Nov 8, 2023
Republican: Feeding Hungry Kids Should Hinge On Performance
GOP Rep. John Ragan really reached to reject federal funds allocated for low-income and disabled students.
- 13 minutes
The question that is in the top
of my mind is how we get this money.
This supposedly aimed
at the most needy students
and the lowest performing students.
What's the measure of improvement
for this money coming in?
[00:00:16]
How much is it improved
the performance of these students?
Tennessee Republican state lawmaker
John Reagan questioned yesterday whether
the state should accept federal funds
that, in part go toward feeding
[00:00:33]
school children unless it can be proven
he needs to see the receipts.
He needs to see the proof
that feeding these kids actually improves
their performance in school.
And you know what? Great.
What a worthy experiment.
Instead of running that experiment
on kids, though, let's let's run
[00:00:50]
that experiment on this lawmaker.
Hey, Reagan, how about you starve?
And then come to your state's capital
and see how that impacts your focus
and your ability to do your job.
Let's do that. Let's starve you.
[00:01:06]
Now we'll get back to our friend John
in just a minute.
But here's what you should know
about what's happening in Tennessee.
What the lawmakers there are trying to do
and why it could be a massive issue.
So the legislature has set up something
known as the Joint Working Group
[00:01:22]
on Federal Education Funding.
And what they're trying to do
is determine
whether the state of Tennessee can reject.
They're looking for ways
to literally reject $1.8 billion
in federal education funds.
[00:01:39]
Okay, so Tennessee receives 1.8 billion
in title one idea and other federal
program funding each year, which support
low income students, students with
disabilities, and school lunch programs.
Oh, man.
Federal funds to support low income
students and students with disabilities.
[00:01:59]
Let's find ways to reject that money.
That's literally
what they're looking to do.
Now, the working group was appointed
by House Republican Speaker Cameron Sexton
and Republican Lieutenant Governor
Randy McNally, and the group is comprised
of six Republicans.
[00:02:15]
And, oh, look,
there's a lot of equality here.
Two Democrats
from both the House and the Senate.
So six Republicans, two Democrats, the
Joint working Group on Federal Education
funding is reviewing what funding state
and local governments in Tennessee receive
from the federal government, how the
funding is used, whether the state could
[00:02:34]
provide the same services, and whether it
would be feasible to reject the funds.
Now, the members are tasked with
recommending a strategy for how to reject
that federal funding by January 9th.
And that's the day that the legislature is
scheduled to return to session next year.
[00:02:52]
Okay.
Now, Tennessee would in fact, be the first
state in the nation to reject this money
1.8 billion in federal education funding.
Tennessee, I should note,
is doing really well in the rankings
for education in the state.
Out of 50 states,
they have ranked 33rd, 33rd.
[00:03:09]
Everybody give them
a big round of applause.
So let's try to find ways
to cut funding to public education.
I'm sure it's going to work out great.
Lieutenant governor Randy McNally
justified the move by saying, quote,
the education of our youth
is one of the essential responsibilities
[00:03:25]
of our government.
Federal dollars in the various mandates
and restrictions
that come with those dollars affect
the way Tennessee's children are educated.
Due to our state's
excellent financial position, this is
a worthy subject of examination and study.
And Cameron Sexton added, or argued that
it would allow us to create an education
[00:03:45]
system that fits the Tennessee model
and allow teachers to teach without the
federal government trying to tell us what
to do, the state will pick up the cost
and still fund those things, but we
will be free of the federal regulations.
And look, if they are genuinely doing well
in the state of Tennessee
[00:04:04]
and they have the ability
to reject the federal funding while still
maintaining the services that the public
education system provides, that's fine.
But something tells me
that's not the case.
So let's come back
to our good friend John Reagan,
[00:04:20]
who expressed concern that accepting money
to help low income and hungry students
might not really be a worthy cause.
He thinks it might be useless.
And then he tried to care.
Tried to pretend
like he cares about food waste.
[00:04:35]
Look, I'll steal, man. I'll steal man.
I'm going to pretend like everything
he's saying is in good faith.
So let's listen to his argument
and then we'll dissect it.
- Let's watch.
- Correlation is not causation.
Anybody that knows statistics
will vouch for that.
That said, though, if we are tying
ourselves to the federal government
[00:04:54]
by accepting their money to do this thing,
then it would seem to me
that we as a state should be looking
for the improvements that this money
is purportedly going to make.
Otherwise, we're just throwing money at
something and being potentially wasteful.
That goes back to the other issue that I
ask about, though the compliance issue.
[00:05:14]
Yesterday a question was addressed
concerning the nutrition program related
to the waste that's involved in that.
To my knowledge,
there is no measurement of that waste.
Are you aware of any measure?
[00:05:30]
In terms of food waste? Yes.
I'm not aware.
I'm no, I don't
I don't know the answer to that.
I mean, it is rich to hear a guy who looks
like he hasn't skipped a single meal,
[00:05:46]
questioned whether these children
should be fed school lunch,
and whether being hungry has any impact
on their ability to perform in school.
I'll give you a little bit of research.
I mean, there's a lot
of research out there.
We'll give you one example
of that research.
This is a 2014 report.
[00:06:02]
Children who do not get sufficient meals
are more likely to repeat a grade.
Elementary children who participated
in a school breakfast program
in Massachusetts did better
on standardized tests than those
who qualified, but did not participate.
Similarly, students in a universal
free school breakfast program at an inner
[00:06:19]
city school showed improved math grades
six months after the start of the program.
But, you know, there's no evidence,
according to John Reagan in Tennessee.
And so, I don't know, was maybe that's
where they need to cut corners.
[00:06:34]
Maybe that's where they don't
really need to spend any money.
You know, it's I'm sure it's useless.
What do you think?
It. This is ridiculous.
On about 7000 different fronts.
Obviously, this guy couldn't
present a case for not feeding
[00:06:51]
a financially disadvantaged students.
On the federal government's dime.
Just the idea that the state
government would say,
no, we don't want these federal dollars.
There's no like there's it's essentially
free money outside of certain standards
[00:07:10]
that need to be kept
and met at your public institutions.
It's essentially free money.
And this idea that like, no, as a state,
we should say, screw those stipulations
and we'll cover the windfall.
That's just bad math.
That's bad accounting.
[00:07:26]
No accountant would
ever tell you to do this.
They would say, take the money,
figure out how to make it work later.
As far as the stipulations concerned,
$1.8 billion is nothing to sneeze at.
And where I think these people air Anna,
is that I think traditionally when you
[00:07:45]
could paint a program as low income or,
you know, financially disadvantaged,
you could code that as essentially
the black and brown people of our state,
people that we don't need to care about.
But this ain't the 80s, Jack.
After deindustrialization,
after free trade, after the shipping
[00:08:03]
of all these great jobs, a lot of your
constituents qualify for these benefits.
That's right.
And nobody is going to say to themselves,
my kid doesn't deserve free lunch
because it came from the evil,
disgusting, sick federal government.
And so that's why this is
a stupid calculation on this dude's part.
[00:08:21]
Totally agree.
And look, I can't help but think about
this story in a broader picture, right?
So when you think about
how much we pay in federal taxes
and where that money ends up, it is
infuriating when you see so much spent
[00:08:40]
on honestly enriching defense contractors.
And look, I get how it works, right?
Like, yes, we get taxed.
And the idea is that money gets used
or allocated for various things,
various social programs, yes,
the forever wars that are going on.
[00:08:56]
But what's really happening
is like the Federal Reserve prints money,
not literally,
but they just create more money.
And so whenever it comes to funding
whatever Israel is doing,
right, an additional $14.3 billion,
there is no debate about it.
[00:09:15]
Obviously, we need to provide those
resources to the Israeli government,
regardless of what they do.
Whenever there is a discussion about our
resources, helping our communities,
helping the American people,
why is it that there's always a group of
[00:09:32]
politicians, whether we're talking about
on a state level or federal level,
looking to cut that funding?
Always.
I mean, recently I was on the Stich and
Adams show and I said, no, no, I totally
get why people think taxation is theft.
[00:09:48]
I personally do not have a problem
paying my taxes.
I get how things work.
I do have a problem when any time
there is debate over a program
that would benefit the lives
of the people around me, we get nickel.
Nickel and dimed. Okay.
[00:10:04]
Oh, I don't know.
Do we really need to feed schoolchildren?
Is that really a worthy cause?
But when it comes to other, you know,
other efforts having to do with funneling
money to either defense contractors,
corporate subsidies,
[00:10:20]
all of that stuff, there's no debate.
When it comes to lifting the debt ceiling,
the Senate
parliamentarian ceases to exist.
Okay, but when it comes to passing,
you know, a program that actually makes
child care accessible, affordable for
American families, we can't do it.
[00:10:38]
Sorry. There's no will.
It's just it's infuriating anyway.
Obviously.
State Democrats are against
what Republicans are trying to do
with cutting or rejecting the $1.8 billion
in federal funds for public education.
But I want to actually go to education
officials who are speaking out
[00:10:54]
against this effort as well.
So leaders from four school districts
spoke during that meeting that you watched
some video from, and they each shared how
their districts use that federal funding,
emphasizing the importance of
federal dollars to programs like nutrition
and supporting students with disabilities.
[00:11:12]
For instance, Memphis Shelby County
Schools Interim Superintendent Tony
Williams said that the district receives
$92 million in title funds, which supports
students who live in high poverty areas.
She also said the district receives
$89 million in federal funds
[00:11:29]
for the nutrition program, which for
many students is their only food source.
Doesn't sound like a worthy cause.
Of course.
You know, let's start with those kids
and see how they perform.
For example, we have food
that we receive on a weekly basis.
Some of these students
wouldn't get an opportunity for food if it
[00:11:47]
wasn't for our food nutrition program.
This country.
The fact that we even have the problem
to begin with, the fact that we have
so many struggling Americans of all
backgrounds, of all political persuasions.
Like the fact that there are so many
people struggling in one of the richest
[00:12:05]
countries in the world just disgusts me.
And it doesn't need to be this way.
We know it doesn't need to be this way.
Obviously, the way that the wealth
is distributed in this country shows
that everything rises to the very top.
We should not have children starving
in the richest country in the world.
[00:12:22]
But here we are.
And as we try to find solutions for it
so they can at least be focused enough
to do well in school,
you literally have lawmakers trying
to find ways to cut those programs.
That is the easiest way,
the most accurate way to summarize
what's happening in Tennessee.
[00:12:37]
All right. Any final words on this was.
Yeah.
It's just important to remember
the two things that you often hear,
especially from the right wing,
about quote unquote, federal dollars.
It's one there's a lot of waste.
He mentioned the food waste,
which he pretended to care about.
[00:12:54]
Food waste.
Somehow we never tie those stipulations
when we give it to the defense industry.
We never tie those stipulations. We didn't.
If you remember 2008,
that was one of the biggest critiques.
There were no stipulations placed
on the banks when the Federal Reserve
[00:13:10]
basically guaranteed the bond market
during the pandemic.
There were no stipulations.
Nobody said, oh, if you get this icky
federal money, you're going to turn lazy.
You didn't earn it.
Nothing.
We never hear that from anybody else.
We just put those stipulations, or we act
like these things are supposed to matter.
[00:13:29]
When the federal the federal money
is supposed to be allocated
to normal, everyday people.
And so that's what I would just
encourage readers, excuse me, viewers,
to think about when you hear about waste
or when you hear about the lack
of incentive, and when you hear about,
you know, government being too big.
[00:13:47]
You never, ever, ever, ever hear that
when government resources are being
allocated for the powers that be. 100%.
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