What can Nashville's next mayor do for K-12 students?

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Metro Nashville Public Schools' test scores have only inched along in growth throughout the last five years.

The Third Grade Retention Law put the magnifying glass on the city's test scores, particularly for elementary-age kids.

We asked candidates what they wanted to do about the city's education initiatives.

NewsChannel 5 sent every person running for mayor a questionnaire with the same questions. We have not edited these answers from the candidates, meaning these responses are straight from them.

Just under 30 percent of Nashville’s third graders are reading at grade level. Nashville has trailed significantly in education gains compared to other Middle Tennessee counties. What can a mayor do for education?

Natisha Brooks

It is deplorable that our Third graders can not read. We must understand being unable to read did not happen when they matriculated to third grade. Our students are not receiving the foundation they need to be successful throughout their years of learning. Let me be clear; the teachers work hard in the classroom with few resources, and curriculums are implemented with little time to see success. Every school needs a data coach. Our teachers fear looking at data because it is attached to their jobs. We will change that culture.

As your mayor, I can build a partnership with the Superintendent by assembling a task force to ensure our students and teachers receive the resources they need to succeed. The Liaison of Education will serve as the leader of this task force, including teachers and parents. If we want our students to move, we must also involve our parents. The Liaison of Education will also be in the trenches with the schools monitoring the data ensuring the students are showing growth, and comparing benchmark data with weekly pre and post-data to see what is needed to drive the instruction. It will take a village to move our third graders and ensure "Every Student is Known."

Fran Bush

As a mayor, there are several actions you can take to support education and improve educational outcomes in Nashville. I would work closely with the local school systems, such as Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS), to establish a collaborative partnership. Foster open communication, regular meetings, and shared goals to align efforts and coordinate resources effectively.

Prioritize early childhood education by promoting access to quality pre-kindergarten. Collaborate with community organizations, businesses, and philanthropic partners to expand early childhood education. Advocate for increased education funding at the local, state, and federal levels. Work with education advocates, parents, and community leaders to make the case for adequate resources to support schools and educators. Highlight the importance of equitable funding to ensure that schools serving disadvantaged communities receive the necessary resources.

Heidi Campbell

As mayor, I will work to implement more community school coordinators. These community school coordinators, who often have a background in social work or a related field, work to provide services like college and career readiness, family engagement, health and wellness, social services, and adult development.

Essentially, they turn the school into a neighborhood hub, building relationships and providing resources for the community at large. By establishing more community school coordinator positions at underserved or struggling campuses, we can fuel student success and build stronger neighborhoods.

Bernie Cox

Proper funding of teachers can not be compromised by political extremists. The strength and progress for our future is crucial in our children’s education and development into society. Social studies, math, science, literacy and equity are vital in the classroom.

Jim Gingrich

Every child should have the chance to build a better life than their parents. But for Nashville’s children, the dream of a better life is too often just that, a dream. If you are born poor in Nashville, you are more likely to remain poor than in 80% of the other cities in our country. That is unacceptable. The zip code you were born in should not be your destiny.

Education is the key to changing these statistics. As mayor, there will be no greater priority for me than investing in our children. And that starts with education.

I will do three things: 

First, I will partner with our superintendent to develop a comprehensive five-year plan that will deliver better outcomes for our children.

Second, I will fund that plan.

Third, I will hold the system responsible for achieving that plan.

Sharon Hurt

Educational excellence is one of the cornerstones of my platform. I believe that in order to read to learn, first you have to learn to read. I want to get to the root of our low-performing public schools by establishing a Mayor’s literacy initiative. This initiative will ensure every first-grader is reading at grade level by the end of my first term.

In addition to my reading literacy initiative, we need to think about how the Mayor’s Office can work with the school board. The reality is that the school board controls our public schools. The Mayor primarily ensures the money is there. On the council, I have voted to increase teacher pay so our teachers are now the highest paid in the state. As Mayor, I will commit to fully funding our public schools. That means raising teacher pay, providing workforce housing and investing in hiring more diverse teachers.

Freddie O'Connell

I think high-quality schools are an investment in our future, and the Mayor’s biggest influence on education is funding it. We can look at that investment as a three-legged stool, where we focus on balancing investment in places, people, and programs.

Ensuring every student has access to a high-quality place to learn begins with what I like to call the “pothole” approach. Rather than paving every road in the county north to south, we send our crews to the areas that need our attention most, and we need to do the same with our public schools. For a long time, investment in education was purposefully unequal.

Then, cities started investing more equally and strategically. Now, we have to invest in equity and make sure that we are bringing those areas that are exhibiting disparities in resources and success-rate. As mayor, my capital budget will reflect that priority, whether a community needs attention because the redline is still visible, or because overdevelopment has changed the basic structure and quality of the neighborhood. Investment in neighborhoods that surround the schools is also vital (sidewalks, with bus stops and safe crosswalks, and neighborhoods that educators can afford to live in). A comprehensive citywide transit plan is key to both meaningful options for families and the extracurricular activities as well as before- and after-school programs students need to thrive.

The next leg is to invest in our teachers and school staff. These folks are the ones — even more than any elected leader — who are designing the future of our city. We need to ensure that we are building a local pipeline for these jobs, offering a livable wage on day one, and continuing to invest in educators through both training and retention programs. And again, we also need to make sure that these folks can afford to live in the communities that they serve, including having opportunities to earn off-hours and in the summer through other programs, like afterschool care.

Alice Rolli

As a former educator, mother, and business leader Alice Rolli will be very involved in education as Mayor of Nashville. It is our city’s single largest expense item and the issue that most clearly defines long term success for a city. Cities like Miami-Dade, which spends slightly less on a per-pupil basis than MNPS, succeeded in moving their school system from an “F” rated to an “A” rated by focusing relentlessly on the results for kids - from early childhood literacy rates through preparation for college, career, and military service. Injecting urgency, accountability and transparency are paramount to getting results for families in Davidson County. Further, as Mayor Alice Rolli will boldly advocate for the safety of our students.

Currently MNPS does not have a School Resource Officer at every school in MNPS - even though the state has made $140 million dollars available to support us doing just that. We’ve got to take advantage of those funds. As Mayor Alice Rolli will insist that our students and teachers have an officer staffed full time in all of our schools - and we will take advantage of the new state money to pay for this common sense addition to improve safety for our schools.

Matt Wiltshire

I went to Nashville public schools. My wife, Crissy, and I have six kids between us. Each one of those kids has attended Metro Nashville Public Schools, other than Maria, who is five, and will start at MNPS in August.

I believe Nashville should have the best public school system in America and ensure that every family, EVERY family, has an incredible public school in their neighborhood. I believe it’s possible, but that’s not where we are today.

Today, we’re asking our teachers to solve a large number of challenges that many students are bringing with them into the classroom, such as homelessness, food insecurity, and domestic violence. Our city needs to do a better job of providing students and teachers with the supportive services and resources to tackle these challenges. I believe that when we do, our teachers will be able to focus better on teaching in the classrooms, our students will be able to concentrate on learning, and our schools will thrive.

Vivian Wilhoite

The biggest thing that a Mayor can do for public education is to ensure that it is fully funded working with the Director of Schools, Director Battle.  I will also work with after school programs that could assist our children in the most needed areas of Davidson County and work with Dr. Battle to give those specific schools the resources they need. I, as Mayor, will use my voice and time to meet with Governor Lee to encourage the fully funding of public education in Nashville.  Our children’s lives depend on this.

Jeff Yarbro

Education is one of my top priorities and an area I have decades of experience with. It’s clear that Nashville is falling behind, and a great city absolutely needs a great education system. That’s why in my years as a state senator I consistently advocated for higher funding for our public schools as well as other initiatives to bolster our educational resources. I know the ins and outs of education policy at the state-level and have also worked on a local level in Nashville to help advance our education goals.

I worked as the education policy adviser for former Mayor Karl Dean and currently serve as a co-chair of Superintendent Jesse Register's Transformational Leadership Group for high schools here in Nashville and have extensive relationships with other education leaders in our area.

As Mayor, I will continue to work with our local and state governments to advocate for increased budgets and other areas of improvement.

Education is also an equity issue - I will prioritize addressing achievement gaps and ensuring equitable distribution of resources among schools. This includes implementing strategies to attract and retain high-quality teachers in underserved areas and providing support for struggling schools.