Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed former Tennessee State Representative Bill Dunn in studio to talk about his work at the Tennessee Department of Education and school choice.
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Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed former Tennessee State Representative Bill Dunn in studio to discuss his background and entrance into politics.
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Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed JC Bowman of Professional Educators of Tennessee in studio to discuss why Bill Dunn would have been a good choice for Tennessee’s new commissioner of education.
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A bill expanding eligibility rules for Tennessee’s Education Saving Account (ESA) pilot program passed out of the House Education Administration Committee on Wednesday and is headed to the House floor for a final vote.
The bill would open the door for students in Chattanooga and Knoxville to enroll in private schools using state scholarship money.
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Members of a proposed commission might soon prep Tennessee’s education officials for another wave of COVID-19 or even another crisis on the same scale.
But only if a majority of members of the Tennessee General Assembly and Gov. Bill Lee say yes to the idea.
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The left-leaning New Yorker has praised Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee for his choice this week to not stop resettling refugees.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee — After four rounds of voting, State Representative Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) won the battle to become the House Republican Caucus Speaker Select late Wednesday morning. Sexton came out the leader, after a process of elimination of the other five candidates, with 41 votes. Sexton is set to replace the current embattled Speaker Glen Casada (R-Franklin), who was himself the Speaker Select following a Republican House Caucus meeting in November 2018 and officially elected by the full House membership in January, when the Tennessee House of Representatives meets in special session on August 23. The meeting, held in the former Supreme Court chambers in the State Capitol, was attended by 70 of the 73 Republican members of the House. As indicated near the start of the meeting, it would take 36 votes to achieve a majority. Representatives Charlie Baum (R-Murfeesboro), Dale Carr (R-Sevierville) and current House Speaker Glen Casada (R-Franklin) were absent. The six candidates for Speaker, in the order that they drew at the outset of the meeting to determine when they would make their speeches, were Representatives Jay Reedy (R-Erin), Matthew Hill (R-Jonesborough), Mike Carter (R-Ooltewah), Ryan Williams (R-Cookeville), Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) and Curtis Johnson (R-Clarksville).…
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As the chief officer of the Republican Party in the House, Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland) told The Tennessee Star that he will not run for the role of Speaker after Glen Casada (R-Franklin) steps down. Casada, who was elected into the role of Speaker of the House in January 2019, became embroiled in a media frenzy that started in the last days of the first session of the 111th General Assembly and lasted about three weeks. After several private texts with racial and sexual content with his chief of staff were released, the chief of staff was accused of altering the date of an email to frame a regular protestor at the Capitol, allegations of surveilling committee rooms and wrongdoing on the vote to pass the Education Savings Account, the House Republican Caucus held a private meeting that resulted in a vote of no confidence in Casada as Speaker. “I’m not interested in running as Speaker at this time,” Lamberth told The Star. He further elaborated, “I ran for State Representative for a two year term – and that’s a blessing. I love serving my community.” “I also ran to serve as Majority Leader for a two-year term,”…
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The State of the State will signal to the state the administration’s priorities for the immediate future. It is where campaign promises, either become realities or go to die.
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee – In the first phase of new leadership in the State of Tennessee, 28 new Representatives were sworn in to the 111th Tennessee General Assembly and the speaker’s gavel was handed from the first female Speaker, Beth Harwell, to Glen Casada. Tennessee’s leadership transition will be complete when Governor-elect Bill Lee is inaugurated on January 19. In front of a capacity crowd on the floor and in the galleries consisting largely of their families, the duly elected state representatives made their oath of office. The next order of business was to elect a new Speaker of the House, which started with a motion by House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Cottontown) nominating Republican Speaker-elect Glen Casada (R-Franklin). Karen Camper (D-Memphis) was the Democrat nominee for Speaker. A roll-call vote resulted in 75 votes for Casada to Camper’s 22 with one “present not voting” and one representative absent. In his acceptance speech which he began near tears, Casada recognized former House Speakers Bill Jenkins, Kent Williams and Jimmy Naifeh. Casada also expressed his appreciation for his immediate predecessor, Beth Harwell, calling her “a woman of character” and a “true class act,” which was punctuated by a standing ovation. With Harwell…
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There are at least 6 organizations serving educators in our state. The union has a near monopoly. All teachers deserve the same right in regard to payroll deductions. House Bill 356 & Senate Bill 404 is fairly simple, do we believe all teachers deserve equal treatment or not?
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Any state law or district policy should be designed to require equal treatment of all teacher associations. If followed correctly, the state would simply be facilitating an open playing field for all associations, and teachers themselves would make the ultimate decisions of which organization to join – if any.
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