The Beacon Center of Tennessee recently held its first webinar, hosted by Taylor Dawn Justice, vice president of External Affairs of Beacon Center of Tennessee and Beacon Impact.

“The Beacon Center of Tennessee, formerly known as the Tennessee Center for Policy Research, is a right-of-center think tank that promotes free-market solutions for Tennessee state-level policy matters. The Center’s research areas include economic, education, and healthcare policy. It is also a member of the State Policy Network, a right-of-center consortium of conservative and libertarian think tanks that focus on state-level policy,” according to a report on the nonprofit from influencewatch.org.

Beacon Impact, the advocacy arm of the Beacon Center, lists Walter Blanks Jr. as a team member. Blanks, a spokesperson for American Federation for Children, travels around the nation peddling school choice initiatives and giving testimony during committee hearings in an attempt to influence legislators to pass school-choice bills.

If you have been following the push to privatize education you are familiar with the major players. The Beacon Center has ties to many of the familiar actors involved with the globalization agenda including Americans for Prosperity, The Walton Foundation, Lee Beaman, Goldwater Institute, The Heritage Foundation, Charles Koch Foundation, Tennessee Federation for Children, Family Research Council and others.

The webinar, titled Expanding Opportunity: The Future of Education in Tennessee, featured Kerry McDonald—a Velinda Jonson Family Education Fellow at State Policy Network and Senior Fellow at Foundation for Economic Education—Wen Fa, vice president of legal affairs at Beacon Center of Tennessee, and Coi Morefield, founder of The Lab School of Memphis.

The crux of the webinar was the goal of defending and protecting education entrepreneurs in Tennessee.

Wen Fa gave an overview of how Beacon is working with the Institute for Justice (funded by Bill and Melinda Gates and Charles Koch) and Ed Choice (who works closely with the American Legislative Exchange Council) in an attempt to defend the Education Freedom Scholarship Act in Tennessee as they foresee lawsuits based on the argument that school choice programs deprive the government the ability to provide a public education.

Taylor Dawn Justice and Walter Blanks Jr.

Taylor Justice reiterated the school choice talk track that lobbyists have adopted, espousing their belief that parents need to be in the driver’s seat of their children’s education. We know this to simply be propaganda, especially in Tennessee, as Republican legislators killed the FREE Act, a true school choice bill, that would have genuinely helped to put parents in the “driver’s seat.” The problem is, however, that their version of freedom is government-funded, and families choosing to utilize the FREE Act would not be eligible to utilize government monies to offset the cost of their child’s education.

Kerry McDonald is working with microschool founders in Tennessee, The Beacon Center and the State Policy Network to expand school choice and pave the way for entrepreneurs to financially benefit from school choice programs such as Tennessee’s newly adopted Education Freedom Scholarship Act. These entrepreneurs will be creating public/private partnerships which will capitalize on taxpayer-funded private education with very little accountability, since private businesses are not subject to sunshine and open records laws.

McDonald specifically points out the regulations for private schools in Tennessee and the hoops that private school founders must jump through. Their goal is for private school regulations to be streamlined in order for the privatization of education to be more easily implemented by dismantling the barriers. Their strategy includes drafting policy and lobbying for the passage of legislation that will systematically destroy true private education. Their goal is for all educational choices to be funded by the government. They are also coaching small business owners on how to start private schools and offering them grants to do so.

What do these private schools look like? Let’s take a look.

The webinar highlights The Lab School of Memphis and its founder, Coi Morefield. The Lab School implements a “curriculum connecting nature and neighborhood to classroom study across grade levels,” according to thelabschoolofmemphis.com. Also from the website: “The Lab School is an innovative microschool located in the heart of Memphis, Tennessee serving ages 4–13. Designed to be implemented anywhere from your backyard, schoolyard, or the local park, Me Among the Trees is a nature-based curriculum steeped in anti-bias anti-racist values of identity, diversity, justice and activism.”

Coi is also featured in Kerry McDonald’s new book as well as being featured by lobbying organizations such as State Policy Network as a resource for aspiring private school entrepreneurs.

“Team & Table (formerly Microschool Masters), launched in 2024 by Coi Morefield, provides essential educational materials and back-office support for microschool leaders, many of whom struggle with operational aspects while focusing on educational excellence,” according to the State Policy Network.

The Trump administration, as well as the GOP, has invested a good deal of fanfare in the dismantling of “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” policies. The problem is, many are not being dismantled, they are expanding. DEI is now being taught in private schools funded by your tax dollars.

It is also important to mention that American Federation for Children created a report which was to serve as a tool for school leaders to implement DEI. AFC is a major player in the school choice arena and our current administration is doubling down on expanding and supporting organizations such as AFC. The report reads as follows:

“The goal of this report is to serve as a tool for school leaders who seek to foster inclusive, equitable, and mission-oriented environments for all students and families. In an attempt to offer an actionable set of recommendations, this report is a collection of research and qualitative findings from roughly two dozen interviews conducted between June and October 2020. The process of identifying participants began with a survey of existing research and contacting sources. Our team received a generous number of referrals to additional scholarship in the field of racial and socioeconomic diversity in the educational context. Finally, the American Federation for Children (AFC) solicited testimonials from students, alumni, school leaders and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practitioners, as they offer invaluable examples of the triumphs and challenges of this work. While notes and transcripts were maintained for these interviews, some quotes and comments in this report are given either anonymously or without attribution to respect the privacy of those interviewed.”

In a recent interview with Matt Gaetz, Corey DeAngelis said the private part out loud. If you allow one religious charter school then you can’t discriminate. This opens the door to all religions including Muslim, Wiccan, Hindu, Buddhism, and the list goes on . . . we will not be able to discriminate which beliefs or ideologies will be taught in a government-funded school.

Conservatives and organizations supporting school choice are actively promoting and expanding the very agendas they claim to be against. The American people have been had. Taxpayers will continue to fund the corporate takeover of education and the demise of their constitutional republic. Communism will be expanded and the government will soon control all facets of education if citizens do not wake up. True private education will no longer exist and the only choice that will remain will be those choices controlled by the government.

You have been sold a bill of goods: namely, that the battle lines are Republicans versus Democrats. While you have been distracted, they have been systematically crafting a plan that will change the course of our nation as we know it. We are all in the crosshairs, regardless of your political affiliation.

Many questions remain. What will it take for citizens to awake from their slumber? Which is more important to you: freedom, or an allegiance to a party? Why are Republicans censoring conversations that seek to warn citizens of freedom snatching agendas? What is real “school choice”? Are citizens willing to allow politicians and organizations to be the gatekeepers of their freedom?