Volume 21, No. 10 for the week ending April 29, 2011

In Total Disrespect for Teachers, PN Repeal Advances TEA Members Must Hold All Legislators Accountable!

SB 113 , legislation which would repeal the 1978 Educational Professional Negotiations Act (EPNA), passed a key Senate committee on Tuesday, April 26 and is scheduled for the Senate floor on Monday, May 2. Over TEA’s objections, the Senate Finance Committee passed SB 113 by a vote of 6-5. While the vote was largely along party lines, Sen. Doug Overbey (R-Maryville) voted against repeal. Sen. Overbey made a persuasive argument before the committee that, based on polls in his Senate district, his constituents did not support repeal of teacher negotiations. The roll call vote in the finance committee is listed below.

“YES” (for repeal -- against TEA’s position) – Senators (R-Collierville), Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro), Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge), Mark Norris (R-Collierville), (R-Hixson), and Jamie Woodson (R-Knoxville).

“NO” (against repeal -- for TEA’s position) – Senators Lowe Finney (D-Jackson), Joe Haynes (D-Goodlettsville), Douglas Henry (D-Nashville), (D-Memphis), and Doug Overbey (R- Maryville).

Members should contact these five senators who supported TEA and thank them for their support.

The companion bill – HB 130 – is scheduled for the House Finance Committee on Tuesday, May 3. The legislation has been amended in the Senate to provide that school boards be required to adopt a “professional employee manual” which will be developed by the Organization of School Superintendents (TOSS). The bill as amended repeals collective bargaining and replaces it with a process that TEA lobbyists have characterized as a “sham” with an “illusion” of teacher input. TEA strongly opposes the legislation and the proposed amendment. TEA members MUST let legislators know that this legislation is totally unacceptable. The message should be simple:

 I strongly oppose the assault on teacher rights by repealing a law which has worked well for 35 years.  The amended bill is taking away any substantive input from practitioners and places all decisions in the hands of boards of education.  The legislation takes away a formal framework for employee input through EPNA and replaces it with a bogus process which calls for “input received from professional employees, parents, other education stakeholders, and otherwise interested members of the general public.”

Numerous contacts are needed immediately in opposition to this politically motivated, vindictive legislation. Priorities for contacts should be the full Senate where the vote is to be taken on May 2 and the House Finance Committee where the vote is scheduled for May 3. Contact information for both groups is listed below. TEA Legislative Report Page 38

Members of the

Phone Area E-Mail Add ress (Please include your Member Code name, postal address, and phone number (Party & District) (615) in your e-mail) Barnes, Tim (D-22) 741-2374 [email protected] Beavers, Mae (R-17) 741-2421 [email protected] Bell, Mike (R-9) 741-1946 [email protected] Berke, Andy (D-10) 741-6682 [email protected] Burks, Charlotte(D-15) 741-3978 [email protected] Campfield, Stacey (R-7) 741-1766 [email protected] Crowe, Rusty (R-3) 741-2468 [email protected] Faulk, Mike (R-4) 741-2061 [email protected] Finney, Lowe (D-27) 741-1810 [email protected] Ford, Ophelia (D-29) 741-1767 [email protected] Gresham, Dolores (R-26) 741-2368 [email protected] Harper, Thelma (D-19) 741-2453 [email protected] Haynes, Joe M. (D-20) 741-6679 [email protected] Henry, Douglas (D-21) 741-3291 [email protected] Herron, Roy (D-24) 741-4576 [email protected] Johnson, Jack (R-23) 741-2495 [email protected] Kelsey, Brian K. (R-31) 741-3036 [email protected] Ketron, Bill (R-13) 741-6853 [email protected] Kyle, James F., Jr. (D-28) 741-4167 [email protected] Marrero, Beverly (D-30) 741-9128 [email protected] McNally, Randy (R-5) 741-6806 [email protected] Norris, Mark (R-32) 741-1967 [email protected] Overbey, Doug (R-8) 741-0981 [email protected] Ramsey, Lt. Gov. Ron (R-2) 741-4524 [email protected] Roberts, Kerry (R-18) 741-1999 [email protected] Southerland, Steve (R-1) 741-3851 [email protected] Stewart, Eric (D-14) 741-6694 [email protected] Summerville, Jim (R-25) 741-4499 [email protected] Tate, Reginald (D-33) 741-2509 [email protected] Tracy, Jim (R-16) 741-1066 [email protected] Watson, Bo (R-11) 741-3227 [email protected] Woodson, Jamie (R-6) 741-1648 [email protected] Yager, Ken (R-12) 741-1449 [email protected] TEA Legislative Report Page 39

House Finance, Ways & Means Committee Phone E-Mail Address (Please include your Member Area Code name, postal address, and phone (Party & District) (615) number in your e-mail.) Chairman Charles Sargent (R-61) 741-6808 [email protected] Vice Chairman Michael Harrison (R-9) 741-7480 [email protected] Secretary Curtis G. Johnson (R-68) 741-4341 [email protected] David Alexander (R-39) 741-8695 [email protected] Joe E .Armstrong (D-15) 741-0768 [email protected] Harry Brooks (R-19) 741-6879 [email protected] Kevin Brooks (R-24) 741-1350 [email protected] Tommie F. Brown (D-28) 741-4374 [email protected] (R-3) 741-2050 [email protected] Joe Carr (R-48) 741-2180 [email protected] Jim Coley (R-97) 741-8201 [email protected] Lois M. DeBerry (D-91) 741-3830 [email protected] Jimmy A. Eldridge (R-73) 741-7475 [email protected] Craig Fitzhugh (D-82) 741-2134 [email protected] (R-18) 741-2287 [email protected] David Hawk (R-5) 741-7482 [email protected] Judd Matheny (R-47) 741-7448 [email protected] Gerald McCormick (R-26) 741-2548 [email protected] Steve McDaniel (R-72) 741-0750 [email protected] Larry J. Miller (D-88) 741-4453 [email protected] Speaker Emeritus Jimmy Naifeh (D-81) 741-3774 [email protected] Gary Odom (D-55) 741-4410 [email protected] Dennis E. Roach (R-35) 741-2534 [email protected] (D-80) 741-4538 [email protected] Harry J. Tindell (D-13) 741-2031 [email protected]

Voucher Bill Passes Full Senate – Stopped in House Eighteen Senators Vote to Rob Public School Funds

On Thursday, April 21, the state Senate passed a blatant voucher bill which would allow “at-risk” students in the four metropolitan school districts (Davidson, Hamilton, Knox, and Shelby Counties) to attend private and parochial schools with 50% of the per pupil funding to go to the non-public school. Listed below is the roll-call vote on SB 485.

“Yes” (for vouchers – against TEA’s position ) – Senators (R-Mt. Juliet), (R-Riceville), (R-Knoxville), (R-Johnson City), Mike Faulk (R- Kingsport), (R-Somerville), Douglas Henry (D-Nashville), Jack Johnson (R-Franklin), Brian Kelsey (R-Collierville), Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro), Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge), Mark Norris (R-Collierville), (R-Blountville), (R-Springfield), Steve Southerland (R- Morristown), (R-Dickson), (R-Shelbyville), and Bo Watson (R-Hixson).

TEA Legislative Report Page 40

“No” (against vouchers – for TEA’s position) -- Senators Tim Barnes (D-Clarksville), Andy Berke (D-Chattanooga), Charlotte Burks (D-Monterey), Lowe Finney (D-Jackson), Thelma Harper (D- Nashville), Joe Haynes (D-Goodlettsville), Roy Herron (D-Dresden), Jim Kyle (D-Memphis), (D-Memphis), and Eric Stewart (D-Belvidere).

“Present and not voting” were Senators Doug Overbey (R-Maryville), Reginald Tate (D- Memphis), Jamie Woodson (R-Knoxville), and (R-Harriman).

Fortunately, the House Education Committee in a voice vote on Wednesday, April 27, deferred the bill to a “summer study” effectively killing it for this session. TEA strongly opposed the legislation due to its extremely negative impact on public education and because it allowed public monies to fund private and religious schools.

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