The Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce released its annual Education Report Card on Tuesday. It calls on city officials, the school board and the community to work toward more equity, more diversity and more funding for public education.
The Chamber’s recommendations are few — just three — but they are vast. In fact, it’s hard to wrap your head around them. (Read a copy of the report here.)
One asks the city to craft a forward-looking plan for Metro Schools. The Chamber wants to pull in stakeholders from across disciplines and the city.
The second asks for an honest conversation around what it truly costs to fund a school. They hope having an “aspirational” number will somehow lead to more funding.
The final recommendation, however, is the most tangible: to reinstate the office of equity and diversity. First reported by WPLN, it was shuttered last summer. Even though less than half of Metro Schools meet the definition of diverse.
Last year’s report card gave five recommendations, but only one was fully implemented: to essentially end out of school suspensions, expulsions and arrests in elementary school.
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