🚨The GOP supermajority came out with their 1st piece of legislation the day after election. The bill that was burning their fingers it was so important to TN families. Did they expand Medicaid? Address inflation? Solve the DCS crisis? No, they made #DragShows a felony. #NoHate My team and I knocked 1,000’s of doors and made 1,000’s of calls for months before the election, not one person told us the problem the state needs to address is #DragShows. NOT ONE!

I’m hearing @GovBillLee may end an internationally renowned eco-friendly event in Morgan County, The Barkley Marathons, because they want to expand a bit and that means a bit more security. @BarkleyMarathon @TheBarkley100 @runnersworld runnersworld.com/races-places/a… It also means more tourism 💰 for rural TN! This is truly an amazing race. It’s well known by runners internationally. Folks come from all over the world to compete-they bring family and friends who spend lots of money in East TN. There’s even a movie! barkleymovie.com

Interesting, @GovBillLee thought his kids needed a $22k education, but the rest of TN will be fine with less than half of that…or they can get a loan of $14k-$28k per kid to get what his kids deserved. wpln.org/post/despite-s… These vouchers aren’t about anything but subsidizing private ed for folks already attending private schools. Seems forcing parents to pay the rest or get a loan runs counter to the idea of free public education.

So folks across the aisle are starting up their name calling with their “far left radical” accusation nonsense as they do at election time. Well, I’m going to show you some of the legislation I have carried or supported and would love someone to tell me how it is radical. Paid Family Leave-it’s supported by 83% of Tennesseans, including both sides of the aisle. My plan is a conservative plan that has been hugely successful when enacted. The supermajority is calling it a tax, I guess understanding policy is hard for them.

A teacher reached out to me this week to tell me how tough this year’s start is and how much of it has to do with the ridiculous antics of the legislature, the Governor, and his administration. We are wasting to much valuable time that should be focused on kids. Here it is… “I have taught more than 15 years. We have started back and this was week two with students. In the last two weeks I have scanned and uploaded my list of over 1000 books I have in my classroom.

I attended a luncheon with retired teachers and some of the Knoxville delegation today. Our delegation has some interesting differences when it comes to education policy. Differences aren’t necessarily a bad thing, but sometimes, well…. .@RepMcKenzie and I are actually pretty close on education. We want funding to go to traditional public schools that take every child. We want equity in funding, no more charters, and no vouchers.

I saw this post on Facebook from a teacher in Colorado, he says some important stuff, it’s been shared a gazillion times, well said Brent Walker, teacher of music🎶. “For a group of people who likely haven’t stepped foot on an elementary school campus in decades, there seem to be some strong and very misinformed feelings about what goes on there.

“She said when her caseworker quit, she could not even get in touch with the caseworker's supervisor. She said her resigning caseworker warned her the Davidson County foster care office was dramatically understaffed.”

https://twitter.com/nc5/status/1549076868699197442?s=21&t=9-k35Lw3d3jmH3VRRpNycg

Last year @Campbell4TN and I had legislation to remedy this situation. It was voted down in committee on a party line vote. Afterwards, a GOP member on the committee came to me to say “we have to do something,” they are completely aware we have a serious problem-but do nothing.

Since GOP gerrymandering this year, HD90 has been moved to Knoxville & taken over much of the old HD13. About 40% of the district was not in the old HD13 however, so we are going to have a little fun getting to know the new HD90 with a game and the hashtag #GetToKnow90! It basically runs from 4th and Gill to Cedar Bluff Road and is shaped like a monkey wrench. As in, we are going to throw a monkey wrench in the GOP ‘s plans.😉

It is evil to lure low income families into a loan you know they cannot afford to pay for. He’s dangling the promise of a great education to families who want better, by trapping them in a loan with interest like a credit card they can’t afford to pay. It is important to note that in states with vouchers, not a single one has voucher students performing better than their public school peers-not one. It isn’t a “better” education. We must adequately and equitably fund our PUBLIC schools! Vouchers defund our public schools.

Now that we have seen this video where @Hillsdale prez Larry Arnn denigrates and demeans teachers, professors, and universities while @GovBillLee says nothing other than heaping praise on his ed advisor Larry, here are some action steps! If you are in the #Knoxville area, show up today at 11:00 am today at Edgewood Park to stand up for teachers!

Media Advisory

DATE: June 30, 2022
Contact: Gloria Johnson
Email: rep.gloria.johnson@capitol.tn.gov
Phone: 865-660-9800

Teachers Appalled by Lee-Hillsdale Remarks and Dealings
Remarks show how Lee and his education advisor feel about teachers and education. KNOXVILLE, TN)— After coming off two of the toughest years in their career, teachers are denigrated and demeaned by Larry Arnn, President of Hillsdale College, the man Governor Lee asked to bring 100 of his charter schools to Tennessee. Lee sat both off-stage and on-stage,

My heart breaks for the kids, teachers, and families in Texas. It’s a fact, Republicans cowardly desire to own weapons of war is killing America’s children. They believe their right to own guns is more important than a child’s right to return home from school or a movie safely. Their fear of anything that looks or believes differently than them drives them to want to carry guns every where they go. Why are they so fearful of everything around them. It must be horrible to live your entire day in fear.

I hope you all are doing well, there is so much going on politically I fear we never get a break from fighting for all Tennesseans–and that is OK, I am ready to fight. Don’t forget to give yourself both mental and physical breaks though, we all need them. I will be speaking tomorrow at the Bans Off Our Bodies Rally and I am sure I will see some of you there at 11:00 at Krutch Park. I will continue to fight for women’s rights and won’t back down.

🚨🚨🚨I started out my day today with Discrimination and Harassment Training, not sure why we had it the last week of session and not the first–but hey, it’s a GOP supermajority afterall. We were told we must report on anyone in our building who bullies, harasses, or discriminates based on federally protected categories. The example was an Hispanic woman being harassed, but they made it clear it included every protected class. These include sexual identity.

🚨🚨🚨Well folks, democracy is dead in TN. We just had the TISA school funding bill, an ALEC bill, in Gov Ops. The bill totally remakes funding for one million students and thousands of teachers. The DOE gave testimony and a few of us got to ask a couple questions. I was gaveled down for giving “my opinion” on Charter schools. I said they had dismal outcomes. So I gave them the numbers, 38% in bottom 5% and 77% in bottom 10%. Only 4% do better than 20%. Dismal is real. This bill is a vehicle to send 💰 💰💰for charters and vouchers.

The silly season has officially started, I’ve been called a “groomer” by a GOP troll. I don’t believe this rhetoric is silly, it’s dangerous. When you literally can’t debate the issues because the majority of Tennesseans on both sides of the aisle agree with me-you tell lies. You resort to lies, meanness and filth. I’m not surprised, I’m saddened, this is not my fathers GOP. Even those ashamed of the extremists in the party are complicit because they won’t stand up against this trash. And the TN GOP are the ones protecting an admitted child molester.

🚨🚨Important thread on TISA funding formula. ***Remember, the extra billion 💵 is for education-even if we don’t use TISA! The Education Admin. Committee meets again 1pm Tuesday. Please call or write to committee members asking them to vote no on TISA or send it to summer study. The admin held 2 months of “listening sessions,” as they remind us every time they talk about TISA. Evidently, they didn’t listen very well. The public’s message was consistent; MORE MONEY FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS, and NO more private charter schools or private-school vouchers.

I just did an interview with Vinay @wbir about subpoenas at the legislature-no, I didn’t get one. And what it’s like to be there while this is going on. I told him I was sitting on the House floor Thursday thinking about what an honor it was to be there. Then I did the math and realized about 20% of my colleagues across the aisle were being investigated, had been indicted, or were served a subpoena recently. Those very folks are the ones pushing through this new education funding formula that is not ready for prime time.

I think my tweet about TN government resonated with many, thanks so much for sharing it and for the follows! I live in a beautiful state with a lot of beautiful people who care deeply about their neighbors, sadly that is not what our supermajority is reflecting back. It seems true that absolute power corrupts absolutely. I got to hear from so many in other states feeling the same as we are in TN. #Solidarity to all of us as we push back! I don’t know how it works in every state, but I have some ideas for TN.

When I got home this weekend someone asked how things are going in Nashville, I’m not sure they were ready for my answer, but it went kind of like this… We have a “Don’t Say Gay” bill worse than Florida’s and about 4 more bills to go along with it-all equally filled with hate. GOP and B list celebrities are accusing librarians and teachers of “grooming” kids.