutely nothing.
Leahy: Basically, you’re fighting to win.
Foreman: Yes.
Leahy: You’re very serious about it.
Foreman: Yes.
Leahy: But you also are Tennessee-nice.
Foreman: Thank you.
Leahy: Once you’re in it, right?
Foreman: I think so.
Leahy: That’s a phrase you hear often, Tennessee-nice.
Foreman: Right. You know how to communicate, or you should know how to communicate, and you may not see eye to eye in certain situations or on certain issues, but again, you know how to work through that and work together. Not everyone demonstrates that, and that’s unfortunate.
Leahy: I think you’re also, in terms of the other members of the Republican caucus in the Tennessee House of Representatives, you already know a good number of them.
Foreman: I do.
Leahy: You served on the state executive committee of the Tennessee Republican Party.
Foreman: Yes.
Leahy: You got to know a lot of people.
Foreman: I did. That was a great experience.
Leahy: You learned a lot about process.
Foreman: Yes, I did. (Laughter) I sure did. And I learned when I sat on the Election Integrity Subcommittee, the first ever, what we need to do and the holes that we need to plug when it comes to our election integrity process. So there are some things that we need to do there.
Leahy: What’s your election night activity on Tuesday?
Foreman: I don’t know.
Leahy: You don’t have a plan.
Foreman: We’re working on it. Someone asked me that last night and I said we are working on it. We are so busy knocking on doors.
Leahy: But you will be available by phone?
Foreman: Absolutely, yes.
Leahy: When will we get the results? Tuesday night?
Foreman: Well, that’s an interesting question. I think it depends on how close the race is. But I’m going to tell you, they ought not even to think about stretching it out to the next day.
Leahy: The polls are going to close at 7:00 p.m.
Foreman: Yes, they close at seven.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Michelle Foreman” by Michelle Foreman.
