Stand for Children has worked on behalf of children in Tennessee since 1999, advocating for investments in public schools and pre-K and standing up for strong academic standards and quality schools for every child, regardless of his or her race or family’s income level.
This year’s School Board elections in Nashville are fundamentally important to the futures of tens of thousands of low-income Nashville students who are currently not receiving the education they need to succeed in life. Nashville has a massive and growing achievement gap between white students and students of color, and the number of schools on the state’s Priority List has more than doubled on the current School Board’s watch. It is absolutely crucial to elect School Board members who will work collaboratively, pragmatically and effectively to close that gap and increase the quality of Nashville schools.
Notwithstanding the misinformation and inflammatory rhetoric, here are the facts. The overwhelming majority of the $708,080 spent by the Stand for Children, Inc., Independent Expenditure Committee in this report has been to defeat virulently anti-public education candidates in state Republican legislative primaries.
The $216,540 the Stand for Children, Inc., Independent Expenditure Committee has spent to educate voters in four Nashville School Board districts about the stakes of this election and the record and behavior of specific incumbents is absolutely necessary given the array of powerful forces aggressively defending the indefensible status quo in Nashville. Given the context and the urgent need for new leadership that will bring crucial progress for Nashville students, we stand strongly behind those investments in change for Nashville’s children.
