Governor Bill Lee announced new plans aimed at improving education opportunities in Tennessee during his 2023 State of the State address on Monday night.
Lee proposed a historic $1 billion capital investment for the Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology’s (TCAT) Master Plan. The new funds will go towards training 10,000 new skilled workers a year, improving 16 existing TCATs, replacing seven outdated facilities, and building six new TCATs across the state.
“Access to career and technical education can change the trajectory of someone’s life. We should expand those opportunities in our K-12 schools,” Lee said.
The state currently has 24 TCATs, providing technical training and education for skills in the modern job market.
Lee also talked about the Governor’s Investment in Vocational Education (GIVE) Act which expanded accessibility for vocational and STEM programs in Tennessee and doubled dual enrollment for high schools. The GIVE Act was signed into law in 2019.
The Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement Act (TISA), the newly passed K-12 education funding formula, also took a focus in his speech. Lee stated he will propose an additional investment of $350 million into TISA which would include $125 million for teacher pay raises.
“When I came into office, the minimum pay for teachers was set at $35,000. We are proposing legislation that, if it passes, will increase the minimum teacher pay, by the time I leave office, to $50,000,” he said.
Touting other legislative successes in education during his first term, Lee also introduced audience members who had taken advantage of expanded school choice options within the state. The Education Savings Account (ESA) Program was established in 2019 and allows students in underserved zip codes who are zoned to a Shelby County district school, a Metro Nashville public school, or a school in the Achievement School District (ASD) to use state money towards education expenses such as tuition at an approved private school.
Nashville fourth grader Natalie Serrano, who was present at the address with her family, is one of such students who were able to utilize the ESA Program.
Serrano’s story was highlighted during the speech. She was struggling with reading and writing but her family was unable to send her to a different school.
“Her parents and her older sister could see that she was on a failing path. They thought that if they could just get her into a different school with smaller classes, she would have a chance. When we launched the ESA program, Natalia’s family applied and were soon enrolled at Holy Rosary Academy. Just since last fall, Natalia has already jumped three reading levels.”
Lee also highlighted Whitehaven High School principal Dr. Vincent Hunter and the work he has done to improve Whitehaven’s education opportunities through expanding dual enrollment, Advanced Placement (AP), and foreign language courses.
Whitehaven is one of the three high schools in the whole district with a graduation rate of 90% or higher.
This portion of the address was rounded out with a focus on enhancing physical safety in schools by proposing new funding to place at least one Homeland Security Agent in each of the 95 Tennessee counties.
