Although many lawmakers voiced concern about potential pitfalls, the legislature overwhelmingly approved the education reforms Gov. Phil Bredesen said he needed to better position Tennessee to compete for the “Race to the Top” grant.
The measure won 83-10 and was approved in the Senate 29-3. The bill now heads to the governor’s desk.
“As I said in Tuesday night’s speech, regardless of the outcome of any competition, this is the right thing to do for our children and our schools,” said Bredesen after the legislation was approved.
After a marathon of committee meetings digging into the legislation, members of both chambers remained on Capitol Hill until nearly 10 p.m. to reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill before sending it to the governor.
“It might be our very last best shot at infusing some funds, some policy changes, into an educational system that needs some help,” said Rep. Harry Brooks, R-Knoxville, who chairs the House Education Committee.
Lawmakers spent the week digging into the legislation after Bredesen, a Democrat, ask them to approve education reforms that could set the state up to win as much as $485 million in federal “Race to the Top” grant funds.
The U.S. Department of Education will reward a handful of states with the most innovative education reforms with a cut of $4.35 billion in federal grant money.
“I was very tempted to work and vote against this bill,” said Rep. G. A. Hardaway, D-Memphis from the House floor. “I think the process was a little quick for anybody to get a good understanding and look at how this bill will impact the education community years down the road.”
4 replies on “Lawmakers Give Final Approval to Race to Top Bill”
[…] approved by the General Assembly, those policy adjustments now link student test-scores to teacher and principal evaluations, and […]
[…] spending a week in a special legislative session, the General Assembly approved sweeping education reforms that include changing the way teachers and principals are evaluated and creating a state-wide […]
[…] part of the legislation lawmakers approved in January — which won a $501 million award from the feds — the new process will require that 50 […]
[…] tenure bill Wednesday. He said TEA needs to accept that when they signed on to reforms as part of the state’s desire to win $500 million in Race to the Top education funds last year they were agreeing to an all-out education […]