Legislative breakfast-Talk focuses on education, drought

Lottery scholarships, education in general, and the possibility of another summertime drought were the topics that dominated discussion during Friday’s annual Legislative Breakfast sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.

State Reps. Charlie Curtiss and Judd Matheny were in town, along with state Sen. Steve Roller and the governor’s senior policy advisor Pat Miller to talk politics at the Tennessee Nursery Research Center.

One of the main items in this year’s legislative agenda is lowing the GPA required to keep a lottery scholarship. It’s been proposed by Gov. Phil Bredesen to lower the current 3.0 GPA requirement to 2.75 in an effort to make sure more students don’t lose valuable educational dollars.

It’s an idea Curtiss firmly endorses.

‘This is not dumbing down the requirements,’ said Curtiss. ‘The reason we have the lottery scholarship in the first place is not to yank it away from them. It’s to encourage students to stay in school. Hindsight is 20-20, but we should have never taken their scholarships away in the first place.’

A surplus in lottery scholarship money has led some officials to propose spending excess dollars on K-12 education.

However, Curtiss said the General Assembly established a state lottery to benefit higher education and that’s where he believes the money should be spent.

‘When we were putting these scholarships together, one thing we never considered is the growing student body,’ said Curtiss. ‘I call it the saturation point and once you get to that saturation point, a college can’t handle any more students. If the money doesn’t go to scholarships, it needs to be spent on brick and mortar projects for higher ed.’

State Rep. Judd Matheny told the audience that a decision on the Common Battlefield Airman Training facility (CBAT), which could be located in Coffee County, has been put on hold until after the presidential election.

Such a facility would be a tremendous financial boost to the area, bringing in an average of 15,000 airmen and women a year for training. CBAT would bring $80 million in building projects and inject an estimated $300 million annually into the local economy, Matheny said.

‘We’re still sitting in the catbird seat for this,’ said Matheny. ‘Gov. Bredesen has said he will do whatever possible to bring that facility here.’

In talking about education, Matheny said Tennessee schools need to find a way to teach more technology classes in the basic curriculum. Since the school days is already packed with instruction, Matheny said adding an extra hour might be necessary so classes such as physical education aren’t sacrificed so technology-related fields can be taught.

‘We need to modernize our educational equipment, replace textbooks with laptops, and get to where teachers and students can talk real time online,’ said Matheny.

Both Matheny and Roller talked about weather projections meteorologists have given that indicate it’s going to be another dry summer.

‘They’re already predicting a drought for this year,’ said Roller, who talked about a state comprehensive water bill that’s in the works to assure Tennessee residents aren’t faced with a water crisis.

Roller also stressed the importance of the governor’s expanded pre-K program, which would cost an estimated $5,000 per year, per child. But Roller said that’s a bargain compared to the $27,000 a year it costs to house an inmate per year.

‘In the global world we’re dealing with today, all our children are at risk if they don’t get the proper start,’ said Roller.

As Bredesen’s senior policy advisor, Miller said Breseden has kept the state on solid financial footing, establishing a record $750 million rainy day fund. He says the state appears poised to remain in good shape even in the event of a more pronounced economic downturn.

‘The governor has really brought a business-like approach to state government,’ said Miller. ‘As a CEO, he knows if you do two or three basic things right you have a successful business, and he’s done that with state government.’

A broadcast of the Legislative Breakfast will be aired on WCPI 91.3 FM this Tuesday at 3:04 p.m.