Governor’s preschool expansion plan clears Senate
The initiative has been at the top of Gov. Phil Bredesen’s agenda, with supporters touting it as a way to give Tennessee’s students a head start for school.
Under the plan, $25 million in lottery money would be dished out as grants to school districts willing to help pay for the cost of preschool classrooms in their district.
The Senate endorsed the measure on a 27-2 vote.
The governor estimates the money would be enough to triple the current preschool pilot program of 3,000 students. The legislation allows the governor to expand the program across the state as money becomes available.
“This is a real victory for Tennessee children and for all Tennesseans,” Bredesen said in a statement. “With the support of local communities, educators and families, we have begun the process of making a quality pre-K education available to every 4-year-old in Tennessee.”
Critics said the measure could eventually cost the state more than $200 million.
The Senate fought off a number of Republican-backed amendments that would have restricted the proposal and given private preschools more of the money.
The House has passed a version of the preschool initiative. The two chambers will have to reconcile their plans before sending the bill to the governor for his signature.
Republican Sens. Mae Beavers of Mt. Juliet and Tim Burchett of Knoxville were the only two no votes on the final package.
But other Republicans criticized the measure during debate, with Sen. David Fowler of Signal Mountain saying it was silly to require 5.5 hours a day of school for 4-year-olds who are signed up for the voluntary program.
“I am the horrible product of the absence of a preschool program,” he said. “My guess is that everyone in this room is the product of the absence of a preschool program.
“How much is there that you can teach a 4-year-old?”
He said the program’s own criteria call simply for the teaching of such easy tasks as learning to use scissors and glue. The program is more about “baby-sitting” and was part of the state’s efforts to “socialize” children, Fowler said.
The final version passed by the Senate specifies that preference will be given to school districts focusing on “at-risk” children, generally those from poorer families. Others will only be allowed in classrooms that can’t be filled with the at-risk children.
Fowler also unsuccessfully pushed to giver preference to private operators of preschools. He said they already have the classrooms and the teachers.
“We don’t need to reinvent the wheel,” he said. “Government is always trying to reinvent the wheel.”
Supporters have touted research in other states showing children that go to good preschool programs do better in school, graduate high school at a higher rate and are more likely to go to college.
“Research shows that pre-K works,” said Sen. Don McLeary, the Jackson Democrat who carried the governor’s plan through the Senate.
McLeary said the bill was drafted to make sure that no more than $25 million will ever be used for the preschool program. Future expansions would have to come out of general tax dollars.
The bulk of lottery money is already earmarked for college scholarships.
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On the Net:
Pre-K plan: http://tn.gov/governor/prek/
See Senate Bill 2317 at: www.legislature.state.tn.us/