Obviously, the governor’s race is attracting the most attention, especially on the GOP side, where cash and polling have dominated headlines lately. U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn has outraised the field in the last four campaign filings, while her best-funded opponent, Congressman John Rose, has loaned his campaign $13 million to compete. 

Independent polls have shown Blackburn leading this race all year, though there have been some polls released lately with direct ties to Rose showing a closer race. Blackburn supporters have criticized the bias in those polls and questioned their accuracy.

Democrats have struggled to field well-funded candidates for state office in recent years, and only one candidate who’s held elected office qualified. Memphis City Councilmember Jerri Green has a commanding fundraising lead over her competitors and even reported more in contributions than Republican candidates other than Blackburn on the most recent two campaign filings.

Because of the political makeup of House and Senate districts, there are few truly competitive general elections in Tennessee, so tonight’s primary races will be decisive for who will be serving in the General Assembly. Notably, there are more open seats than usual this year, with 11 in the House and 1 in the Senate.

That seat, District 5, was left open when Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally retired. Former state representative Jimmy Matlock will be an early winner there as he’s running unopposed in GOP primary. 

On the House side, the Education Freedom Scholarship program has been a big issue…dividing candidates in several open GOP seats, including East Tennessee’s House District 31 and Middle Tennessee’s Districts 45 and 78.

On the Democrat side, Nashville’s House District 59 is one to watch with four well-funded candidates running.  Also keep an eye on Memphis House District 93.  No candidate qualified to be on the ballot for the seat formerly held by the late Representative G.A. Hardaway. County Commissioner Britney Thornton is running a write-in campaign, and if she gets 1100 write ins votes, she’ll be on the November ballot as the Democratic nominee, facing Hardaway’s son, who opted to skip the primary and run as a write-in candidate in November.

Tomorrow we may also be talking about multiple incumbent Representatives who were defeated. Political insiders say keep a close watch on Representative Dennis Powers in District 36 and Representative Todd Warner in House District 92. Warner opted to run for both his seat and Congress at the same time this year and is also facing criticism for his involvement in a controversial quarry lake project.

That will do it for this special edition of On the Fly.  Be sure and check the Firefly site tomorrow where we’ll have race results and analysis. I’m Sky Arnold

In Nashville this summer, LEAD Public Schools held a three-week summer AI program for middle school students. They learned how to use AI as a useful thought partner on projects, and one student we talked to created an app for parking.

Also this week, the state’s two largest school districts voted on 8 proposed public charter schools. It’s safe to say leaders in Memphis and Nashville approached these decisions differently, as the Metro Nashville Public Schools Board of Education voted down every proposed charter school, while the Memphis-Shelby County School Board approved two, without opposition or even discussion.

These students will be placed in one of three leagues instead of by grade level.

Urban Dove School Leader Terri Gaston joins this week's On The Fly to discuss the kind of student who will benefit and why the Urban Dove charter network believes Memphis is the right place to expand.

School founder Burrus Cox joins this week's On the Fly to talk about the Harkness Method and why he believes it's the right fit in Nashville.

Read more on The Gate School in the Tennessee Firefly.

The Music City Academy is among them. The proposed charter high school, named after the famed Music City Miracle, would be founded by the man at the center of the historic play, former Tennessee Titan Kevin Dyson.

He joined this week's On the Fly to explain his educational journey and the innovative way his school would deliver a team-centered, career-connected learning model to students.

Read the full story on the Tennessee Firefly.

One common theme we saw in two GOP primaries is a divide over programs like the Education Freedom Scholarship that allow families to use taxpayer dollars for private school expenses.

In East Tennessee’s Senate District 1 GOP primary, incumbent Senator Adam Lowe voted to expand the program, while both of his opponents are running on opposing it.  

There’s a similar divide in Sumner County’s House District 45 GOP primary, where businessman Brian Stewart supports expanding the Education Freedom Scholarship while his opponent, Chris Hughes, has reservations.

We also had important updates on the governor’s race this week.  U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn reported raising $2.7 million this quarter. Her opponent, Congressman John Rose, reported raising $259,227, and State Representative Monty Fritts reported raising $80,353.

Campaign reports also show Rose loaned his campaign nearly $4 million this quarter, following $5 million in personal loans last year. Those loans prompted Blackburn’s campaign to send out a memo touting her campaign as the "grassroots campaign" in the race, noting that she’s received more than 62,000 contributions compared to 2,000 for Rose, and Blackburn says 74 percent of those contributors are from Tennessee. 

We also covered a decision in Dyer County to reject what would have been the county's first public charter school. Supporters of the proposed Trimble Academy believe they weren't given a fair hearing and question the lack of charter experience among district staff who reviewed their application.

Finally, we're taking a closer look at the results of the long-awaited audit of Memphis-Shelby County Schools. Auditors say they found millions of dollars in mismanagement, possible conflicts of interest in bidding practices, and non-competitive procurement processes.

Knoxville Republican State Representative Elaine Davis has championed efforts to improve access to and investment in these programs and to enact tax cuts that support students’ well-being. She joins this edition of On the Fly to discuss her work this year and her plans for next year.

Speaking of testing, we also received good news this week about the state-required TCAP assessments. This year’s results included key improvements in English language arts, math, and social studies.  

Finally, this week saw encouraging news for those who want to see Tennessee use its education dollars more strategically to support jobs. The Tennessee Higher Education Commission’s Statutory Review Committee offered no opposition to proposed changes to higher education funding that will incentivize institutions to offer programs that lead to in-demand and good-paying jobs. 

Also, this week, the results of our poll on using tax dollars for private school expenses.

The OBF provides financial incentives to institutions based on how well they help students succeed. For example, a college that graduates a higher percentage of students might receive more OBF funding than its peers.

East Tennessee State University President Doctor Brian Noland joins this week's On the Fly to discuss the OBF and what changes he’d like to see made.

The proposed 6-12 grade school would be an expansion of existing Memphis School of Excellence locations. Firefly reporter Jacob Holley joined the proposed school’s principal, Kazim Kizilkaya, to discuss how the school will specifically serve immigrant South Nashville families.

Bell joins this week's On the Fly to discuss why she's running and how she'd add accountability to the board.

Trimble Forward Alliance President Margaret Prater joins this week's On the Fly to talk about her organization’s proposed charter school and a decision last year that created interest in it.

Lowe's bill will expand public school choice opportunities statewide and give parents an appeal process when they're denied. He joins us this week to discuss why the bill is needed and how it would work.

In this episode of On the Fly, he explains how the program will work and why he believes it can address Tennessee's teacher shortage without lowering teaching standards.

The Jackson Museum School will take learning beyond the classroom by infusing subjects like science and math into weekly expeditions to local cultural centers.

Rocketship TN #4 will be Rocketship Public Schools' fourth charter school in Tennessee, operating with a similar personalized learning model that the charter operator's Nashville schools utilize.

On this episode of On the Fly we talk with leaders of both about why their schools are needed and what makes them different.

The public charter school offers students a nature-based education model that founder Jay Renfro says includes what he calls risky (not dangerous) play. The school recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for its new location that will open on 23 acres of donated land in Cane Ridge next year.

We spoke with Renfo following the ceremony along with a mother and student who who moved to Tennessee to attend the academy.

We take a closer look at the debate, with comments from both supporters and opponents.

Organization president and founder University School of Nashville Senior Brendan West joins us this week to talk about his organization and the bill it's advocating for that's on the path to passage in the Tennessee General Assembly.

Both sides made made their case last week in Nashville and at a Memphis-Shelby County School Board meeting.

The annual advocacy and policy leadership development program is designed by Tennesseans for Student Success to empower educators from around the state with the knowledge and tools necessary to enact education policy change at the school, community, and state levels.

The Tennessee Firefly is a project of and supported by Tennesseans for Student Success.

LEAD operates LEAD Cameron Middle School, one of the rare public charter schools in Tennessee that students are zoned to attend. The rezoning plan approved last year by the Metro Nashville Public Schools Board of Education changes that by rezoning LEAD Cameron students to attend another middle school and forcing any family who want to attend the charter school to file an application by February 7, 2025. 

Firefly Managing Editor Sky Arnold talked to one of those families before last week's deadline.  Alison and Treymayne Haymer explain why they aren't happy with the decision.