Provide the best possible education for our children
EDITOR:
Our children deserve the best education we can provide and we need policies that give parents and local educators local control to best educate our kids.
Last September, the Anderson County School Board joined many Tennessee school boards and passed a resolution asking state leaders to amend the 2021 Third Grade Retention Law.
This law requires schools to retain students in third grade based on their TCAP score in English Language Arts. The resolution asked that school districts be allowed to use their own data to determine if a third-grader should be passed to fourth grade.
For the best education of our students, our school board and local educators need local control of decisions on passing or retaining their students. A single TCAP score does not fully reflect the ability of the student.
If a student is not a good test taker or has a bad day, they can be penalized unfairly and not permitted to pass on to fourth grade. Teachers and school administrators know if their students are ready for fourth grade or should be retained in third grade.
Currently, in the state House and Senate there are bills to amend this law and allow local control. The Senate bill, SB1306 has passed the Education subcommittee. The House bill, HB0107, will be considered on March 7 by the K-12 Education subcommittee.
This bill would be a big improvement on the 2021 law.
We need to provide the best possible education to our children so they can thrive. Local control of education decisions will benefit our children.
Contact your representative, Mr. John Ragan, 615-741-4400 or rep.john.ragan@capitol.tn.gov, or Mr. Ed Butler, 615-741-1260 or rep.ed.butler@capitol.tn.gov and ask them to support HB0107.
Ellen Faby
Clinton