Bredesen wants $1 million high school for ‘Tennessee’s best’
Bredesen spoke at a joint meeting of the State Board of Education and the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.
“This initiative is just the first to emerge from our discussion about raising the bar when it comes to education and competitiveness in Tennessee,” Bredesen said. “There are many other areas we’re continuing to explore, and other areas we’ve already made good progress in.”
The governor said he would discuss the school in his State of the State address to the General Assembly, tentatively scheduled for Feb. 6.
He said the money would be used to cover startup costs of the program, which will be housed at the University of Tennessee Space Institute in Tullahoma. The University of Tennessee and its partners at Oak Ridge National Laboratory would help develop standards for admission and curriculum.
Students would attend during their last two years of high school and Bredesen said he hoped to begin enrollment in the fall of 2007.
“We certainly welcome it and will do whatever we can to help,” said K.C. Reddy, acting dean for academic affairs at the Space Institute. “We want to turn out the best of the best.”
To do so, Bredesen said the state would also explore ways to recruit highly qualified math and science teachers as well as invest in continuing education for teachers already in Tennessee.
“I don’t think it’s too much to ask that, if you’re a teacher in Tennessee, you should be able to take advantage of professional development courses at our local colleges for free.”
While Tennessee is doing a lot of things right, Bredesen said “there’s still a lot of room for improvement.”
He cited statistics showing that just over 34 percent of first-time freshmen entering Board of Regents’ universities last fall needed at least one remedial or developmental math course. At community colleges, it jumped to 64 percent.
“That’s unacceptable,” Bredesen said. “We must compete for our children’s future. Over the next decade, Tennesseans will be competing for jobs and opportunity not only with our border states, but also with once-faraway places like China and India.”
THEC Executive Director Richard Rhoda said the governor’s initiative would help make Tennessee’s students more competitive.
“Excellence begets excellence,” Rhoda said. “I think it makes a lot of sense.”
Besides the proposed residential school, the governor told reporters following the speech that this year’s budget would also include $20 million in additional funding for at-risk students and students who are learning the English language.
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University of Tennessee Space Institute in Tullahoma: http://www.utsi.edu/