Megan Barry, David Fox trade jabs over public education

Megan Barry supports universal pre-kindergarten for all students, has vowed to expand school wraparound services and talks about partnering with the often-fractious Metro school board.

David Fox favors targeted pre-K for only low-income students, regularly touts the performance of charter schools and has discussed both partnering and being a "critical friend" of the board when necessary.

The next mayor, Fox routinely says, must be willing to "expend huge political capital" to improve schools with urgency.

Differences run deep between Barry, a favorite of progressives, and Fox, who has campaigned on fiscal-conservatism, as the pair campaign to become Nashville's next mayor in the Sept. 10 runoff. Views on public education are chief among them. Their education positions could take on even greater significance than usual — the Metro school board has decided to wait until the election of a new mayor before restarting its search for a new superintendent.

In separate interviews with The Tennessean this week, both Barry and Fox went after the other on education, underscoring the divide. Barry accused Fox of wanting to convert Nashville's public education system into a system of privately-run charter schools. She also took a swipe at his tenure as former Metro school board chairman, alleging that he failed to engage the public in the superintendent search before hiring Jesse Register in 2009.

"I think David's approach is he wants to charterize our entire system," said Barry, who applauded the "amazing things" some charters are accomplishing but stressed she doesn't doesn't want them to replace the public school model. "He doesn't want us to continue to work to have a great public education system. He wants us to be New Orleans. I think that's the wrong approach for Nashville.

"I also remember when David was on the school board and we were in the midst of a director's search. David's approach was to not engage the community. He did not want input from the community on who should be that next superintendent. And I think that would be the same kind of leadership style he would bring."

Fox rejected those allegations. He said he is proud of the way his board engaged the community amid a possible state takeover of the system. He also characterized Barry, a two-term Metro councilwoman, as someone who simply doesn't understand public education. He said he has seen nothing to indicate she is "prepared to engage as muscularly" as the mayor should to keep the system from falling apart.

"From the conversations that have gone on over the last six to eight months, Ms. Barry is just not there," Fox said. "She doesn't have in my view a really firm understanding of why schools aren't successful, and I don't think has given any indication that she understands how critical the role of the mayor is in injecting urgency so that all kids have a great education.

"If we don't have a mayor who is engaged, I'm afraid that the complete dysfunction that we saw six years ago will return. And I think that's the biggest price that Nashville will pay — returning to a completely dysfunctional school system if Ms. Barry is mayor. She doesn't really understand the fundamentals of the problem."

The charter battle

Before the Aug. 6 mayoral election, in which Barry and Fox finished first and second, respectively, Fox had became the choice for many of Nashville's charter school enthusiasts. Fox, who chaired the school board from 2008 through 2010, has pointed to outgoing Mayor Karl Dean, a charter school proponent who recruited charter leaders to Nashville, as a model for the type of engagement a mayor should have in education.

Fox said he simply wants successful schools, whether that means they are operated by Metro or nonprofit charter operators. He said one advantage charters often have is they can deliver academic gains more rapidly than simply fixing low-performing schools.

"I don't have any vision for how many charter schools we need," Fox said. " I don't have a vision that we need to charterize everything. It doesn't matter to me who runs the school. They just have to be successful."

In the days following last week's election, Barry has reached out to supporters of mayoral candidate Bill Freeman, who was backed by the Metro Nashville Education Association, the local teachers' union, as well as two of the school board's biggest charter school critics, Amy Frogge and Jill Speering. Barry's candidacy had early support from outspoken board member Will Pinkston. MNEA plans to formally endorse Barry on Thursday.

In an "open letter" this week to Freeman supporters, Barry committed to push for tripling the number of community schools if elected mayor. A top priority of Freeman and MNEA, the Community Schools program offers wraparound services such as health care, adult education, as well as after-school and summer programming. Metro currently has 20 community schools.

"I understand the importance of bringing students, families and neighborhoods together in order to ensure that we create strong conditions for learning for all of our children," Barry wrote in the letter. "This is work that I have supported as a council member, and as mayor, I will work to accelerate this shift for the benefit of all students and families in our city."

But the Fox campaign, in a statement issued Wednesday, said that "after eight years on the Metro Council, Megan Barry seems to have suddenly discovered that our public schools are vitally important to the future of our city. Yet, she seems to be all over the map with made-up, last-minute proposals."

Fox's campaign statement goes on to say that Barry has not said how she expects the city to pay for such a large expansion of community schools.

"So after adding more than $1 billion to Metro's debt and leaving the taxpayers holding the bag over her last eight years on the Metro Council ... Now, she is coming up with even more ways to spend our money that have little to do with actual learning."

Fox said some of his top education goals are to help recruit and support excellent teachers, expand quality public school options and launch a new "Nashville Promise" that would seek to fully take advantage of the state-run Tennessee Promise program, which offers free community college to all high school graduates.

But more than education initiatives, he's talked about the role of the mayor, who he called "one of the most critical people to whether or not we can profoundly better education opportunities."

Role of pre-K

Barry, above all, has talked about expanding pre-K services to all 4-year-olds in Nashville, a move she said would cost around $5 million annually. It would mean that Metro ensures pre-K seats for all students, not just economically disadvantaged students, who currently are offered first seats under the district's pre-K program. In explaining her rationale, she said students benefit from learning next to students from all different economic backgrounds.

Though Fox said he supports expanding pre-K for low-incomes students, he argued that expanding pre-K to all students would not address the real issue — ensuring kids who can't afford preschool have access.

"We don't have an unlimited amount of money," Fox said. "So, what I would like to do is, let's fix the problem. Let's don't take all these kids who have privately-funded pre-K and put them into a government system. Let's take all the resources that we can muster for pre-K and put it to the benefit of children whose families cannot afford it."

The Metro school board voted on Tuesday to wait until after the Sept. 10 election of the next mayor to discuss how to proceed in hiring a new superintendent to replace Register, who retired in June. That comes after Williamson County Schools Director Mike Looney turned down the job in July.

"The next mayor has to be someone who can really work with the school board," Barry said. "I think that only one candidate in this race has that ability, and that's me. What I don't bring is a divisiveness to the school board discussions. I can bring cohesion and unity. I've never tried to abolish the school board or make them an appointed board like my opponent."

Barry was referencing a statement Fox made in 2008 while he was on the school board. He argued back then that the Metro school board should be appointed by the mayor instead of elected by voters.

Fox said he supported that approach at the time because Metro schools had been "badly served" by an elected school board. The idea then was to change state law to give the reins of the school district to Dean. He said he doesn't anticipate this issue to arise if he were elected mayor.

"I'm running for mayor with the full expectation that we will always have an elected school board in Nashville," Fox said.

Barry also took aim at one of Fox's most controversial measures while he chaired the school board, a 2010 board vote to outsource custodian and groundskeeper services to a private company. She called this "not the right approach."

Fox said that was an example of the school board acting in the best interests of children, not adults. He noted that the move allowed the district to save $6.5 million in annual revenue, and argued that the decision prevented laying off teachers instead.

"I remember at the time, there was push-back from Councilman Barry on that, who was favoring the welfare of adults over the welfare of kids," Fox said. "Fortunately, our board was completely committed to the welfare of children."

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.