Karl Dean says charter schools not the focus of his education agenda

As mayor of Nashville, Karl Dean was the city's leading champion of charter schools, supporting their expansion and even recruiting some charter operators to Davidson County.

But as he begins his Democratic run for Tennessee governor, Dean says publicly financed, privately led charter schools won't be a centerpiece of his statewide education platform.

Dean on Wednesday instead called increasing teacher pay the most important issue right now in public education in Tennessee. He pointed to success of Memphis City Schools' district-run Innovation Zone. He said increasing college readiness should be the state's top goal, calling workforce development critical in rural parts of the state where the economy has struggled.

He said much less about charter schools.

"It's not going to be the focus because it doesn't encompass everybody," Dean said during a discussion with reporters hosted by the Society of Professional Journalists' Middle Tennessee chapter. "It doesn't bring in the rural areas. It doesn't bring in the entire state."

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Dean, mayor of Nashville from 2007 to 2015, made clear he continues to be an advocate for school choice — saying charters have worked in Nashville and Memphis — but he said enrollment numbers simply don't make charters a viable option in rural counties. He also reiterated his opposition to for-profit charter schools and school vouchers that would allow public dollars to be used on private schools.

Dean remains chairman of Nashville-based Project Renaissance, an education nonprofit he helped found after leaving the mayor's office, but he told reporters he would soon be resigning from the board amid his gubernatorial run.

His position on charter schools figures to be front and center in a possible Democratic primary against House Democratic Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh, D-Ripley, who has indicated that he will enter the race for governor following the current legislative session.

Democratic activists and progressives critical of the pro-business, moderate Dean have shown signs they intend to make Dean's support of charter schools a central theme.

Though Democrats as high up as former President Barack Obama have backed charter schools, the issue has become more polarizing within the party in recent years. Complicating the politics further: the recent appointment of President Donald Trump's controversial Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, whose staple issue is school choice.

A referendum on Trump?

Conventional wisdom says a Democrat would need to benefit from a national revolt against Republicans during Trump's midterm to compete in politically red Tennessee in the 2018 governor's race.

Tuesday's results in a special congressional election in Georgia — where Democrat Jon Ossoff had a strong showing in a heavily Republican district — could also be a positive sign for Tennessee Democrats' prospects. Some have called the race a referendum on Trump.

"Clearly there's an indication there that there is some voter dissatisfaction," Dean said. "That race was sort of transformed by national forces into some sort of referendum. No matter what happens, I think what happened last night is a powerful statement."

Dean said "we'll have to wait and see" what happens in the June runoff election in Georgia, but he also pointed to Trump's low approval ratings nationally and in a February poll that found 51 percent of Tennesseans approved of Trump's performance, 10 points lower than the 61 percent of voters he won in the election.

"We all want the country to be successful and a presidency to be successful, and I'm not banking on him having further difficulties, but midterm elections historically, with very few exceptions, have been good for the party out of power," Dean said. "It's too early to predict where we're going to be 18 months from today."

Dean backs hike of state gas tax

Dean stopped short of endorsing Gov. Bill Haslam's gas tax proposal, but he said he supports increasing the state's tax on gasoline to make improvements to roads, bridges and other transportation infrastructure.

"I don't know the details of the legislative negotiations," Dean said when asked for his stance on the governor's IMPROVE Act. "So, I'll answer the question this way: I support an increase in what we're doing on gas in order to pay for roads and transportation.

"The other option is to use the state's surplus, and the state's surplus is attractive to use because it could maybe solve the problem for this year, but it does not solve the problem year after year after year."

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