By Jaime Sarrio, THE TENNESSEAN -

July 23, 2010 -

A higher education system struggling to cope with budget cuts. A $500 million school reform effort the rest of the nation is watching. A prekindergarten program in routine danger of ending.

Tennessee's next governor will inherit those critical education issues, which will affect families for years.

In addition, the state's schools are among the lowest performing in the U.S. Many high-school graduates aren't prepared for college and, if they get there at all, they're as likely to drop out as finish.

The state took some aggressive steps to catch up with the rest of the country under Gov. Phil Bredesen, who leaves office in January. It will be up to one of four men vying for his seat to determine Tennessee's educational path.

Prekindergarten
Tennessee's prekindergarten program launched in 2005 and quickly earned recognition for its quality and success. But the program is a constant source of debate, in part because of studies that show the benefits are greatest for children in poverty but don't give an advantage after early elementary school.

As of March, the state had 934 state-funded classes serving about 18,000 children. All four candidates said they would maintain funding for the program, but they offered mixed opinions about whether they would expand it when more money is available.

Bredesen's plans to grow prekindergarten were hampered in recent years by lack of revenue, and Republican candidate Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey said that's not necessarily a bad thing.

"I think where we are in Tennessee, we've reached the majority of at-risk children," he said. "Universal pre-k that the governor was going after is a colossal waste of money."

The two other Republican candidates, U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp and Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam, said they would consider expanding the program in better budget times, but only if data supported its effectiveness.

Democrat Mike McWherter, a businessman, enthusiastically endorsed the program and said he would grow it as revenue became available. "I believe it's been a true home run for Tennessee and should serve as model for rest of the country," he said.

Race to the Top
Tennessee and Delaware were the first in the country to nab a piece of a $4.3 billion federal education grant known as Race to the Top, and now the state's next governor will be responsible for carrying out the promises made in the application.

The four candidates signed a letter assuring federal officials that, if elected, they would support the reform efforts outlined in the application. All are sticking to that promise, though two of the candidates are cautioning about federal involvement in schools.

Wamp said he didn't want the Race to the Top money to create more bureaucracy for educators, who are still dealing with effects of No Child Left Behind, a federal education law that called for sanctions against schools that didn't meet testing or academic benchmarks.

As a congressman, Wamp voted for the education reform law but said it ended up being too much of a regulatory burden for school systems.

"NCLB was passed with good intentions, but it ended up being more of a burden than benefit," he said. "We've got to make sure the strings attached to Race to the Top do not limit the ability to invest the money in our state where it can produce the greatest results."

Ramsey, whose campaigned is centered on "giving Washington the boot," said he was leery of unfunded mandates from the federal government, and as governor would guard against education programs forced on Tennessee but not backed by federal funding.

Ramsey did not know of any parts of the Race to the Top application that met that scenario.

Haslam said he wanted to ensure the money is not used on reoccurring expenses such as hiring for new positions, or on programs that would not move the state forward.

"It's a huge program," he said. "It's this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to use that money or blow it, so it's really important the state use it well."

Higher standards
Tennessee's next governor must be ready to absorb the political backlash that's going to come as students adjust to a new, tougher curriculum introduced in public schools this year, Gov. Bredesen has said.

The curriculum is harder, and test scores are likely going to come back lower. But sticking to the new standards will be necessary for the state to catch up with the rest of the nation, he said.

Each of the candidates has expressed support for the stronger standards and a commitment to seeing them through while in office.

Haslam said the state should continue its informational campaign to build acceptance for the new curriculum. Ramsey underscored the need for new standards to ensure students are prepared to enter college or the job market.

Wamp also is proposing an early childhood reading initiative, which promises every student will be able to read by the third grade.

McWherter said some school districts might have difficulty finding teachers qualified to instruct higher-level classes, such as science. In cases such as these, the state is going to have to think of new approaches to ensuring students are learning the material. He listed Morgan County as an example - there, retired physicists from Oak Ridge National Laboratory teach science. In Bristol, schools are offering courses over the Internet, he said.

"We're going to have to look at education differently going forward, and we're going to have to use technology as a teaching tool," he said.

Charter schools
Last June, the Tennessee legislature voted to loosen state laws to make more students eligible to attend charter schools and to increase the cap on the number of schools from 50 to 90. The move was in part to make the state an attractive candidate for the then undecided Race to the Top award from the pro-charter Obama administration.

Republicans are typically more supportive of charter schools, which apply the concepts of free market and competition to public education. Charter schools are open to the public and funded with taxpayer money, but they are operated by independent boards.

All four candidates say they supported the 2009 decision to loosen the state's charter school law, but Democrat McWherter said he wouldn't support further expansion of the law until the cap is reached and student test scores are evaluated.

The three Republican candidates favored an expansion to the law, and Wamp said he would like to see charter schools be allowed to open in rural areas.

The current law gives priority to at-risk students in Tennessee's seven largest school districts, a group that includes Davidson, Williamson and Sumner counties. Other districts can open a charter school to at-risk students with a two-thirds vote of the local school board.

"It's not just in big cities, we need to expand charter schools across the state so that in very rural areas you can have more competition in education," Wamp said.

Currently all of the state's charter schools are in Nashville, Memphis and Chattanooga.

Higher education
In the past two years, the state's higher education system has lost millions in state funding because of budget cuts and, as a result, colleges and universities around the state have cut programs and jobs and raised tuition.

None of the candidates would commit to restoring higher education funding while revenue is still lagging, but they did offer ideas for making the state's system more efficient.

McWherter and Ramsey said they would like to see the state make better use of its community colleges and technology centers, which offer classes at a lower cost than four-year schools.

Ramsey said that each institution needs a mission statement so they are not offering duplicate services.

"We have six four-year schools in the board of regents, and they act like six independent universities, but they're not, they're part of one system," Ramsey said. "That's how we ended up with seven engineering schools in Tennessee."

Wamp said he would like to see three major research universities emerge, one in each division of the state - University of Tennessee Knoxville in the East, Vanderbilt University in the central region and University of Memphis in the West.

In addition, Wamp said he would like the University of Memphis to break free from the Board of Regents and be governed by its own board, much like the board of trustees controls the University of Tennessee system.