Education Budget Hearing

On the first day of state budget hearings, Governor Phil Bredesen said he is watching the state’s tax collections carefully to determine if budget cuts are appropriate this year.

October tax collections were down, and the Governor said the economy is lagging nationwide.

“I don’t look at it as ‘the sky is falling,’ or anything like that, but I think this is going to be a tight year. And I always wait for the funding board to act in December as the final numbers against which we prepare our budget.”

The Governor began budget hearings (this morning/yesterday) for each state department, starting with the Department of Education. Commissioner Lana Seivers asked for 133-million dollars in improvements for teacher salaries and technology. The funds would be distributed through the Basic Education Program, which funds local school districts across the state. Commissioner Seivers also asked for hefty additions to the pre-k program.

“The bottom line for Pre-k would be an additional 30-million 79,050 dollars. That’ll increase the unit cost, add 303 classes and do the staffing.”

The addition of more than 300 pre-k classrooms would mean a class in every county and every school district, to which the Governor replied, “finally.” But, the Governor also noted it’s too early to tell whether he’ll be able to fund Seivers’ request.

Budget hearings will continue after the Thanksgiving holiday.