Special Session Planned on Education

In a press conference today, Gov. Bredesen announced plans to call the legislature into a special session in January to address education issues related to both k-12 education and higher education. The General Assembly was scheduled to reconvene in regular session on January 12. Now, when they return, the plan is to go immediately into a special session. The timing of the session is dictated by a need to have certain reforms in place in order to make application to the Federal Government for the so-called "race to the top" funds. According to the Governor, there are certain provisions in the law related to use and availability of data and the overall teacher evaluation process that need legislative changes in order to best position Tennessee to receive grants from this special Federal allocation. At stake is a potential grant in the hundreds of millions of dollars to Tennessee to advance reforms around four specific areas:

•Adopting standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy;
•Building data systems that measure student growth and success, and inform teachers and principals about how they can improve instruction;
•Recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals, especially where they are needed most; and
•Turning around our lowest-achieving schools.

For more information on Race to the Top, click here.

During his press conference, the Governor also indicated that the special session will include issues related to improving graduation rates in higher education institutions. These issues do not have the same short deadline as they are not related to the Race to the Top application. At any rate, it will require rapid action on behalf of the General Assembly to convene, get these proposals through education committees and subcommittees and voted on by the membership by the 19th.