As we have noted recently, the voucher system in Tennessee, which Marsha Blackburn has stated she intends to expand and make universally available to ALL Tennessee school kids, is receiving little attention in the weeks leading to November 3.
Lauren Pinkston and Jerri Green have voiced opposition to the scheme and expanding it. David Hatley wants to reexamine it before growing it any further, if not revising it drastically. But big money continues to pour into the coffers of any candidate willing to embrace expanding vouchers from dark money groups outside the state of Tennessee. Based upon the millions spent by out of state voucher proponents in the primary races, it’s a safe bet that further expansion will be pushed through the legislature if Blackburn is elected, despite the absolute lack of evidence of any progress in academic achievement for Tennessee students.
Legislators who balked at the expansion, like Rep. Todd Warner, have been targeted with massive amounts of out-of-state money by Pro voucher billionaires. Nevertheless, Warner survived his race for reelection.
An issue that received only glancing attention during the process of implementing the voucher system and expanding it, is the fact that Tennessee tax dollars are pouring into Muslim schools across the state of Tennessee. The excuse given at the time was the in order to Fund religious schools of a Christian nature, the legislature was forced to include Muslim schools as well.
Some states with voucher programs have pushed back against funding Islamic schools. Texas tried to block taxpayer funds from flowing into Muslim schools, but the courts intervened. Florida has tied limiting vouchers to Islamic schools with their affiliation with designated terrorist sponsoring groups.
Meanwhile, despite opposition from a few local officials and legislators, Tennessee tax dollars continue to fund Islamic schools in Tennessee.
State Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson has said that concerns about the funding of Islamic schools and their promotion of Sharia law is “unfounded.”
But concerns about these schools continue, particularly with the rise of radical violent protests in the U.S. and globally along with recent jihadist terror plots within the U.S. One of the Muslim schools in Memphis, Pleasant View Academy, has drawn attention by hiring a scholar tied to various Islamic groups to consult in developing their curriculum.
Dr. Hamed Ghazali is working directly with Pleasant View, which receives taxpayer dollars in the form of vouchers, to develop Islamic studies. Ghazali is not simply someone with a background in Islamic education. According to his published biographies, Ghazali holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Kansas State University. He has served as a principal and superintendent of Islamic schools, chaired the Muslim American Society’s Council of Islamic Schools (MASCIS), consults with Islamic schools around the country, and has published and spoken extensively about Islamic education.
He has also developed Islamic educational materials, including a textbook for teaching Qur’anic Arabic vocabulary and grammar.
Ghazali is named in the 1991 Muslim Brotherhood memorandum, the document describing the Brotherhood’s strategic goals and organizational activities in North America. Several of the Muslim Brotherhood specific regional chapters and splinter groups are targeted by U.S. sanctions or designated as terrorist entities by other countries. Ghazili himself has not been identified as having any specific associations with terror groups.
One of the organization he chaired, the Muslim American Society Council of Islamic Schools, has described its work as developing and coordinating Islamic, Arabic and social studies curriculum and textbooks for Islamic schools.
Tennessee is directing taxpayer funded Education Freedom Scholarship dollars to Pleasant View. What exactly is Ghazaly having them teach the students at Pleasant View? We have no idea, nor are they disclosing the full details of their curriculum.
What do they, and other Islamic schools receiving vouchers teach when it comes to American history? The spend a lot of focus and attention, not surprisingly, on the Q’uran and other Islamic texts. Does their presentation moderate the calls to violence and the barbaric subjugation of women included in the Q’uran and Hadith or embrace them and the values of jihad and martyrdom that they contain?
At the very least, should they not be more transparent about what is being taught and how it is being taught when Tennessee taxpayer dollars are involved?
Steve Gill is editor and Publisher of TriStar Daily.
