Governor Bill Haslam visited Smithville Thursday, speaking at the DeKalb County Republican Party's Reagan Day Dinner at the county complex.
A number of local teachers turned out as well to protest the governors education policies.
Haslam pointed out that Tennessee is in sound financial shape compared to many governments.
“We have the lowest debt per person of any of the fifty states. When you go to bed at night, you probably should sleep with one eye open worried about how much debt we have out of Washington but at least as a Tennessean you should know that for years we in Tennessee have been responsible about how we manage your money,” haslam told the crowd. “We have one of the two or three lowest tax systems in the country. We have a state where our savings account, what governments call rainy day funds, has doubled since we've been in office. We've lowered taxes. We've cut the tax on groceries. We eliminated the gift and inheritance tax. And we're cutting the Hall Income Tax for senior citizens. We're cutting taxes. We also owe less money than we did before. Hardly any other government anywhere can say that. I think that's what conservative government looks like. We run our budgets the way that you do and because of that we've been named one of the three best managed states in the country.”
He said the state has become one of the most attractive in the country to business.
“Businesses are deciding where to locate by the kind of government that exists in that place. About three months ago CEO magazine polled 500 CEO's of all sized businesses from all across the country. They ranked all the states one to 50 in order of the states you'd like to do business in. Tennessee ranked fourth. Of the top twenty states ranked by the CEO's, seventeen of them were led by Republican Governors. Of the top ten, nine were led by Republican Governors and of the top five all of them were. What that says is, we set the climate and people are choosing our states to do business.” the governor said.
On the subject of education, Haslam said Tennessee schools have improved greatly over the last few years.
“In about three months we will be having high school graduations all across the state,” Haslam said. “One of our primary responsibilities is to make certain that when those students walk across the stage and shake the principal's hand and get a diploma that they are prepared when they walk off that stage either to go on to school, to college or that they are prepared for a job. In Tennessee we haven't always done a good job on that. About four or five years ago, Tennessee was given an F minus for truth in advertising because we were saying that 90 percent plus of our kids were proficient at their grade level, but 70 percent of those kids needed remedial work when they got to community college. Now we're raising expectations, making certain that student are prepared for the work that is out there. We do that for two reasons. One is so that our kids will have every opportunity in a very competitive world. But the second reason is because businesses want more depth of talent. They have told us we should produce more of those skill sets that are needed so we're working hard to do that, making certain that our students are prepared for this. At the end of the day, those of us in government struggle hard to make critical choices and we don't take it lightly. We know that the things we do really have impact and we want to make certain that we're preparing students and that we're making this a place where businesses want to locate,” said the governor.
Some local teachers did not share Haslam’s optimism. DCHS teacher Anita Puckett said new guidelines sent down by the state give teachers no incentive to further their education.
“One the changes the state has done is to do away with any state raises for higher education,” Puckett said. “I would like to pursue my EDS in education, which means that basically I would go back and get a higher degree that would cost me about $13,000 out of pocket. In most positions the more education you have the more pay you make, but not if you a re a teacher. Under the current rules, it would not benefit me at all to spend $13,000 out of my pocket to further my education when I'm not going to get any pay increase. I’m no longer pursuing that idea due to the fact that I would not be compensated,” Puckett shared.
Puckett said she also was not pleased with plans for charter schools.
“We live in a very rural area, and we have some very intelligent kids, but financially they're in a situation where they would have no choices with charter schools. They would not have the options to go to some of the better schools that more well equipped. You're basically segregating the wealthy students from the poor students. That's what really bothers me about it.
DCHS student Jordan Wilkins also found the charter school program a reason to come out and speak his mind.
“The frustration is across the board with education in Tennessee,” Wilkins said. “Pressure has been put on teachers with the teacher evaluations, the test scores, common core and the charter schools. My main issue is the charter schools. You know the governor says he supports those, and we've yet to hear from our representatives whether they support them or not, but that's going to be a big issue this year. We're really concerned about that, because if it comes to the rural areas it's going to drain the funds from our public schools. We have to take a stand and not let that happen.”