When Bill Lee was sworn in as governor in 2019, he wasted no time verbalizing his desire for school vouchers and charter schools; he was transparent about his preference to offer families “school choice” across the state. What he failed to mention, though, was that to make “school choice” appealing, he had to find a way to make public schools in Tennessee appear as if they weren’t a viable educational option for families — he needed to float the idea that public education wasn’t effective or, even worse, a system hellbent on indoctrinating students with divisive concepts.

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