Personal drivers for bureaucrats in charge of failing schools?

By Tommy Schultz
What if your tax dollars were being spent on multiple drivers for a local government bureaucrat in charge of one of the worst school systems in the state? How is that helping to give your child the best education possible? That’s precisely what’s happening here in the Tennessee’s capital.
As of 2013, according to MySchoolSpending.org, $15,307 is spent per pupil in Metro Nashville Public Schools and only 40 cents out of every dollar is spent on instructional education in the classroom. Metro Nashville’s new public schools director Shawn Joseph says “we don’t have a dollar to waste” when it comes to education.
But Mr. Joseph seemed to find tens of thousands of dollars to rededicate toward a personal driver. He has Metro Nashville employees driving him around town where they then wait upon him for hours to go to meetings and meals, sometimes even picking him up at his house in the morning.
When confronted by the investigating news team on camera about his personal drivers, Joseph abruptly and awkwardly walked out of the interview. What else is going on at the Bransford Avenue MNPS headquarters that the bureaucrats don’t want us to see?
With more than a dozen schools categorized in the bottom five percent of schools across the state, Nashville is in desperate need of reform in the classroom and within the bureaucracy. The growth of the bureaucratic nightmare has exploded in recent years. From 2003 to 2013, Metro Nashville schools saw a 15% increase in students but at the same time saw a 26% increase in administrators.
All the while, the local school board has been anti-public charters in their mindset and policies, making sure that bureaucrats have as much control over as many pieces of your child’s education as possible. And the poor results speak for themselves.
This bureaucratic mess is hurting kids most of all. Thousands of students are being pushed through the doors of failing schools and meanwhile, bureaucrats are given rides from their home and to lunches around town. It’s time for parents to have more say in what goes on with their child’s education so that their students are getting the best education possible. Otherwise, bureaucrats will continue to angle for more cushy benefits like personal drivers without being held accountable to anyone for educating children.
Take a look at the full investigation from NewsChannel 5 here: http://www.newschannel5.com/news/newschannel-5-investigates/schools-directors-drivers-waiting-and-waiting-and-waiting