When former school-board chair Betsy Henderson decided to run for Knox County mayor, the District 6 seat on the Board of Education opened up.

The candidates differ on school choice and restrictions on reading materials in libraries.

In the general election, private-school teacher Lee Ann Eaves, who won the Republican primary, faces Cadence Collins, who was unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Both are political newcomers who share some positions but offer a clear contrast when it comes to school choice and censoring library materials. Collins opposes efforts to restrict student access to books and is strongly against the state’s school-voucher program, while Eaves wants to keep materials she considers inappropriate away from elementary-school students and supports school choice for families. 

The Northwest Knox County district includes fast-growing Hardin Valley and Karns but also dips into the Norwood and Pleasant Ridge areas inside the Knoxville city limits.

The district is solidly red. Henderson, a Republican, won the school-board seat in the 2022 general election with 59.5 percent of the vote. In 2024, Republican County Commissioner Terry Hill won reelection with 58.7 percent of the vote (she was unopposed in 2020). The district makes up the bulk of the 89th state House District, where Republican state Rep. Justin Lafferty has been elected four times with shares of the vote ranging from 64 percent to 70.1 percent.

Eaves defeated Kevin Crateau in the Republican primary with 56.3 percent of the vote (Thierry Somer was on the ballot as well but stopped active campaigning early in the contest).

Still, Collins outraised Eaves — $5,628 to $3,252 — during the April 26-to-June 30 reporting period. After expenses, Collins had $7,582 on hand for the final push to Election Day, while Eaves had $2,573.

Here’s a look at the two contenders. (The profile of Eaves has been updated from our primary coverage.)

Cadence Collins

In a recent interview, Collins said she’s running because she’s a mom who cares about kids, teachers and the future of Knox County’s public schools. She was galvanized to run because of concerns about the impact of the state’s private-school voucher program.

Collins said she reached out to Henderson, who testified in favor of vouchers at a legislative committee hearing in 2025, but never heard back.

“That was upsetting and discouraging to feel like your voice doesn’t matter to your local representative, especially when it comes to my child’s future education,” she said. “That really put a bee in my bonnet, and I decided I needed to take action … Our public schools need someone advocating for public education, not private education.”

According to Collins, the biggest challenge facing the school system is funding, in light of Knox County Commission redirecting $4 million in property-tax revenues away from the schools.

“Right now, it’s very clear that budgets and cuts to funding (are) going to be a recurring issue countywide,” she said. “I think it’s crucial that we have representatives who are willing to stand up and push back and say we need to fully fund our schools.”

She said better collaboration could help avoid surprises in the future. School administrators have said the cuts to recurring revenues would result in more staffing cuts next year.

“I have a really hard time understanding how that is not going to have an impact on our classrooms going forward,” she said, adding that the board would be wise to prioritize the fundamentals of education.

Collins also wants to stop removing books from school library shelves and protect students’ freedom to read. 

“I don’t want the government telling me what my child can read,” she said. “I’d rather leave that to the parents, and I trust our librarians to support that.”

Focusing on District 6, Collins said some teachers and parents see their schools as being left behind.

“Amherst Elementary or Mill Creek Elementary or Norwood or Pleasant Ridge — these schools don’t often get as much attention as Hardin Valley and Karns in the conversation, and I want to make sure that we are addressing each school’s needs,” she said.She wants to set up monthly meetings with stakeholders in each school to listen to what each community needs. 

Collins is concerned about handling the influx of new students in the county’s fastest-growing area. She said she took part in conversations about the recent Powell Elementary School rezoning, which will add students to Karns Elementary, and she wants to make sure that students new to the district’s schools are welcomed and supported.

Collins, 35, grew up in Hardin Valley “before Hardin Valley was a thing,” she said. She attended Hardin Valley Elementary School the first year it opened. Her background is in the theater — she’s teaching at Knoxville Children’s Theatre this summer and fall after two years as a stay-at-home mom — and she earned a degree in health and human services from Western Governors University, a private online university based in Utah.

Collins and her husband, John, live in Hardin Valley with their daughter, Ottillie.

In the months preceding the election, Collins has become a fixture at school-board meetings. “It has been absolutely vital to my understanding of how public education works here in Knox County, and how our community is functioning and where we can improve, and what the community cares about,” she said. 

Collins said she wants to improve transparency so parents and taxpayers who can’t attend meetings can also understand how the school system works.

The first-time candidate said she’s knocked on more than 2,000 doors in the district.

“It’s my first time, so I really don’t have anything to compare it to,” she said. “From knocking on doors and from talking to people and attending meetings, I could not ask for a better reception ... It really doesn’t have anything to do with where you lie on the political spectrum; it’s just people who care about public education and understand that I care, too, and that I’m willing to fight for them and for public education.”

Collins said her fundraising success shows community support for a nonpartisan approach to managing the schools. She said she has the heart and passion to serve on the school board as well as the know-how and the courage to speak out in support of education.

“I’m  here to serve everyone, so I’m not running a partisan race,” Collins said. “I’m here to listen to you and your voice matters to me. I take suggestions, I listen to feedback and I’m here to represent the people.” 

Lee Ann Eaves

A 40-year classroom veteran, Eaves said education is moving in a direction that concerns her.

“The reason I decided to run is because of the concern that I have for students and teachers and just staff in general,” she said. “Education is changing to where it’s not the typical community, public school. It’s becoming a vastly different dynamic, and we need to, as a society, look into that.”

She continued: “My biggest issue is the elementary school (students) having access to inappropriate reading material. I think that that should be within the home and at a parent’s discretion to make that decision if they want their child to be introduced to that.”

Eaves said school safety is another major concern, adding that her grandchildren are in public schools and they have all had safety issues that have bothered her.

“I’ve been pretty much through every aspect of what a teacher can go through,” she said.

She also is concerned about immigration. “I think that (undocumented immigrants) need to go back home until they’re processed legally,” she said. “I’m just a concerned Nana, and I just want my voice to be heard. I want the people’s voice to be heard. I want parents to have the ability to make decisions about their kids. They know their kids best.”

Eaves is a strong proponent of school choice, including vouchers that use public funds to pay for private-school educations.

“I actually am 100 percent for vouchers,” she said. “I know there’s a lot of flak with that, but I believe the money should follow the child, no matter what type of setting. We need to give the responsibility back to the parent and them to make the decision of what is the best educational setting their child would work in. Our kids are growing up in a different world, and the traditional public school does not meet all the needs of our kids today.”

Eaves condemned Knox County Commission’s decision to cut $4 million in school revenues to pay for general-government employee raises — which also boosted pay for elected county commissioners and school-board members.

“In the past six years, we have significantly increased the Knox County Schools budget to support our teachers in the classrooms, and the results show real academic progress,” she posted on Facebook. “But a last minute cut to our schools to increase politicians salaries is beyond the pale. The County Commission should reverse its decision immediately.”

Eaves, 65, grew up in Huntington, W.Va., and moved to Knoxville to attend the University of Tennessee. She has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, with endorsements in preschool and reading recovery. She has two children and 10 grandchildren.

Eaves taught in Anderson County Schools for 27 years. After she retired as a public-school teacher, she joined the faculty at Grace Christian Academy. She’s currently teaching in Grace’s hybrid program. “It’s two days on campus, three days at home, so the kids still get the ability to socialize and have a school-type setting but still get the benefit of homeschooling,” she said.

One issue facing the district will be welcoming students rezoned from Powell Elementary School to Karns Elementary School as part of the district’s plan to alleviate overcrowding at Powell. “I want to make sure that they still feel that small-town community and support them and let them know that we are happy that we have the facility to be able to meet their child’s needs on a public-school level.”

Eaves has hit a couple of bumps along the way during her first run for office. She survived a move earlier this year to take her name off the GOP primary ballot. Still, she said, campaigning has been a positive experience.

“People are very appreciative of me being out, knocking on their door and meeting me,” she said. “I’m a Christian, conservative Republican, and I am here to be a voice for parents, teachers and students, and I would like to see our community continue to grow in a positive manner. And I get a lot of positive feedback from these people that I knocked on their door. I’ve had several people pray over me, and that was very touching.”

Eaves repeatedly said that listening to stakeholders is one of the most important aspects of serving on the school board.

“We need to listen to the whole of them, from students to bus drivers and everybody in between, about what their needs are and what their concerns are,” she said. “That’s why I’m running. I want to be that voice for them.”