Education

Funding the Future
Governor’s budget seeks record numbers with a focus on education

Gov. Phil Bredesen shares a story with a classroom full of eager young students.

When Gov. Phil Bredesen delivered his fiscal year 2007-08 budget proposal to the Tennessee General Assembly in February, he also delivered good news for students, educators and the people of Tennessee. Of the record $584 million Bredesen set aside for education in the plan, $366.5 million new dollars were proposed to fund programs that would expand learning opportunities in the state.

“We’re ready to take the next steps to seize the future for ourselves, for our children and for our children’s children, and to do this we must start with education,” says Bredesen.

In addition to fully funding the state’s basic education plan, Bredesen’s budget calls for an increase in teacher salaries, an expansion of the state’s pre-K programs, 100 percent funding for at-risk students and complete funding to pay for all growth in school districts across the state.

The governor’s plan also promotes a program to purchase and administer ACT tests for all students during the eighth- and 10th-grade years and benchmark their overall readiness for post-secondary success. One of Bredesen’s goals for the program is to make Tennessee a leader in the country’s standards movement.

“I want to get some strong standards into our schools and honestly measure people against not just what they’re doing in the next town or in other states, but also what they’re doing in other countries because that’s where these children are going to have to compete when they grow up,” he says.

The governor has also expanded the HOPE scholarship program to include “C” students that score an average of 19 on the ACT, demonstrating his commitment to providing opportunities for all students with a desire to attend college.

Bredesen says the emphasis on education not only means a brighter future for the young people of Tennessee, it also means a more qualified workforce for businesses and stronger economic prospects for the future.

“As I have traveled around the state as governor and a candidate and talked to businesses, it seems to me in many cases the limiting factor in their growth in the state and their investment in the state is the availability of a skilled workforce,” says Bredesen. “I want to do everything in my power to make sure we’re turning out the young people who have the skills it takes to attract businesses and capital to our state.”

Bredesen hopes his legacy will live on in the form of an exemplary state educational system where every student and teacher has the opportunity to reach his or her maximum potential.

“I want these next four years to be the time when we set Tennessee on the path of truly putting our children and their education at the head of the list,” he says.

Story by Valerie Pascoe

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