Elevate Your Teaching Journey

Embrace School Choice for More Opportunities and Autonomy

Dear Tennessee Educators,

All Tennesseans recognize the invaluable contribution teachers make to our children's lives. This page is designed to cut through the noise and show educators the factual studies on how school choice not only benefits your students but will also elevate your own professional journey.

School choice doesn’t just mean more choice for students & parents, it’s more choice for teachers too!

THE POWER OF SCHOOL CHOICE FOR TEACHERS

Increased Teacher Pay

Imagine a future where your dedication & expertise is not only recognized but also rewarded. More school choice being introduced into a state has been proven to increase teacher pay in both private and public school systems because it creates more competition for the very best teachers & even enables teachers to become their own boss.

Diverse Career Paths

School choice means more options for teachers to decide what career path is best for them. Many love their public schools. Others enjoy the setting of a private school more. Leading a co-op or micro-school has proven to be a fantastic opportunity for teachers wishing to be more entrepreneurial. School choice creates a far more robust marketplace where all these available options can exist in harmony with one another. Under the current system, there are few paths to take with limited positions available if an educator wants to teach outside the public school system.

Increased Job Satisfaction

Polling & studies have shown for decades that teachers experience far greater job satisfaction when they have more career paths provided by school choice.

Entrepreneurship & Autonomy

Teachers are the experts in their classrooms. With school choice, you have the autonomy to choose teaching environments that align with your teaching philosophy, ensuring a fulfilling and rewarding experience for both you and your students.

Ever dreamt of creating a learning environment tailored to your teaching style? Micro-schools are small, independent schools that offer a personalized and innovative approach to education. Imagine having the freedom to open your own micro school and shape the educational experience for your students.

Micro-schools provide teachers with the autonomy to innovate and experiment with teaching methods. As a teacher-entrepreneur, you have the opportunity to create a unique educational space that fosters creativity, critical thinking, and a love for learning.

If universal school choice becomes a reality, a teacher could find 15 students in their community where the parents would hand over their $7k ESA to that teacher’s micro-school, earning them upwards of $100k a year.

Better Student Performance

Educators choose the profession because they care deeply about the success of the next generation.

Eleven out of seventeen studies on the matter have proven that when school choice is implemented, students who participate in the programs have better outcomes. Four of those studies showed no visible change. Only two of the seventeen studies showed any negative effects, and those negative effects are typically reversed after 4 years when the student then begin to surpass the peers from the school they left.

Students in public schools also perform better once a state adopts school choice programs. Twenty-six out of twenty-nine studies on the matter have proven public schools improve their outcomes when school choice is implemented.

How so? Because those public schools are forced to compete in a more open market. No more wasting precious resources on school administrators making $200k/yr who have 4 assistants while teachers do all the hard work. Teacher satisfaction and student success finally become a top priority in public schools when competitive pressure from school choice exists.

The Tennessee Education Association Opposes School Choice- Why?

Loss of power & control over teachers: If teachers are allowed to be their own boss, have more competition over their labor, and have more career paths, their profession is elevated to a level that weakens the need for the union to take hundreds of dollars from your paychecks every year. Doctors, Lawyers, etc. have no need for such a union because they’re in such high demand and have true control over their careers. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for educators due to the monopolistic nature of public education. Universal school choice will change that, and the TEA doesn’t want to lose access to your paychecks.

Despite the scare tactics & disinformation from the TEA/NEA, the vast majority of teachers across America support for school choice programs like the Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) being introduced by Governor Lee because they understand school choice can mean an escape from burdensome school administration, more autonomy, different career paths, entrepreneurial freedom, increased competition for their labor, better pay, and most importantly- better outcomes for their students they care so deeply about.

MYTHS VS. FACTS

-MYTH: Governor Lee is introducing a “school voucher”.

-FACT: This is factually inaccurate & intellectually dishonest. Governor Lee’s Education Freedom Scholarship is an Education Savings Account (ESA). Opponents of School Choice are purposefully misleading people to believe it is a voucher because vouchers have a negative connotation associated with them. An ESA functions much in the same way as your Health Savings Account does, but for education expenses instead.

-MYTH: School Choice will “defund” public schools & force them to close down

-FACT: Tennessee’s ESA pilot program was passed in 2019. Since then, the public-school districts where the pilot program was implemented have been given more access to taxpayer funding than ever before in history.

Furthermore, there has never been an instance anywhere in the country where a public school was forced to close due to the state adopting school choice policies.

Additionally, school choice will lead to an even higher available portion of local funding on a per student basis- meaning local dollars would go further when it comes to public education.

Finally, more private schools opening their doors would also mean fewer local resources being spent on building/maintaining new schools so that those tax dollars could instead be spent on their existing public schools.

-MYTH: School Choice will lead to discrimination

-FACT: Eight studies have looked at racial integration with school choice. Seven of them showed school choice leads to more racial integration, not less, while only one of the studies showed no difference.

JOIN THE MOVEMENT

Be part of the change!

Your voice matters. Join the movement for school choice and be part of shaping a future where teachers are empowered, students thrive, and education becomes a collaborative journey. Tell your lawmakers to support school choice for teachers across the state!

At Americans for Prosperity - Tennessee, we believe that an empowered teacher is the key to unlocking the full potential of every student. Join us in creating a future where educators have the freedom and opportunities they deserve.

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