Bredesen Delivers 2007 State of the State Address 02/05/2007 Download more information now Governor Phil Bredesen today delivered his 2007 State of the State Address to the 105th Tennessee General Assembly, proposing new initiatives to strengthen education in Tennessee at every level. “Tennessee is ready - we’re ready,” Bredesen said during his address in the State Capitol’s House Chambers. “We’re ready to lift our sights even higher. We’re ready to take the next steps to seize the future for ourselves, for our children and for our children’s children. I believe that we start with education.” Moving forward, Bredesen’s strategy for strengthening Tennessee’s public education includes four pillars: - Prepare every student for success - Provide adequate funding to every district, directing all new money into the classroom - Raise standards and expectations, demanding a return on this historic investment - Make college more accessible and affordable To support this comprehensive strategy, Bredesen made the following proposals to the General Assembly: • $120 million for at-risk students in K-12, to fully fund the state’s share of these costs • $27 million for student growth needs in local school districts, to fully fund the state’s share of these costs • $25 million to fund additional Pre-K classrooms statewide, bringing the state closer to Bredesen’s goal of offering a quality Pre-K education to every four-year-old in Tennessee • $48 million to keep tuition increases at state colleges and universities modest • $10 million to offer free community college tuition to high school students who make an average score of 19 on the ACT, 19 on the math component and 19 on the test’s reading component • $9.3 million to increase Tennessee’s Hope Scholarships to $4,000 annually • $48 million to fund operating increases in Tennessee’s higher education system • Implementation of ACT testing for 8th and 10th grade students, to assess their academic needs early on and design individual learning plans to help them graduate on time and ready for work or college • Establishment of a four-year math requirement in Tennessee’s public high schools • Bipartisan review of Tennessee’s Lottery Scholarship program. (The Tennessee Higher Education Commission predicts that 75 percent of scholarship recipients will lose their scholarships before finishing school.) To fund these new initiatives, Bredesen proposed using some state lottery funds, as well as a modest 40-cent increase in the state’s cigarette tax. Bredesen stressed that, with or without the increase, Tennessee’s budget is sound and balanced. The BEP, growth in TennCare and Cover Tennessee, funding for new Pre-K classrooms and community college scholarships and other initiatives are already proposed and funded. “The argument for a cigarette tax is straightforward: Our schools need more money,” Bredesen said. “Our cigarette tax is among the lowest in the nation, it has room to grow, and even after such an increase, will still be vastly below the national average.” Ninety percent of revenue from the increase would go into education, and the remainder would fund agriculture and anti-smoking programs in Tennessee. Bredesen made a call to Tennessee’s General Assembly to put aside “politics as usual” and instead make a bipartisan commitment to the education of Tennessee’s children. “As I look out over this chamber tonight, I am proud indeed that bipartisanship is not a new idea in Tennessee; that we have been practicing it and getting results for our state for a long time,” Bredesen said. “To all of you from both sides of the aisle, thank you for putting the needs of our state first.” While Monday’s address focused on Bredesen’s number one priority, education, his FY ’07-’08 budget presentation will contain specific requests for investments in education, job creation, health care and environmental protection. The Governor will present his budget proposal to the General Assembly later this month.