Commercial Appeal: Jane Roberts confirms that schools and colleges shouldn’t experience much impact from the government shutdown.

“Right now, nobody is panicking, but there certainly are question marks if this continues on for weeks or months down the road,” said Richard Ritzman, head of financial aid at University of Memphis.

If you’re interested in getting a more in depth insight into what an izone school looks like, she’s also written a great profile of Chickasaw Middle.  Worth a read here.

TimesFreePress: good news for Memphis grads looking to stay in state.  Attending a Tennessee college will, on average, leave you with one of the lowest student debts in the country on graduation.  The Hope Schoolarship gets great play.  I love this scholarship also because it’s a great incentive for my kids each and every day (“get a 3.0, get paid!”):

Volunteer State students graduate with the sixth-lowest debt in the nation, nearly $6,000 less than the U.S. average of $26,600. And the debt load among grads from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is better yet — $13,845, about half of the national average.

The report cites Tennessee’s “generous” Hope Scholarship as a tremendous leg up in comparison to other states’ funding opportunities — nearby Georgia students graduate with $22,443 in debt, and Alabama’s graduates are closer to the national average with $25,192.

A local Memphis Teacher, Monica brown, gets a great profile piece on the state department of education’s Tennessee Classroom Chronicles.  Great read, can be found here.

In statewide news, TN Ed Report notes that two counties, Roane and Marshall County have passed resolutions urging the State Department of Education (read: Kevin Huffman) to slow down education reform in our state.  This will be interesting to watch in the coming weeks, especially as we approach the spring legislative session.  If enough counties join, it could prompt action by the state legislature, resulting in yet more changes to a system that’s already undergone a massive overhaul in recent years here in Shelby County.

Commercial Appeal: no challengers to the Collierville school board candidates. I always hate to see this because it puts a limit on the ideas that get put out there about the quality of our education system.  This is also a trend in other municipalities as they hold their own races:

Although Collierville is the only municipality to avoid contested races, several cities only have one or two contested races. Arlington’s only contested race is in Position 2, where Barbara Fletcher and Dexter Orman are running for the seat. Bartlett and Germantown have two positions on the ballot with a pair of candidates. In Millington, voters will have a choice in three of the seven races.

CA: Congratulations to Shelby County School Board Member Dave Pickler for winning a Bammy Award from the Academy of Education Arts and Sciences:

NSBA Executive Director Thomas J. Gentzel praised Pickler, a local school board member since 1998, as a “strong advocate for local school governance to advance our public education system for all children.”

Memphis Business Journal: Parents are seeing a noticeable difference in their students school work as common core standards are implemented in Shelby County:

“I have siblings, and the tests we are giving them are different. They are seeing different work come home,” Pauly [a first grade teacher at Shady Grove Elementary] said. “Our spelling test even varies week to week because we are still trying to figure out what is the best assessment for them. … It’s a transition for parents and teachers and children and administration.”

Nashville Public Radio: Lt. Gov. Ramsey gives strong indications that there will be some serious debates in Tennessee’s next legislative session around the common core standards, and to expect changes specifically to the way we collect data in this state:

Ramsey says he still expects changes will be made, particularly to the amount of data that will be collected and distributed on Tennessee students. It’s ironic though, he says, because Tennessee has long-collected vast amounts of information on students – more than almost any other state – but it’s only just now becoming an issue.

I’ve already expressed my support for common core standards through this blog.  As a teacher, I’ve experienced firsthand the improvement that these standards represent over our old Tennessee standards.  They push kids not just to do, but think about and analyze what they are doing.  However, I believe it would be short sighted to implement the common core state standards without the accompanying PARCC assessments.

If you’re not familiar with PAARC, you can read more about its purpose and development here.  In a nutshell, PARCC assessments are designed to track student’s readiness for college and careers and compare students across the states.  They would incorporate both multiple choice AND open answer, something we lack in Tennessee.  They are also computer based, a big change over the current model we use in Tennessee.

However, one of the big push backs against these tests is the costs.  Earlier this year, PARCC came out with their estimated cost per student, $29.95.  Currently in Tennessee we spend around $40-50 million per year to test students, or around 1% of our total state spending on education.  Fully implementing PARCC would likely raise the cost somewhat in Tennessee and elsewhere, but not by a considerable amount.  The increase in costs has, however, lead some states to pull out of the consortia, most recently Georgia.  Despite this, 13 states and Washington DC are still committed to fully implementing PARCC.  You can see which states are committed to the different testing consortia and which have none on the map below:

I sincerely hope that our legislature decides not only to continue to implement the CCSS, but also to remain within the group of states seeking to implement PARCC.  There are many benefits in doing so.  First, teachers could be assured that we would receive the testing results before the end of the year.  Second, PARCC tests would also allow for better accommodations for English language learners and students with disabilities by creating pre-designed modules for these students.  Third, they would likely reduce the likelihood of the testing scandals we’ve seen in recent years as there will be no paper involved.

We would also gain several macro benefits.  Through participation in PARCC, we gain the ability to compare Tennessee to other consortium states using a common metric.  Implementing these assessments, designed to determine college and career readiness, would also not only raise the rigor of our assessments, which, in my experience, are too easy to game by teaching kids tricks and test taking skills.  They would also allow us to compare students, educators and schools to other states using a common assessment.

There are some caveats with implementation.  The tests are new and will likely need some tweaking, so I do not believe that they should be used to evaluate teachers in the first year (until at least 2015). Furthermore, we have seen test scores drop in states that have fully implemented new common core state tests due to the increased rigor.  Therefore I don’t believe we should use these tests in year one to impose any penalties or harms on schools or districts in their first year or possibly second (2016).

Many anti reformers decry testing as “the problem” in education today.  I contend that testing is not the problem.  Rather, bad testing is the problem.  Current tests allow us to game the system, modify the standards and the questions at will and in doing so dilute the results and render them essentially meaningless.  PARCC would overcome many of these challenges and do so with a similar if slightly higher cost to what we currently spend in Tennessee on testing.  I hope our state’s legislators decide to continue our state’s participation in the PARCC consortia.

Commercial Appeal (3 articles): first, Haslam comes out in support of the common core standards on the heals of the state legislature hearings:

Gov. Bill Haslam said Wednesday he feels “very strongly that Common Core is important” for the state’s progress in education.

The governor said he believes the nationwide standards help parents, educators and others understand what students should know at each grade level. “We think it’s really important that in Tennessee we not drop our standards.”

The state legislature opens hearings on the common core standards, and simply reads through them today (gotta love the process!).; On a related note, Tennessee Ed Report posts a brief summary of the Professional Educators of Tennessee’s common core principles. Worth a read!

Dave Pickler hosts a meeting of the board of directors of the National Association of School Boards as its president, to rave reviews (at least from the commercial appeal):

He’s the first Tennessean to take the reins of the NSBA in more than 50 years, and is visibly excited at the center of the storm over public education that has been created by voucher proposals, the charter school movement, the role of the federal government, mayoral and gubernatorial takeovers, the use of technology and other rising tides.

“We hope to get the message out,” Pickler said, “that despite the conventional wisdom that public education is failing, the real truth is that in the vast majority of cities across America public education is making a huge positive impact on the lives of the children they serve.”

Memphis Daily News: Tennessee Named LAST in the nation in education spending according to the Education Law Center.  Apparently, we spend less per pupil than any other state in the country using 2009 numbers.  How about the legislature focuses on school funding for our kids instead of this witch hunt against common core state standards perpetuated by extremist tea party groups?

Commercial Appeal: there’s a great article in today about how different schools across Memphis are successfully implementing common core.  The article highlights Kate Bond Middle, and demonstrates the importance of training teachers in common core implementation:

The change is most profound at Kate Bond Middle, where some of Shelby County’s most experienced teachers in the Common Core demonstrate their craft, serving as a “lab of live specimens, where you can come in and see what the Common Core looks like,” said the principal, Dr. Angela Brown.

At Kate Bond, training started two years ago in the Common Core, which is not only changing what is happening in classrooms but will also affect the way student learning is assessed in the spring.

Tennessee Post: Common Core hearings will be held this week on Thursday and Friday in Nashville.  The hearings are being pushed by tea party types. This is the first serious public push (although much has gone on behind the scenes) against common core in TN. Below is a list of the speakers from the article, with tea party speakers denoted by an asterisk (7 of the 14 are tea party speakers).  Also, one of our contributors, Casie Jones, will be testifying on the teacher perspective.

TESTIFYING ON DATA

Ms. Jane Robbins, American Principles Project*

TESTIFYING ON THE TENNESSEE STORY

Ms. Jamie Woodson, President and Chief Executive Office of SCORE

TESTIFYING ON COST

Mr. Ted Rebarber*

HIGHER EDUCATION AND ASSESSMENT

Dr. Candice McQueen

COMMON CORE OVERVIEW

Ms. Joy Pullman, Heartland Institute*

TESTIFYING ON STANDARDS

Mr. Mike Petrilli, Executive Vice President of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute

TESTIFYING ON GEORGIA SENATE BILL 167

Senator William Ligon*

TESTIFYING ON PREPARING TENNESSEE’S WORKFORCE

Mr. Pitt Hyde III, Autozone Founder

TESTIFYING ON ASSESMENTS

Ms. Peg Luksik*

TESTIFYING ON THE TEACHER’S PERSPECTIVE

Ms. Casie Jones

TESTIFYING ON STANDARDS

Ms. Audrey Buffington*

TESTIFYING ON THE MILITARY PERSPECTIVE

Lt. Colonel Eric Goslowski, Director of J-9

TESTIFYING ON THE INSIDER’S VIEW

Mr. Jerry Lowery, Assistant Principal at White County High School*

TESTIFYING ON THE DISTRICT LEADER’S PERSPECTIVE

Mr. Clint Satterfield, Director of Trousdale County Schools

Last but not least, an article from the AP on common core support in Tennessee (full text below):

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VOL. 128 | NO. 180 | Monday, September 16, 2013

Daily Digest

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Bass Pro Shops Files $40 Million Permit

Springfield, Mo.-based Bass Pro Shops has filed a $40 million building permit with the city-county Office of Construction Code Enforcement for work at The Pyramid.

The permit signals the beginning of work by Bass Pro Shops on its store and the other attractions it will have in the Downtown arena, whose address is listed as 1 A.W. Willis Ave.

Up to this point, the construction work on The Pyramid has been the city of Memphis setting the stage for the retail space and other attractions that are the second part of the project and the responsibility of Bass Pro Shops in its lease agreement with the city.

The city’s responsibility included taking out the seating bowl in what was once a 20,000-seat arena and performing seismic measures within and outside the structure.

Earlier this month, the Memphis City Council approved the final $12 million appropriation of the city’s share of the constructions costs.

In August the Downtown Memphis Commission’s Design Review Board approved the signage for The Pyramid that will be part of the Bass Pro Shops part of the project.

Memphis-based O.T. Marshall Architects is architect for the project, and Chicago-based Graycor Construction Co. Inc. is general contractor.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports
– Daily News staff

Achievement School District Meets With Parents

Leaders of the Achievement School District meet Monday, Sept. 16, at three locations with parents of children attending four of the 13 schools the state-run district will add to its system in the 2014-2015 school year.

The meetings are the start of a process to match the low-performing schools with charter school operators. The district will announce that decision in December based on the discussion at the meetings.

The three meetings are from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Carver High School,1591 Pennsylvania St., South Side Middle School, 1880 Prospect St., andColeman Elementary Schools, 3210 Raleigh-Millington Road.

The meeting at Coleman is for parents of that school as well as Springhill Elementary School.

The Achievement School District is adding two high schools, chosen among Carver, Fairley and Frayser high schools. They are expected to choose either Carver or Fairley, but not both.

The meetings then shift to three other schools Tuesday, Sept. 17, at the same time as the Monday meetings.

The meeting at Denver Elementary School, 1940 Frayser Blvd., is for parents of children who attend there or Frayser High.

The session at Westwood Elementary School, 778 Parkrose Road, is for parents of children at Westwood or Fairley.

And parents at Wooddale Middle School, 3467 Castleman St., will meet as well on Tuesday.

– Bill Dries

Landmark Bank Expands in Middle Tennessee

Landmark Community Bank has reached a deal with Cadence Bank to buy certain branch loans and assume all deposits in Cadence’s Middle Tennessee operations.

As part of the deal, Landmark will also enter into a sublease with Cadence to operate its branch facilities at 198 Main St. in Franklin and 93 Seaboard Lane in Brentwood. The transaction, subject to regulatory approval, is scheduled to close on March 31.

Sandler O’Neill and Partners LP acted as the financial adviser to Cadence for the transaction, which will increase Landmark’s presence in Middle Tennessee to three locations.

Landmark is headquartered in Collierville, with two branches in Germantown and one branch in East Memphis.

– Andy Meek

International Paper Board Expands to 11 Members

International Paper is increasing the size of its board to 11 members with the addition of Jay Johnson, former chairman and CEO of defense contractor General Dynamics Corp.

The 67-year-old Johnson’s appointment is effective Oct. 1.

Johnson retired as chairman and CEO of General Dynamics in December. Before that, he was CEO of Dominion Virginia Power. He had risen to the rank of admiral in a career of more than 30 years in military service. Johnson served as the Chief of Naval Operations and as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1996 until 2000.

On Wednesday International Paper announced that it is laying off 1,100 people who work at an Alabama paper mill that it plans to permanently close because of waning demand for the paper the facility makes. The company’s total employee headcount is about 70,000.

– The Associated Press

Tennessee Education Commissioner Responds to Petition

Tennessee Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman didn’t offer any apologies in his first comments about a petition signed by more than 60 school superintendents that is critical of his leadership at the department.

Media reported that Huffman disputed many assertions in the letter, which says his office “has no interest in a dialogue” with local school leaders, and adds that superintendents’ efforts to improve their schools are being thwarted by low teacher morale because of policy changes on the state level.

“It has become obvious to the signees that our efforts to acquire a voice within this administration is futile,” according to the petition.

The petition is being circulated among the state’s 137 school districts and has signatures from at least 63 superintendents.

Although Huffman initially told reporters he hadn’t seen the letter, he later said he’d seen an unofficial copy of it.

“It’s not a question of who knows more about what children need. It’s a question of, in my perch, I’m responsible for ensuring that the educational outcomes of 970,000 students in Tennessee get better. So we can either decide that we’re going to stay in the bottom 10 states in the country in education outcomes, or we can decide that we’re going to do the things that will make Tennessee be a competitive state when it comes to education results.”

Gov. Bill Haslam’s press spokesman, David Smith, said his office hasn’t received the petition.

“The governor supports the commissioner, and the data shows the state is making real progress.”

– The Associated Press

Tennessee Education Groups Support Common Core Standards

Education leaders from a dozen state organizations have sent a letter to the governor supporting a new set of benchmarks for math and reading.

The letter sent this week says the common core standards provide students with critical thinking, problem solving and strong writing skills they need to help prepare them for global competition.

One group supporting the new standards is the State Collaborative on Reforming Education.

Jamie Woodson heads the organization and says she believes students will achieve more if they are challenged.

The ACT’s yearly report showed Tennessee’s high school graduates fell short of national results for ACT college readiness benchmarks this year.

The biggest gap was in math, with 29 percent of Tennessee students being deemed college ready, compared with the U.S. rate of 44 percent.

Collectively, there seems to be strong support across our state for these reforms.  Our elected and appointed leaders continually remind us about how we are now holding schools and teachers accountable for the only outcome that should matter, student learning.

And yet I am worried.  I fear that all these reforms may be for naught if we do not provide the financial means to ensure their success.  Regardless of all else, funding is incredibly important to ensuring that reforms such as the ones implemented in Tennessee live up to their potential.  And there is dramatic room for improvement in Tennessee in this area.  We currently rank 47^th out of all states and the District of Columbia in per pupil funding[i].

Some people express skepticism that increased funding will lead to improved educational outcomes.  If you need proof that funding plays a vital role in academic outcomes, look no further than the data from the last National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).  Using this data, we can compare states using these academic outcomes and per pupil expenditures.  When we do this, we see a decidedly upward trend using 8^th grade scores.  We also see similar trends using 4^th grade scores, but for the purpose of the space I’ve not reproduced those graphs here:

As funding increases, educational outcomes improve consistently (Washington DC has been removed because it is an outlier compared to all other states). Just in case you’re wondering, Tennessee spends $8,065 per pupil and produced a math average of 275 and a reading average of 261, failing to beat the trend line in either category.

Many people ask the question, where would this additional funding go?  It would go to ensuring that the reforms we’ve implemented truly live up to their potential.  It would go towards providing funding to districts to enable them to fully fund the compensation plans recently mandated by the state board of education with their reforms this summer.  Plans like the one that was created in Memphis through a collective effort between teachers and the district, but was shelved because of the cost.

It would go towards ensuring that teachers are adequately trained in common core. Towards creating more resources for teachers.  For staff to train educators in how to implement common core. Towards ensuring that the the costs of the new common core assessments don’t sabotage this game changing reform initiative. Towards developing resources for non-tested subjects like foreign languages and showing them what the shift to common core means for them.

It would go towards ensuring the accuracy and effectiveness of our teacher evaluation system. Towards hiring enough administrative staff so that principals and their assistants can both do their jobs and also evaluate teachers at the same time, instead of being over-taxed as so many are now.

Most fundamentally, it would go towards ensuring that our schools have the basic resources we need to educate our children.  And I’m not talking about Ipads and computers.  I’m talking about basic school supplies.  And funding for these basic resources all too often comes out of the wallets of educators.  We purchase these supplies for our kids because we recognize the need and refuse to let our students enter our schools unprepared.  Personally I’ve spend hundreds of dollars over the past few years on copies when our school copier broke down and there was no money to fix it, or on a fan for my classroom because the air conditioning wasn’t working and there was no money to fix it.  I know many educators who do the same.  I’m also talking about text books.  Notebooks.  The basics.

Do not misinterpret this data.  We need to raise funding, yes, but only if it truly goes towards ensuring that these reforms accomplish their goal of truly improving our education system.  We love to believe we can eat our cake and have it too, but at the end of the day we should also acknowledge that we will get what you pay for.  We cannot continue with the belief that we can reform our way to better educational outcomes when we don’t provide the resources to ensure that they succeed.  Lets put our money where our mouths are. Lets fully fund our education system here in Tennessee.  Because the future of our children and by association the future of our state depends on it.

*the data used for educational outcomes on the NAEP test can be obtained at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/statecomparisons/withinyear.aspx?usrSelections=1%2cRED%2c0%2c1%2cwithin%2c0%2c0 and the data for expenditures at http://www.governing.com/gov-data/education-data/state-education-spending-per-pupil-data.html

The number of states using common core:

The reports released Wednesday focus on overall progress in addition to professional development for teachers and states’ Common Core resources. In 30 states, Center on Education Policy reports, schools are already teaching from curricula aligned with the Common Core in math and English language arts. Nine more states reported they will begin using such curricula in the upcoming school year.

Teacher professional development is lacking, necessitating a greater focus of time and resources on preparation:

In more than half of states, the majority of K-12 teachers have participated in professional development to adjust to the Common Core, but only 10 states reported that 75 percent or more teachers received such professional development, according to the Center on Education Policy.

Just more supporting evidence that the emphasis needs to now be on implementation.  Otherwise its the kids that will suffer the consequences.

My experience moving from thing to thing when it doesn’t immediately produce results occurs frequently within our education system.    We often think up or implement new and revolutionary ideas and enthusiastically enact them into policy.  However, when they don’t immediately produce results, we often abandon them.  And when they do, we fail to commit the time, political will and resources to ensure their continued success.  Perhaps worst of all, we shift the debate to whether or not to continue to implement these ideas and away from how to successfully implement them, thereby ensuring they fail.

The ongoing drive to common core is in danger of succumbing to this problem.  Early results have seen student scores drop and we are seeing intense push back in states like New York.  And now that cost estimates for PAARC have been released, some states are threatening to pull out.  This has shifted the debate from how to implement the common core to whether or not we should even keep it, even as many educators work tirelessly to implement them in their classrooms.  In Tennessee, the Senate Education Committee is holding hearings on September 19th and 20th, presumably with the goal of determining whether or not to continue supporting common core.

When educators across the state continue to work tirelessly to implement these standards, this should not be where our policy makers invest our time and energy.  We are in the process of implementation.  We need support to ensure that we are doing the best we can for our kids.  Teachers across Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee and the rest of the country are putting as much time and energy into transitioning to these standards as we can. We want to push our students to a higher level of thinking, but the current debate draws valuable resources away from this debate and leaves us on our own as we work to implement these standards.  If you are a teacher that supports common core standards, I urge you to contact your legislators and tell them we need their support to ensure we can do the best we can for the students of Tennessee.

At 9:00 a.m. on a Monday morning, I find myself walking into a South Memphis classroom taught by Ms. Lewis (name has been changed to protect anonymity) , a second-year middle school English teacher who is determined to “make a difference in the lives of children.” My initial thought was that within the fourth week of a new school year, I would hardly see any progress, especially now that teachers are trying to figure out how to implement more Common Core standards into their lessons.  I am happy to say, though, that I was pleasantly surprised at my findings.  Within five minutes of sitting in the room, I could tell that there was an uncommon culture of learning, a core of urgency, and intrinsic motivation.  Moreover, I could tell that this was driven by an adherence to common core..

My current role in education provides me with the opportunity to promote educational equity by supporting new teachers in the classroom as they enhance the educational experience of students.  That support includes guiding them to realize what’s at stake for their students, fostering leadership among both teachers and students, and cultivating a long-term passion for this work that we do.  However, when I work with these new teachers, I am often consumed by the talks of Common Core implementation and its effects on classroom instruction.

We hear a multitude of opinions about what Common Core standards will mean for student success.  It is even more crucial when we learn the harsh reality that only a small amount of Memphis students are ready for college by the time they graduate.  This is a stark reality for Ms. Lewis’ students as well. Whether for or against it, the majority of Memphians simply want education here to improve.  For that reason, much is expected from all the new teachers who enter the classrooms each year.  This year, especially, we want strong teachers who understand how to maneuver through the standards to get students college-ready. So, how are they doing?

Ms. Lewis is just one example of many.  Her classroom is guided by her implementation of common core.  All over the city, new teachers are stepping up to the plate, tackling the standards and effectively delivering them to our kids.  Just like in the South Memphis classroom, I am witnessing average students discuss literature in an above-average manner.  I am witnessing elementary students using math as a social inquiry, discussing a math problem and debating all sides just to get to the correct answer.  More importantly, I am feeling the joy, energy, and passion within the classrooms.  Kids are not just learning; they are being equipped with tools that will help them not only in post-secondary education, but also in life.

New teachers are raising the bar for the type of learning that should happen in classrooms.  When I asked Ms. Lewis the level of difficulty in teaching Common Core, she replied, “It takes me thinking in a more detailed way about what my students need.  Any teacher must be willing to work and put in the effort from day one.” By no means is Ms. Lewis an expert at this craft with only one year of experience under her belt, nor does she proclaim this.  But, there is something to be said about incoming teachers who, at the very beginning of the school year, are willing to deep dive into the standards for the purpose of moving students towards a pathway of opportunities.  This is the new era of education in Memphis, and I believe it will change our city.

Elana Cole is a former MCS and charter school educator.  She taught for 7 years in Memphis.  She currently works as a teacher coach.

When 45 states and the District of Columbia quickly adopted Common Core in their pursuit of federal largesse, it seemed the common standards and tests would take the country by storm. Fast-forward three years, and the nation is split between higher-performing states chafing at the prospect of less rigorous standards leading to declining student performance, and their lower-performing counterparts that are unwilling or unable to fund the transition to Common Core tests.

The article mentions the $16 billion in implementation costs over 7 years in the lowest performing states. This is especially relevant given the rumblings I’m hearing that Tennessee is considering pulling out of the PARCC assessments due to costs.

In related news, superintendents in East Tennessee have expressed their support for Common Core to help improve college readiness rates.

Transportation woes: director of transportation for SCS resigns, leaving Hitesh Haria in charge.  See our article from a few days ago for a brief profile.

Teacher License Changes: Tennessee’s Board of Education voted 6-3 to adopt the modifications to the teacher license system in our state that we wrote about here a few days ago.  For another perspective, check out this post from Tennessee Education Report.

SCS experiences a payroll glitch that leads to a large number of employees going unpaid Friday.

Sen. Campfield at it again: And in perhaps our MOST important (that is, ludicrous) education update this week in Tennessee, Sen. Campfield pre-filed legislation that would, as he puts it;

preserve the rights of students and teachers to say “merry Christmas” and other “traditional greetings” during the holidays, Knoxville News Sentinel reports.

“This stops all these silly lawsuits that say you can’t say ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘happy Hanukkah’ or have a Christmas tree,” the Knoxville Republican told the News Sentinel.

This only adds to the ridiculous issues that Sen. Campfield chooses to take on, including his “Don’t Say Gay” bill in 2011, a bill that would require counselors to report students sexuality to their parents if they say they are gay, and cutting welfare payments to parents with students who fail to make adequate grades by 30%.

At a time when TN student achievement is in the bottom half of all states and we are fighting to adequately implement common core, bravo, Sen. Campfield, for tackling these truly important issues.