NASHVILLE - Lawmakers complained Monday about a lack of detail as the Bredesen administration unveiled legislation overhauling K-12 to lawmakers in advance of today's special legislative session on education.
"It kind of puts us in a precarious position," Rep. Harry Tindell, D-Knoxville, told Education Commissioner Tim Webb and the state's consultant, Susan Bodary, during the three-hour hearing. "I'm sort of wondering what we're building and buying here."
Gov. Phil Bredesen says the legislation is necessary for Tennessee to be compete with other states for a piece of the $4 billion in federal "Race to the Top" funds that are being awarded to a handful of states.
Tennessee hopes to win between $400 million to $500 million. Lawmakers will have just one week to act before the Jan. 19 deadline for applications.
The special session also includes a separate bill making changes in higher education funding which rewards institutions that retain and graduate students. It also elevates the role of two-year community colleges.
Governor Bredesen is asking lawmakers to approve the following changes in K-12 education in the week-long special session that starts Tuesday.* Require annual evaluations of teachers and principals.* Remove limitations on use of Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System data on students so the data can be used in making decisions on teacher tenure.* Create a statewide "Achievement School District" that lets the commissioner of the state Department of Education to intervene in consistently failing schools.* Establish a 15-member teacher evaluation advisory committee to recommend guidelines and criteria on teacher evaluations to the State Board of Education.* Allow local school systems to create local salary schedules for teachers and principals, with state approval. Current law requires a state-mandated schedule.What's nextThe special legislative session on K-12 and higher education reforms starts this afternoon. Gov. Bredesen is scheduled to address the General Assembly later today at 6 p.m. EST/5 p.m. CST. The speech will be streamed live via Internet at www.tennessee.gov
The K-12 legislation includes a proposal requiring use of student testing data in granting tenure to teachers and in annual evaluations. Gov. Bredesen says it must count for at least 51 percent but wants a commission created in the bill to make recommendations to the State Board of Education. But the 51 percent figure is in the state's application.
The 55,000-member Tennessee Education Association, however, says testing should count for no more than 35 percent. Talks between the two sides ended in an impasse Friday, but they are leaving open the possibility of further discussions.
Ms. Bodary, who works with Seattle, Wash.-based Education First Consulting, told members of the Senate Education and Finance Committees earlier Monday the federal government considers use of testing data "as one of the linchpin issues of this competition."
Mr. Webb said the state has extensive plans to provide professional development for teachers and help for struggling schools and school systems.
But those plans are contained in the state's application, most details of which are not being made public for now, administration officials said, because of fears other states may pirate Tennessee's ideas.
"Even paranoid people get followed sometimes," Deputy Gov. John Morgan told the Times Free Press.
Ms. Bodary Tennessee comes out "consistently among the top" of states said to be in contention for Race to the Top funding.
"It's a competition only the best will win," Ms. Bodary said, later adding, "This is really about what Tennessee believes to be its future and how to get there."
She said Tennessee is seen as being in the vanguard of testing because for 18 years it has collected teacher effectiveness data through the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System, she said.
TEA officials say it is unfair to allow such tests count for 50 percent or more because issues such as parental involvement and student interest are involved.
U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who is using states' eagerness to win funding as a catalyst for major educational change, waded into the Tennessee dispute Monday with a statement saying tenure rules have a place to "make sure a struggling teacher gets a fair opportunity to improve.
"But," the secretary continued, "when an ineffective teacher gets a chance to improve and doesn't - and when the tenure system keeps that teacher in the classroom anyway - then the system is protecting jobs rather than children. That's not a good thing. We need to work together to change that, and I encourage the union and lawmakers to work together on a solution that best serves the interests of children."
Current evaluation criteria for Tennessee teachers don't use any testing data. Republican House Speaker Kent Williams of Elizabethton said he supports the use of testing in teacher evaluations. But he voiced concerns about the Bredesen plan. It could add to the problems rural schools face in attracting and retaining teachers, he said.
"To me, 50 percent is a monumental change - 10 percent could be a significant change," the speaker told administration officials.
Gov. Bredesen, a Democrat, last week expressed confidence to the Times Free Press that the bill will pass even without the TEA's support.
In addition to K-12 and higher education, the special session call also allows lawmakers to suspend application of a workers compensation provision that has caused an uproar among subcontractors.