Hadn't realized until today that the Chamber's website, touting "education reform," actually links the site for Michelle Rhee's StudentsFirst.

Has the housing slump hurt demand for invisible fences and freed up Randy Boyd's time?

I couldn't guess, AO, but Haslam's press release says his new job there is "full-time."

My curiosity was focused more on how he became an "education expert?"

His generosity with the TN Achieves program is commendable, of course, but he's never been an educator or an academician either one, so far as I can tell?

Is the only qualification to write education policy in TN now that an author must have "deep pockets?"

"Is the only qualification to write education policy in TN now that an author must have "deep pockets?""

And they must have the "has run a successful business" non sequitir and therefore knows how to educate children or do anything.

Yep, that's enough, where money opens doors.

A lot like buying a title in England, isn't it?

“Philanthropists will be critical to our effort to make Tennessee the No. 1 state in the Southeast for high quality jobs,” Haslam continued."

In other words, people like him, his family, and friends.

“Philanthropists will be critical to our effort to make Tennessee the No. 1 state in the Southeast for high quality jobs,” Haslam continued."

In other words, people like him, his family, and friends.

Yes, AO and Stick. I might have been more specific in my initial post that that is at least part of my objection.

We do need to ask why this assumption that public policy should no longer be implemented utilizing public (not private) resources--and we are also prudent to question the nature of the public policy to be implemented and the qualification of those charged with implementing it.

Keep in mind that the task of the panel Boyd has been appointed to is to implement the state's 2010 Complete College TN Act, which was the companion piece of legislation affecting higher ed that was passed in that secretive "extraordinary session" alongside the 2010 First to the Top Act affecting K through 12 education--in advance of the state filing its Race to the Top grant app with the feds.

A follow-up report on how implementation of the higher ed piece is coming along may be found at the state's website in its January 2011 Complete College TN Act One Year Later: Moving Forward.

From that follow-up report, here are the parameters of Randy Boyd's assignment (pdf page 9):

What Will Success Look Like?
Success in advancing the Public Agenda will mean that, by 2015: growth in certificate and degree productivity will be sustained; degree efficiency will be improved, in terms of both graduation rates and average time to degree; gaps in employment demands will be filled; institutions will be funded based on outcomes, in a manner consistent with their individual missions; the quality of programs and services will be strengthened; academic program offerings will probably be fewer; growth in the number of doctoral programs will slow, but those offered will be more robust; average cost per degree produced will be reduced; instructional technology and non-traditional instructional approaches will increase in order to increase instructional capacity and student choice while controlling unit costs; community colleges will be revitalized through the establishment of the community college system; the state will see a resurgence in the number of students in targeted subpopulations who complete undergraduate degrees; institutions will become more resourceful in acquiring non-state funds; Tennessee will be more competitive in the workplace; and progress of the foregoing will be evident through the Tennessee Tracks web portal for higher education accountability.

I read fewer undergrad programs, fewer doctoral programs, a primary focus on job training, and a delivery mechanism apt to cost the state even less (they carry only 30% of TN higher ed costs now), likely reliant on online coursework--supplied by for-profit providers???

Two questions to answer in this thread, then: First, is this what we want from our state's higher ed system, and second, is Randy Boyd someone possesiong the background as an academician who would reasonably be qualified to value and rank the current offerings available from the state's higher ed system?

My own answers to those quesitons are "no" and "no."

Anyone who thinks Randy Boyd is doing this for some financial reason is about as far off track as you can get.

He had no financial motive for doing Knox Achieves all around the state.

He had no financial motive for funding the Community Schools program at Pond Gap, a remarkable program that has made a real difference for people.

He gave $20k for technology to New Hopewell Elementary, where I believe he attended.

Randy has made a lot of money and given a lot away.

I just don't think financial gain from any of this ever enters his mind, other that producing a better quality workforce. And by the way, if you ever get to visit Radio Systems headquarters it is a very cool place. No offices...everyone, Randy included, has a cubicle. And people are allowed/encouraged to bring their pets to work, so when you walk around there are always a lot of dogs.

Good guy. (Not a client)(Unfortunately)

My daughter's taken online classes in three different semesters now, Rachel, and like you she's done fine.

But like you she's also smart, motivated, and self-disciplined.

I think the results K12, Inc. produced for TN in its first year of operation, though, are more indicative of how this delivery mechanism is likely to work for too many of its takers.

Tamara:

I don't see anything that indicates that what he will be deciding. He will be working with the people from the TBR and the President of UT. That is a decision for them to make.

I understand your concern, but I don't see any basis for it. Certainly you are not arguing that higher ed needs to stay they way it has been for the last 200 years? That's not going to cut it. It needs to change, but still offer things that help enrich us all. My youngest son, Graham, graduated from UT last month with a degree in English Lit, focus on modern literature. That kind of stuff needs to be available. But universities also need to make sure they tweak their programming to meet what society needs from a workforce. 50 years ago there were no computer courses or nuclear engineering degrees. Now those graduates are much in demand.

Randy Boyd is not "doing what he should be doing." That can involve writing a check and still focusing on his business. Which he built all by himself. He can tell you when he was driving around selling units out of his car. But he is giving his wealth and his time. The equivalent of full-time. That is above and beyond.

A hundred years ago, Mike, I earned my first degree, just an associates, at Los Angeles City College.

In California, where there's a state income tax, every community college statewide was free. Completely free.

Here, we've got Randy Boyds by the dozens, always looking for a photo opp holding a big ol' two-by-five-foot facsimile of a check or else hungry to get their names emblazoned on a public building.

We Tennesseans need to start raising our public revenues more expediently.

And when we sit down to decide how to spend them, we need to rely on real "experts."

Ill-qualified oligarchs be damned.

I am not aware of Randy Boyd ever doing a photo op. Get on Google and look.

He just does good deeds. He seeks no credit.

Get your facts before you talk about him.

Anyone who thinks Randy Boyd is doing this for some financial reason is about as far off track as you can get.

All I know, Mike, is that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is most certainly intent on privatizing public education to the benefit of its member businesses.

If you don't know that, too, you really need to go onto their website, their Institute for a Competitive Workforce's website, and read anything ever written by Margaret Spellings (now heading the Chamber's ICW).

I suspect Randy knows it already.

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Mike Cohen: "I understand your concern, but I don't see any basis for it."

Complete College TN Act One Year Later: Moving Forward: "...academic program offerings will probably be fewer; growth in the number of doctoral programs will slow... average cost per degree produced will be reduced; instructional technology and non-traditional instructional approaches will increase in order to increase instructional capacity and student choice while controlling unit costs...institutions will become more resourceful in acquiring non-state funds..."

The basis for my concern should be pretty clear to anybody who can read.

Narrowed curriculum at every level, heavier reliance on online coursework, further cuts in state funding (standing at just 30% of universities' total costs now).

Don't take a Weatherman...

I stand corrected on the checks. Clearly when he does something with UT they want to do that.

We have about 25% of our population with a college degree. That has to change. His job is to help figure out how.

I consider what is offered at universities and colleges critical, but I consider it equally critical that we look at new ways of doing things give the current system is not working.

If everyone just wants to condemn change unless it is handled totally by academics, I don't think we are going to get there.

Again...I can't tell you how much I value the esoteric in education. My youngest son is a totally different young man now than he was when he entered college.... intellectually, physically and in other ways. UT's environment and his own keen mind (credit him Mom for that part) made all the difference in the world for him.

But things have to change. Given his commitment to supporting education he seems like a great choice to work on it.

Forget Randy Boyd.

I brought up his name only because he's the face, this week, of a process for funding and managing our higher ed system that I don't think works.

An alternative process for funding and managing our higher ed system which, in my personal life experience, did work was to raise adequate state funding via equitable methods, then allocate adequate funding to higher ed under the guidance of its own "industry" experts, one result having been the creation of a statewide community college system that was completely free.

Surely you don't dispute that a statewide community college system that is completely free would boost educational attainment levels in Tennessee, too?

Can you then comment on my objection to this existing system of "Randy Boyd-ism" (or "Jim Ayres-ism," if you'd rather) that I defined here:

Factchecker alluded to it above. How can we defend the "benevolence" of these folks whose every charitable donation is offset by a political donation bent on perpetuating their photo opps, which clearly translate into political power over time?

I'd be a bit less cynical if the Randy Boyds of Tennessee were also working diligently to establish a tax structure and a level of public funding that would simply establish a system of free community colleges statewide.

But they're not.

In fact, they're fighting it tooth and nail.

Boyd-ism (or Ayres-ism) doesn't support adequate and equitable public funding to higher ed and it doesn't support management of that system by the people best qualified to manage it, either.

How would you, personally, explain and defend that contradiction?

Thanks in advance for addressing the pertinent question.

The guy is trying to improve education on a bunch of levels...from an elementary program that virtually everyone praises as making a real difference to families...and starts Knox Achieves to provide funding for kids to go to college and expands it statewide. But that's not any proof.

Funding is but one aspect of issues facing higher ed in Tennessee. To say that focusing on any aspect and not trying to reform the tax system makes him bad is just way, way off base.

Most Governor's of Tennessee, from McWherter to Bredesen to Haslam seem to feel the basic structure is not that bad.

I didn't answer your statement about not supporting people best qualified to manage it.

Randy seems pretty qualified as a manager of money and resources. He will be working with the head of the TBR and UT. They do not work for Randy, they work for the Trustees or the Board of Regents.

Deep breath...

The process of funding doesn't need any Randy Boyds or Jim Ayres.

It needs a tax structure capable of producing a level of funding beyond the 30% of higher ed costs state revenues presently cover--and it certainly doesn't need further funding cuts, as detailed in the state's plan I linked above.

Neither does the process need any owners of pet supply companies (Boyd) nor retired bankers (Ayres) to determine which courses/majors are or are not "valuable."

It needs qualified academicians to make those calls.

And you continue to misremember--at this juncture I'd say "disremember"--that Ned McWherter absolutely did promote a state income tax to benefit education funding.

Bredesen just gutted Tenncare to no lasting effect, since its rolls will be growing again very soon.

That leaves your boy Haslam for our scrutiny, particularly so since his plan appears to just make public education private education and wash his hands of it.

Except that he never got them dirty.

No, I don't believe Ned ever pushed a state income tax. He talked about it a little, but never pushed it. He had the clout and the political cunning to get it passed if he wanted.

Within the Tennessee State Library and Archives, Governor Ned Ray McWherter Papers, 1987-1995, see pdf page 4, the reference to McWherter's 21st Century Classroom initiative and its companion attempt at a state income tax in Tennessee.

We don't need to make this stuff so complicated...

I really like and respect Randy Boyd. He has always struck me as a real class act. I would believe that he is truly committed to what he believes to be the best options here.

I do have a lot of concerns about education and its so-called "reform" these days.

I'm concerned that we're on the verge of abandoning a true commitment to public education, essentially because we are unwilling to fund it properly.

And I am concerned that "education" is being confused with "vocational training." Both are important...but they are not the same thing.

And I'm concerned that the emphasis on "efficiency" often misses the mark with unintended consequences. For instance, we have decimated our arts programs because they are considered inessential. However, there are many studies that show that those with training in the artists develop stronger problem solving and critical thinking skills than other areas of study, and that they also develop other essential qualities such as planning, disciplined practice, delayed gratification, and more. One of these studies was conducted by the Curb school at Vanderbilt but there is plenty of evidence to consider here.

Definitely not a fan of the voucher program. And I'm very skeptical of the seemingly increasingly discredited Michelle Rhee.

Perhaps Randy Boyd and Jim Clayton could again propose a property tax, statewide this time, on all Tennessee households? Whose median incomes run about $50K?

I mean, it's that or turn our universities into trade schools, right?

There's not anybody else we could tax in any manner, right?

We certainly can't restore that cut in the estate tax, right?!