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Last August, Ann Green was approached by a pre-K teacher at her children’s elementary school with an observation that immediately set off alarm bells.
The pre-K roster at Inglewood Elementary looked different for the year ahead. All the students of color were assigned to one classroom, and the white students to another.
At the first Parent Teacher Association meeting of the school year, Green raised her hand to ask the principal: “Hey, are our pre-K classrooms segregated in any way?”
The principal explained that each pre-K classroom had a different funding source. Families who qualify for state funding based on their household income were assigned to one classroom, and families who pay tuition to another. The school believed it was following the district’s rules in placing those students in different classrooms.
At a school like Inglewood, with a high enrollment of Black, white and Latino students and kids from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds, separating the pre-K students by income had the unintended result of separating them by race.
“I just felt like this could not be real,” Green told the Banner. “It’s well-known that this state has a sordid past of horrific segregation and racism. … It just really shocked me that something like this could have fallen through their cracks, that no one noticed — or felt comfortable — reporting that this was what that decision resulted in: these racially, economically segregated classrooms.”
Inglewood Elementary’s PTA spent the past school year rallying to urge Metro Nashville Public Schools to change its funding policy for pre-K classrooms. With the support of Inglewood teachers and administration, parents raised concerns that separating students by income — and sometimes, as a result, race — is inequitable and violates decades of research on the educational benefits of diverse early learning environments.
After a series of letters and meetings with district representatives and school board members, the district agreed. Pre-K students of all income levels will learn side-by-side starting next school year — not just at Inglewood but at all MNPS preschools with this funding structure.
Green and the PTA are celebrating what they see as a success story and model for collaboration between families, teachers, administrators and the district.
While Inglewood’s principal and several teachers declined the Banner’s interview requests, the pre-K teachers provided a statement that they are “grateful to our PTA for amplifying our pre-K team’s concerns presented to MNPS for the need to restructure classroom compositions.”
“They consistently advocate and work towards making our school community better for all students, not just their own,” they wrote of the PTA. “They actively show the positives that can come from pouring into your neighborhood public school to bridge the gap between what students and teachers need to MNPS stakeholders.”
A change in pre-K funding
Funding for public pre-K in Nashville operates differently from K-12.
Some families pay fees on a sliding scale up to $144 based on household size and income. For families that fall below an income threshold, the state offers grant funding to districts under the Voluntary Pre-K (VPK) initiative. This year, a family of four with an annual income of $61,050 or below is eligible for state funding.
Until now, those students have been placed in different classrooms. Historically the state grant was “structured around classroom-level awards,” MNPS spokesperson Sean Braisted wrote to the Banner, which meant that enrollment requirements differed between income and fee-based classrooms.
“This was never intended to divide children or families, and classroom assignments were always based on funding eligibility, not any other factor,” he said.
According to the district, Inglewood Elementary was the only school where this funding structure resulted in classrooms separated by race.
Starting in the 2026-27 school year, the district will “braid” funding for pre-K. The district “requested and received permission from the Tennessee Department of Education to administer VPK funds by individual student seats rather than by classroom.”
The braided funding will impact 19 schools and three Early Learning Centers.
“This change reflects our values and our commitment to making sure every pre-K student learns alongside peers from across our community,” Braisted wrote.
A group effort
In September, Inglewood community members submitted a letter to the MNPS board calling on the district to “identify solutions that will foster integrated pre-K classrooms.”
Students “begin their educational journeys on separate, unequal tracks,” the letter stated, which “sends the wrong message about belonging and opportunity within our schools.”
The letter was signed by 53 people, including Inglewood teachers, staff and parents.
A month later, three MNPS representatives attended an Inglewood PTA meeting, where they explained how the pre-K funding works. It was a long meeting with lots of back-and-forth.
“The district reps were really responsive, I think trying their best to respond to our questions, but I don’t think there was any way that the PTA members were going to just let that sit,” Green said.
The district proposed a pilot program to “braid” the funding at Inglewood’s pre-K the next school year, PTA members recalled. But parents pushed for this solution to be implemented at all MNPS preschools, a point that they reiterated in a second letter submitted to the district after that meeting.
In December, the district confirmed via email: braided funding would be available across MNPS starting in fall 2026.
Recently while picking up her kids from school, Green was greeted by an administrator with a high-five and good news — the district seemed to deliver on its promise.
“They’re talking about it to all the schools. They are making good on what they said they would do,” Green recalled the administrator sharing.
Green was really pleased to hear that.
“There was a problem identified, and everyone found a way to work together to solve it,” she said.
‘You have to be involved’
Families love Inglewood Elementary — in part because of its diverse, tight-knit community.
“Every adult in that building knows my kid’s name, and that feels like such a special gift,” PTA member Heather Alesch reflected. “It really does feel like a community effort looking out for my kid, and each other’s kids, too.”
Alesch’s son is biracial, and she believed a public school would offer him the “most diverse, well-rounded experience.” So when she learned about the pre-K class composition, she was shocked.
“That’s dumb. It doesn’t make any sense,” she thought.
With the school year behind them, parents are looking back to reflect and celebrate what they were able to achieve through sustained advocacy.
“I think that’s sometimes where people get frustrated with public school where they're like, ‘I want to just send my kid to school and not have to think or try,’” Alesch said. “You have to be involved. You have to pay attention. You have to ask questions.”
This article first appeared on Nashville Banner and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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A heartfelt thanks to all who bravely serve.
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