Recent, dramatic changes in federal, state, and county policies and legislation will significantly impact our local public schools. At the federal level, cuts by Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will impact how universities prepare teachers. At the state level, private school vouchers will diminish funding for public schools, and proposed legislation to require proof of citizenship may significantly impact K-12 enrollment. And at the local level, a salary freeze, extensive standardized testing, cuts to mental health services, and skyrocketing housing costs are challenging teachers’ commitment to working in Hamilton County. Public Education Foundation’s Dan Challener and Edna Varner will engage you in a conversation about the issues facing our public schools.

This workshop is presented in partnership with the League of Women Voters Chattanooga and The Chattery.

About the speakers:

Dan Challener
President, Public Education Foundation

Dan serves as president of PEF.  He is responsible for the overall direction and impact of PEF programs. Presently, PEF focuses its people and resources in three areas: the preparation of teachers who want to work in high needs schools, the support of students who want to be the first in their family to graduate from college, and the advancement of innovative teaching, particularly through problem based learning and digital fabrication.

Dan is a graduate of Leadership Tennessee and a member of Chattanooga Rotary Club and the Board of Directors of the Greater Chattanooga Chamber of Commerce, Chattanooga 2.0, Urban League, and Fund for Teachers.   

Dan earned a BA from Princeton University and a Ph.D. from Brown University. He is the author of Stories of Resilience in Childhood, a study of what builds resilience in children.  He is married to an amazing teacher, Melinda Challener. Their three children graduated from Hamilton County’s public schools and also from college.  In his free time, Dan likes to hike, fly fish, read, and root for the Red Sox.

Dr. Edna Varner
Senior Advisor/Teacher Coach, Public Education Foundation

Edna Varner is a lifelong educator—teacher, principal, teacher coach, and principal coach. She is proud to have served as principal of Howard High School, Hamilton County’s first public school, and as a founding faculty member of CSAS, Chattanooga’s first magnet school.

In 2006 and 2007, Edna represented PEF as a guest of the U.S. Senate Education Committee, speaking in support of education reforms, including revisions to No Child Left Behind and expanded pathways to postsecondary education. She has served on more than ten local nonprofit boards and, in 2021, was honored with the Kiwanis Distinguished Service Award. She currently serves as president of Chattanooga Rotary, part of Rotary International, where education is one of its seven core causes.

Edna is also Education Chair for the NAACP and a member of the NAACP State Board of Education. In these roles, as well as through her work at PEF, she regularly attends Hamilton County School Board meetings, often supporting PEF’s Project Inspire teachers as they advocate on behalf of students and educators.