Gov. Haslam Put "Education" At TOP of "State of the State"

Jan 30, 2018 at 05:52 am by bryan


On Monday evening (1/29/2018) Gov. Bill Haslam delivered his final state of the state address. Once again, "education" remained a top priority for Tennessee leaders. He announced his proposal to make education the largest area for new investments this year, with more than $210 million in new funding, including additional money for teacher salaries.

Following nearly 16 years of having two governors from two different parties maintain a focus on improving education for all students, we are seeing tremendous growth, collaboration, and momentum. We have built a strong foundation for moving forward, and I'm incredibly optimistic about the success we will continue to see.

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Because of your dedication to high expectations, aligned assessments to check for readiness, and accountability for everyone, more students are seeing success, more communities are being strengthened with excellent neighborhood public schools, and more businesses and industries are recognizing Tennessee is able to give them a well-equipped workforce. As the governor recognized tonight, we have the lowest unemployment rate in our state's 222-year history, and Tennessee is the No. 1 state for advanced industry job growth. At the same time, Tennessee students are posting the largest gains in the country, and we have the highest high school graduation rates the state has ever seen. We know that education is the backbone to our economic success, and we are committed to strengthening what we do in K-12.

As the governor said, we must continue to push forward with policies that have led us to be the fastest improving state in the nation: high standards, assessments tied to those standards, and educator evaluations that incorporate student growth as one measure. We also should couple increased accountability with increased investment. Here are some key areas where the governor proposes to invest in the year ahead as we build on what works:

  1. New state funding in education this year totaling $211.8 million, including more than $55 million in new funding for teacher salaries. If tonight's proposal is approved, since 2011 Gov. Haslam and the General Assembly have partnered to improve the BEP by nearly $1.5 billion, including by investing $500 million in new funding for teacher salaries. Since I became commissioner in 2015-16, we have made annual investments in teacher salaries that total more than $300 million - which would become more than $350 million with this new funding.
  2. We're putting more than $13 million into the BEP to support implementation of Response to Instruction and Intervention (RTI2). This funding will help districts provide academic interventionists at a ratio of 1:2750 to support students' individual learning needs. Each district will receive a minimum of one academic interventionist.

We also have several one-time investments that will help us support our key priorities:

  • $10 million to support our lowest performing schools - our Priority schools - which will help to build targeted interventions for those schools on the 2018 Priority school list.
  • $6 million to support public charter school facilities, so students in public charter schools have the opportunity to learn in a well-equipped classroom.
  • $4.4 million to support Read to be Ready, the state's comprehensive initiative to help more students in the early grades build a strong foundation in reading. In particular, this funding will continue to support our reading coach consultants and training for educators.
  • $1.75 million will be combined with federal Title II funding to launch new initiatives that will build and strengthen our principal pipeline. Principal leadership is the No. 2 in-school factor that impacts student achievement, and our leadership challenge in Tennessee is known - and one we can solve with a comprehensive approach. In the coming weeks, we will be announcing plans to better support new school leader fellowships, fund efforts to recruit and retain effective principals for our highest need schools, and offer scholarships to rural school leaders to better support their development.

These investments are further support for our incredible teachers and leaders. Thank you for how you come alongside us in this work to make our efforts even more effective and ensure our students get the world-class education that each of them deserve.

I want to close by sharing an excerpt from the governor's speech tonight, which sums up everything we are working toward:

"I want to be really clear - when we talk about jobs, we are also talking about education. We are talking about the ability for every Tennessean to fully realize his or her potential. We are talking about the God-designed gift that is the joy of learning. And we are talking about the importance of creating a solid foundation for every child in Tennessee to enjoy a meaningful and productive life. So when we talk about education, we are truly are talking about the very future and success of this state that we love.

"Tennessee is now viewed as a change agent, an innovator in the world of public education. By accelerating the gains we've made and, most importantly, staying true to the reforms in place, we will ensure that no matter how much money a family has, and no matter what neighborhood a child grows up in, every student will have an opportunity to learn."

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