January 14, 2025

The great theologian, philosopher and physician Albert Schweitzer was born 150 years ago today.

In today's report: More than three months after Hurricane Helene wreaked havoc on Northeast Tennessee, Compass outdoors columnist Kim Trevathan decided to attempt paddling various sections of the Nolichucky River. In this account of the excursion, he describes shattered bridges, severed roadways, a wrecked park, closed river access points and other signs of a landscape that is far from healed.

Tennessee Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news organization covering education, has identified three issues that could determine the fate of Gov. Bill Lee’s voucher proposal, the Education Freedom Act.

Lee’s proposal would provide 20,000 scholarships worth $7,075 each to families across the state to help pay for private school tuition. Unlike last year’s effort, the Education Freedom Act enjoys support from the Republican leadership in both houses of the Legislature.

Lee’s effort isn’t breezing into the legislative session without facing some challenges, as Chalkbeat correspondent Marta W. Aldrich points out. (You can read the complete article here.)

One challenge is long-term funding. State revenues are down, and Lee’s bill has a “hold harmless” provision that reimburses public school systems for students lost to private schools under the plan, adding to the cost.. 

The proposal also calls for the number of scholarships to increase by 5,000 per year. Aldrich cites a study by Ed Trust of Tennessee that concluded the voucher program could direct $862 million in taxpayer money to private schools during the first five years.

The second challenge Aldrich identifies involves standardized testing. Lee’s bill would require new voucher recipients in grades 3-11 to take annual state or national standardized tests, but many private schools are resistant to administer tests based on state-approved standards.

The third challenge involves inclusivity. Private schools can admit whomever they want, and Lee’s bill does not include language that would bar discrimination or guarantee services to students with disabilities.

Aldrich notes that Lee has hinted he would call a special session for the Legislature to focus on the bill. The 114th General Assembly convenes today.

Speaking of vouchers, parents and other members of the Public School Strong TN campaign are rallying in Knoxville and four other Tennessee cities today to call on legislators to reject Lee’s school voucher proposal. The events will include press conferences, forums and rallies.

In Knoxville, the event will be held at 7 p.m. at the Knoxville Labor Temple, 1522 Bill Williams Ave. Events will also be held in Smyrna, Chattanooga, Memphis and Clarksville.

“Private schools are exclusive by nature,” Dustin Park, a Public School Strong TN parent and leader from Blount County, said in a statement. “They do not have to accept everybody that comes through their door whereas public schools accept everybody who comes through the door with no questions asked, and they will educate them. To me, it’s about the vision that we have for our community. Do we want inclusive communities that educate all of our kids, or do we want to put our money towards exclusive institutions that are going to discriminate against the most vulnerable kids in our community?”

Public School Strong TN is a campaign of Knoxville-based Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment (SOCM), a social justice organization with roots fighting against coal companies in the Cumberland Mountains.

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Knox County Engineering and Public Works has launched a mobility study for the Choto area in Southwest Knox County and is hosting a public information meeting this week to gather input from area residents.

The meeting will be held 5-7 p.m. Thursday at Farragut High School. A presentation on the study will open the meeting. Officials hope the meeting will help identify key transportation challenges, set priorities and shape the final recommendations.

The plan aims to address the challenges of Choto’s rapid development over the past two decades and the traffic congestion that has accompanied that growth. According to the county, the study will evaluate current and future traffic volumes over a 25-year planning horizon, assess roadway design standards, explore alternative transportation modes such as sidewalks and greenways, and identify improvements to enhance safety, capacity and connectivity.

In addition to this and other meetings, the county will conduct an online survey as part of its community outreach efforts. 

At the conclusion of the study, the county intends to issue a report with prioritized improvement projects, cost estimates and recommendations that are in line with the Comprehensive Land Use and Transportation Plan.

Correction: At last Thursday's school board meeting, board member Patricia Fontenot-Ridley voted against Emerald Academy's 10-year extension application, while the Rev. John Butler abstained. We incorrectly reversed their votes in yesterday's newsletter report. Also, Emerald Academy is a K-8 school, not a K-6 school as we reported. We regret the errors.

We have added a new feature that we hope you will find useful: an ongoing online archive of our daily email newsletters. We are starting with 2025 newsletters, and we plan to add previous years on a rolling basis as time allows.

This will serve two functions. If you don't receive the email on a given day, you can go to our website to read it (the archive will be updated by noon each weekday, with the newest email at the top). And if you want to go back and find coverage of a particular issue but can't remember which day we published an item, you can search within the archive for any keywords in the subject lines.

You can find the 2025 archive right here. We suggest bookmarking the page for future convenience, but if you want to find it from the compassknox.com homepage you can just click on "Special Reports" at the top of the page.

Choto mobility meeting traffic.