Tennessee Governor Bill Lee Signs Bill To Free Teachers From Union Dues, Raise Teacher Salaries

Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee signed a new bill into law Thursday that allows teachers in the Volunteer State to be free from mandatory union dues and increases pay for teachers. 

The law, known as the Teacher Paycheck Protection Act, stipulates that minimum teacher pay will be $50,000 a year by 2026 and that teachers unions cannot automatically deduct money from those paychecks. Teachers unions across the state have been criticized over political activism and lawmakers in the state have tried for years to remove the mandatory union fees. 

“We’re also making sure that teachers actually receive their well-deserved raises and that union membership dues are never automatically deducted from teacher paychecks. Teachers should have control over their hard-earned paycheck and taxpayer dollars should be used to educate students and not fund politics,” Lee said in a video first obtained by The Daily Wire. 

According to supporters of the legislation, the Tennessee Education Association (TEA), the state’s largest teacher union, gave over half a million dollars to political candidates in 2018 and had over $9 million in revenue that same year. 

In recent years, TEA has waded into highly contested political issues, taking a Left-leaning approach on things from COVID policies to charter schools. The TEA opposed a 2021 law banning the teaching of Critical Race Theory in the classroom and has come out against legislation for charter schools.

During its passage through the General Assembly, the bill was backed by Americans for Prosperity Tennessee, a conservative group. It was sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) and House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland). 

“Teachers are tasked with the incredibly important job of educating the next generation,” Johnson said in a statement. “This legislation recognizes the importance of teachers’ work by raising their pay and protecting their paychecks. It will also enhance the quality of our education system by helping attract and retain talented teachers.”

The salary increases would be implemented gradually until teachers would get a base salary of $50,000 for the 2026-2027 school year. Lee described the increase in pay as “the largest pay raise in Tennessee history” for teachers, adding that it made Tennessee “a top ten state for teacher pay.”

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Sen. Bill Powers (R-Clarksville), another sponsor of the legislation, said that it would help “mitigate teacher shortages.”

Tennessee Republicans have also passed legislation this year that cracks down on the availability of obscene books available at schools across the state.

Tom Hanks Says With AI, He Could Die And His ‘Performances Can Go On And On And On’

Actor Tom Hanks talked about the use of Artificial Intelligence in Hollywood and said that technology exists now such that he could die tomorrow and his “performances can go on and on and on.”

During the 66-year-old actor’s recent appearance on “The Adam Buxton Podcast,” Hanks said his work could continue when he’s no longer on this earth as he and the host debated whether people will care if a film features AI Hanks or the real thing, Variety reported.

“What is a bona fide possibility right now, if I wanted to, [is] I could get together and pitch a series of seven movies that would star me in them in which I would be 32 years old from now until kingdom come,” the “Cast Away” star said.

Tom Hanks says he could keep acting after he dies because of AI and deepfakes: "I could be hit by a bus tomorrow and that’s it, but performances can go on and on…there’ll be nothing to tell you that it’s not me and me alone." https://t.co/ygbKo1xcGP

— Variety (@Variety) May 17, 2023

“Anybody can now recreate themselves at any age they are by way of AI or deep fake technology … I could be hit by a bus tomorrow and that’s it, but my performances can go on and on and on,” he added. “Outside the understanding of AI and deepfake, there’ll be nothing to tell you that it’s not me and me alone.”

“And it’s going to have some degree of lifelike quality,” the Oscar-winning actor continued. “That’s certainly an artistic challenge, but it’s also a legal one. Without a doubt people will be able to tell [that it’s AI], but the question is, will they care? There are some people that won’t care, that won’t make that delineation.”

Stars like Harrison Ford, Keanu Reeves, and more have started to speak out about AI, both for and against the technology.

“They have this artificial intelligence program that can go through every foot of film that Lucasfilm owns,” Ford said of George Lucas’ production company, making him look younger in the final film in the “Indiana Jones” franchise.

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“They have all this footage, including film that wasn’t printed,” he added. “So they can mine it from where the light is coming from, from the expression. I don’t know how they do it. But that’s my actual face. Then I put little dots on my face, and I say the words, and they make [it]. It’s fantastic.”

Reeves, who famously played a character who fought AI in “The Matrix,” isn’t as keen on the technology. He said he realized a while ago that he needed to have legal protection to prohibit digital manipulation of performances without his consent.

Related: ‘Too Many People Are Using It Against Us’: Celebs And Hollywood At Odds Over Use Of AI

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