Haslam's more guarded approach to dragging government to the bathtub to drown it represents the most dangerous kind of post-partisan maneuvering, whereby both sides of the aisle of the corporate jet come together to toast the reign of corporate government and the further aggrandizement and continued control by the 1%ers.
In terms of education policy, the former neolib Gov. Bredesen handed off to Haslam a plan designed by the Gates, Broad, and Walton Foundations and approved by their boy, Duncan, to make Tennessee the poster state for corporate education "reform," from uncapped charter growth to unceasing value-added testing to replacement of urban professional teachers by the [Teach For America] missionaries to the unfettered growth of online diploma mills for high school kids.
The dusting off of another reform of 50 years ago, school vouchers, has left Haslam in somewhat of a pickle. If Tennessee is going to follow the [Business Round Table] script for unrestrained charter growth, dependent as such a plan will be on tax dollars to fund these unregulated and segregated corporate-run testing camps, then can TN, without a state income tax and with sales tax maxed out at around 10% (with local options), afford to open the door to another drain on the state coffers, as vouchers surely will be?
Tennessee Democrats and the education reformers who love them seem to be in a lathered lockstep to oppose vouchers, so they're doing Governor Haslam a solid in the form of a chance for an easy retreat from his party's reckless right-wing. But the Democrats already failed to bar the door to vouchers by advocating the corporate privatization of public education through charter schools. As far as I'm concerned the Dems have no credibility on the subject of vouchers outside the Governor's Office.
All of this must be done in a budget neutral manner...yes, I support high quality vouchers and they are highly regulated and can be shut down faster than any failing government school...
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