Jackson Miller (Tennessee)
Jackson Miller was a candidate for District 7 representative on the Metropolitan Nashville Board of Education in Tennessee. The general election was held on August 4, 2016.[1] Miller lost the election.[2]
Miller participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 school board candidate survey. Click here to read his responses.
A candidate forum held in June 2016 highlighted the charter school debate in the district. Incumbents Will Pinkston, Amy Frogge, and Jill Speering refused to attend the event due to concerns that the organization hosting the forum promoted "unabated charter school growth." Only the candidates seeking the District 5 seat were able to face off at the event.[3]
Winners of the district's 2016 board of education election inherited a lawsuit against the state over education funding. In June 2016, the school board voted to approve the lawsuit, saying the state had not provided enough funding for the district's English language learners for the 2016-2017 school year.
Biography
Miller is the founder of ResaleAI and a managing partner for L2M LLC, a company that owns Plato's Closet stores.[4] He is a member of the East Nashville Advisory Committee, the Margaret Maddox YMCA, the Chamber of Commerce Education Report Card Committee, the YWCA 2616 Advisory Committee, and the Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO). Miller is also involved as a PENCIL Partner with the Maplewood High School Entrepreneur Center. He and his wife have six children.[5]
Elections
2016
Five of the nine seats on the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools Board of Education were up for by-district general election on August 4, 2016.[6] District 1 incumbent Sharon Dixon Gentry defeated challenger Janette Carter to win another term. In District 3, incumbent Jill Speering also won another term by defeating challenger Jane Grimes Meneely. Norman Merrifield originally filed to run for the District 3 seat, but he withdrew from the election. Christiane Buggs, Miranda Christy, Corey Gathings, and Erica Lanier ran for the District 5 seat, which was left open when board member Elissa Kim did not file to run for re-election. Buggs was elected to the seat. The District 7 race featured incumbent Will Pinkston and challenger Jackson Miller. Pinkston was re-elected to another term. District 9 incumbent Amy Frogge faced challenger Thom Druffel. She was also elected to another term.[1][7][2]
Results
| Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, District 7 General Election, 4-Year Term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Will Pinkston Incumbent |
50.14% | 1,834 |
| Jackson Miller | 49.13% | 1,797 |
| Write-in votes | 0.74% | 27 |
| Total Votes | 3,658 | |
| Source: Metro Government of Nashville & Davidson County Election Commission, "August 4 Election Results," accessed January 12, 2017 | ||
Funding
Miller began the race with an existing account balance of $16,490.16 from his previous campaign. He reported $78,717.28 in contributions and $91,344.93 in expenditures to Davidson County Election Commission, which left his campaign with $3,862.51 on hand as of September 30, 2016.[8]
Endorsements
Miller was endorsed by the national education nonprofit organization Stand For Children.[9]
Campaign themes
2016
Ballotpedia survey responses
Jackson Miller participated in Ballotpedia's 2016 survey of school board candidates. In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on July 17, 2016:
| “ | Nashville will become the #1 urban school district in the nation.[10][11] | ” |
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues based on how they should be prioritized by the school board, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. Each ranking could only be used once.
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in Tennessee. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | Student outcomes should drive every decision.[11] | ” |
| —Jackson Miller (July 17, 2016) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer nine questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are highlighted in blue and followed by the candidate's responses. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions. The candidate was also provided space to elaborate on their answers to the multiple choice questions.
| Should new charter schools be approved in your district? (Not all school boards are empowered to approve charter schools. In those cases, the candidate was directed to answer the question as if the school board were able to do so.) |
|---|
| Yes. We need great schools in every neighborhood. If a charter application has potential to help us achieve that end, it should be given the utmost consideration. |
| Which statement best describes the ideal relationship between the state government and the school board? The state should always defer to school board decisions, defer to school board decisions in most cases, be involved in the district routinely or only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| The state should defer to school board decisions in most cases. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| Yes. But they are not the only accurate measure of student achievement. |
| What is your stance on the Common Core State Standards Initiative? |
| Tennessee has adopted the Tennessee State Standards. I am excited that ESSA encourages more local control, but believe we should use nationally normed assessments when possible. |
| How should the district handle underperforming teachers? Terminate their contract before any damage is done to students, offer additional training options, put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve or set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district? |
| Offer additional training options. Put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve. Set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| Yes. With increased principal autonomy, teachers should have more opportunities for career growth besides leaving the classroom to enter administrative positions. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. The state should also not allow any for-profit charters. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| very very rarely. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Jackson Miller' 'Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, Tennessee
- Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools elections (2016)
External links
- Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools
- Campaign website
- Campaign Facebook page
- Twitter page
- LinkedIn page
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Tennesseean, "Who's running for the Nashville school board?" April 7, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Metro Government of Nashville & Davidson County Election Commission, "August 4 Election Results (Unofficial)," accessed August 4, 2016
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedriseforum - ↑ LinkedIn, "Jackson Miller," accessed May 20, 2016
- ↑ Jackson for Students, "Meet Jackson," accessed May 20, 2016
- ↑ Tennessee Secretary of State, "Election Calendar 2016," accessed March 30, 2016
- ↑ Davidson County Election Commission, "County General Sample Ballot: August 4, 2016," accessed July 12, 2016
- ↑ Davidson County Election Commission, "Financial Disclosures," accessed November 29, 2016
- ↑ Nashville Scene, "Who Are the Players in Nashville's School Board Race?" June 17, 2016
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2016, "Jackson Miller's responses," July 17, 2016
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
