Tennessee rolls back testing requirements in early voucher program

“Sign up for Chalkbeat Tennessee’s free newsletter to keep up with statewide education policy and Memphis-Shelby County Schools. Tennessee Republicans have rolled back testing accountability measures in the state’s initial voucher program but backed down on a House plan to significantly expand the program to thousands of new students. House Bill 1881, which passed both the Senate and House on Thursday, allows private schools receiving Education Savings Accounts funds to offer students the nationally normed reference test of their choosing instead of the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program. Private schools can still offer the TCAP if they wish, though state testing requirements have for years been resisted by many private schools considering participating in Tennessee’s growing voucher programs. Now, ESA accountability measures are aligned with the Education Freedom Scholarships program. While private schools will be required to submit some anonymized testing results, it will be difficult to determine an apples-to-apples comparison of student educational outcomes for the more than 40,000 Tennessee students using public funds to attend private schools. Republicans pushing the legislation argue schools should be allowed to choose a test that aligns with their curriculum, which can vary widely by schools. Rep. William Slater, a Republican from Gallatin, said Thursday some ESA students are being tested twice to meet both the school’s and state’s requirements and deserve to have a streamlined process. Slater acknowledged the state “can’t compare apples to oranges,” and public testing won’t be able to be compared to private testing. But Slater said private school student achievement can be measured against a cohort of students taking the same test in the state. “This is not a public versus private, not a TCAP versus a nationally normed reference test. This is not rich versus poor,” Slater said. “This is simply fairness for these students whose parents have applied for the ESA and sent their children to these chosen schools.” Democrats sharply criticized the measure. House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Ray Clemmons of Nashville said Thursday that lawmakers promised comparable accountability when the ESA program was pushed to lawmakers years ago. A Tennessee Comptroller report from last winter that found ESA recipients continue to trail their public school peers in academic achievement, with exceptions in Memphis-Shelby County schools. Some Democrats have suggested Republicans are trying to sidestep similar reports in the future. “You’re scared. You’re scared that this experiment is failing,” Rep. Sam McKenzie, a Knoxville Democrat, said. “Experiments are great. You get your hypothesis, and you perform your experiments. That’s a good thing, that’s the scientific way. But sometimes the measurement does not align with your hypothesis.” Republicans tabled a last-minute amendment to use the bill to drastically expand the ESA program that appeared this week in an attempt to relieve the waitlist for students in the Education Freedom Scholarships program. The ESA program has been historically underutilized, in part because fewer private schools participate due to the testing requirements. The amendment, which would have dropped all enrollment caps and expanded to Knox County, appeared to spook some in the GOP caucus as it circulated the Capitol. The Senate bill failed to pass on Wednesday as news spread of the expansion effort. The legislation moved forward on Thursday after both the Senate and House sponsors repeatedly assured their colleagues that the bill would not expand the ESA program in any way. Melissa Brown is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact Melissa at mbrown@chalkbeat.org .

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