School & District Management State of the States

State of the States 2014: Tennessee

By Sarah D. Sparks — February 18, 2014 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Gov. Bill Haslam (R)
Date of Speech Feb. 3

Gov. Haslam pledged to expand high school dual enrollment and pay the first two years of college tuition for every Tennessee high school graduate, as part of a massive effort to boost the number of students who complete higher education.

The “Tennessee Promise” announced in the governor’s fourth State of the State address, would provide free tuition and fees for two years of community college or applied technology school, with students who graduate from those programs able to transfer credits to be counted as juniors in a four-year college. It would be part of the “Drive to 55" initiative to ensure 55 percent of Tennesseans earn a postsecondary certificate or degree by 2025.

Republican Gov. Bill Haslam

The initiative also would pay for the first dual-enrollment college course taken by a high school student and provide discounts for future courses. It would also expand the Seamless Alignment and Integrated Learning Support program—which provides math remediation to high school seniors to reduce the need for remedial college courses—from 8,000 to 12,000 students.

The governor also pledged to expand the state’s Degree Compass, a pilot data program modeled on the Netflix video service, which recommends useful college courses to students based on their high school transcripts and field of study.

The governor praised the state for being the first in the nation to provide transitional support services to 100 percent of students leaving the foster care system. And he also defended the state’s adoption of the Common Core State Standards, arguing they would not define local curriculum, but “With all of the progress we’re making, how can we argue against higher standards? They are making a difference.”

Of a $120 million in new K-12 education spending, Gov. Haslam proposed $47 million in school formula funding and more than $63 million for teacher salaries. In higher education, he proposed $128 million in university facilities maintenance and construction, as well as $13 million in incentives for colleges based on their graduation rates, as opposed to enrollment figures. He would pay for the Tennessee Promise program by creating an endowment from state lottery reserve funds.

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the February 19, 2014 edition of Education Week as Tennessee

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School & District Management Q&A When This Principal Talks About Mental Health, People Listen. Here's Why
The NASSP Advocacy Champion of the year said he used stories from his school and community to speak with his state’s legislators.
6 min read
Chris Young, a principal from Vermont, poses for a photo in front of a Senate office building in Washington, D.C.
Chris Young, a principal from Vermont, stands in front of a Senate office building in Washington on March 13, 2024. Young was among the secondary principals to meet with legislators urging them to keep federal funding for schools stable.
Olina Banerji/Education Week
School & District Management Teacher Layoffs Are Mounting. How Districts Can Soften the Blow
Layoffs are coming in districts large and small. Here's how district leaders can handle them.
8 min read
Pencil Eraser Erasing Drawn Figure
AndreyPopov/iStock/Getty
School & District Management Opinion 5 Strategies to Combat Student Disengagement
When principals get serious about building a more inclusive school community, it doesn’t just benefit students, but teachers as well.
Michelle Singh
5 min read
Illustration of a bright vibrant school where students feel welcomed. In the background the sky is filled with enthusiastic raised hands.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week via Canva
School & District Management Advocacy or Electioneering? Education Leaders Walk Fine Line in School Voucher Debate
Texas is cracking down on district leaders' allegedly political speech—in what others see as a pretext for quashing anti-voucher sentiment.
5 min read
Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton walks away after announcing Texas' lawsuit to challenge President Obama's transgender bathroom order during a news conference in Austin, Texas, on May 25, 2016.
Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton walks away following a news conference in Austin, Texas, on May 25, 2016. Paxton recently sued several Texas school districts for allegedly engaging in electioneering before the March 5 primaries.
Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via AP