The Results of a Ten Year Town

View this email in your browser

A Ten Year Town

In 2013 Nashville was proclaimed the “It City” by the New York Times. Songwriters call Nashville a ten year town - let’s look at the results for our schools in the ten years since.

Then, we enrolled 84,336 students in our Metro Nashville Public Schools and 40% of our children were proficient in reading and math.

Ten years later, we enroll 82,127 students, we spend 50% more per student and only 25% of our children score proficient in reading and math. This decline was in place prior to the protracted COVID closures.

Significant increase in spending = declining results and declining enrollment.

What can we do?

The first step in recovery is to admit you have a problem. We have a problem.

How do we fix it?

We must reject the idea that declining schools is our city’s fate. Look at the extraordinary turnaround of Miami-Dade from an F rated school system to an A rated school system - and when you do, take every excuse off the table. They are larger, serve a diverse and complex student population and operate within an expensive and growing city – and their per-pupil funding is slightly less than Metro Nashville Public Schools.

What can we learn from their success and do here, today?

Insist that every budget includes performance metrics - line by line - and ensure that education dollars are being spent at the school site, not at the central office. When the money follows the child to their school and when the majority of dollars go to paying teachers and for school-based supports - outcomes change.
Get our kids reading. We have publicly funded schools shattering the myth that our kids can’t read. We need to take what is working in our city’s publicly funded schools - and act with urgency and accountability to get every child in our city reading. Third grade is too late. We must have all kids reading proficiently in first grade. If our kids can’t read, they can’t learn.
Listen to parents and clear the waiting lists. We have parents telling us what publicly funded schools they want for their children - and we ignore them when we continue to run long waiting lists at some schools -turning families away. Listen to parents and clear the waiting lists by expanding or replicating the seats in schools where parents want to send their kids. Make sure no one’s child is made to go to a failing school and provide transportation assistance for families zoned to schools in the bottom 5%. Today there are 19 schools in the bottom 5% of the state - 11 have been there since 2015. Whatever we think we are doing, isn’t working. Families have waited long enough - and the numbers leaving our district show that they can’t wait any longer.

Recovery is hard - but we can't start the work if we carry on electing people who think everything is just fine. It's not.

If we keep electing the same people we’ve elected for the last 20 years, we cannot expect a different result.

We can boldly chart a new direction that believes that Nashville can and must hit a hard reset to bring accountability to our schools, support public safety, and responsibly manage the city’s finances. It takes a different kind of leader - an entrepreneur with experience at the state executive and federal legislative levels - with the courage to step forward and bring accountability and results.

I hope you’ll join us.

Sincerely,
Alice Rolli

P.S. I’ll need your help to get our message out - click here to make a contribution to the campaign to help us advance our message.

On the Airwaves - Blank Check

Today the campaign launches the first in a several-part series that shows Rolli in her home discussing her policy priorities for Nashville. The spot, “Blank Check” focuses on her pledge not to raise property taxes - a pledge backed by the Americans for Tax Reform Pledge. The ad closes with the song “For Such a Time As This” by Billy Falcon. The new ad series is produced by Marissa and Eric Pio. VIDEO: Blank Check

“While some have said considering the views of taxpayers is a radical position – I don’t see it that way. Our government exists because of taxpayers, and we need an entrepreneurial leader with a track record of helping rapidly growing companies grow well to manage our city in this next chapter. We need a leader with a servant’s heart who understands how to work with the state and federal government to maximize funding for Nashville.” said Alice Rolli.

A Nashville native, a proven business leader, and the wife of a combat veteran, Alice Rolli is presenting herself as a new type of leader for Nashville.

“Blank Check” will be prominently featured on digital platforms, reaching a broad spectrum of Nashville voters. It joins the ad “New Leader,” which continues with an additional cable and digital buy.

"We're confident these ads will strike a chord with residents tired of the same failed strategies and eager for a change. Alice Rolli is that change," added Woodrow Johnston, a strategist on the Alice Rolli campaign. VIDEO: New Leader

Volunteer Powered

Tuesday, July 11th, 5:30 - 7:30 PM: Forum on Transportation
Meharry Medical College-Cal Turner Center, 1011 21st Ave N, Nashville, TN 37208
Free and open to the public.

Friday, July 14, 4 - 5:30 PM: Early Vote With Alice
Howard Office Building, 700 President Ronald Reagan Way, Nashville, TN 37210

Saturday, July 15th, 10 AM - 2 PM: Davidson County Picnic
Edwin Warner Park Shelter 6 Vaughn Road Nashville, TN 37221
Tickets are $10 and available here.

Tuesday, July 18, 6 PM: Madison Candidate Forum
Nashville State Community College Madison Campus

Upcoming Events - Join Us!

Please contact [email protected] to get involved with the campaign. There are lots of ways to support the campaign and we love our volunteers!

Support the Campaign

You can contribute online by clicking above or visiting www.AliceRolli.com.
Contact [email protected] to join an upcoming fundraising event.

Just joining our newsletter? Read earlier issues:

Week 1 Week 2

Week 3 Week 4

Week 5 Week 6

Week 7 Week 8

Week 9 Week 10

Week 11 Week 12

Week 13 Week 14

Week 15 Week 16

Paid for by Alice Rolli for Nashville, David Fox, Treasurer, P.O. Box 90633, Nashville, TN 37209

Copyright © 2023 Alice Rolli for Nashville, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website.

Our mailing address is:

Alice Rolli for Nashville

PO Box 90633

Nashville, TN 37209-0633

Add us to your address book

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.