Haslam reflects on record: 'Eight years trying to get to the right answer instead of just our answer or the political answer'

Staff Photo by Doug Strickland/Chattanooga Times Free Press - February 02, 2012.  Sanjay Shah, the general manager of Amazon's new Chattanooga fulfillment center, left, talks with Governor Bill Haslam during a tour of the facility.  Thursday marked the grand opening ceremony of the center, which is located in Enterprise South Industrial Park.
Staff Photo by Doug Strickland/Chattanooga Times Free Press - February 02, 2012. Sanjay Shah, the general manager of Amazon's new Chattanooga fulfillment center, left, talks with Governor Bill Haslam during a tour of the facility. Thursday marked the grand opening ceremony of the center, which is located in Enterprise South Industrial Park.

NASHVILLE - As he prepares to leave office next month, Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Haslam can look back on a record that includes a groundbreaking program offering tuition-free community college scholarships as well as improved student test scores, record job creation, a new road-funding program and more.

But ask him what he thinks his administration's legacy will be after eight years in office and the 60-year-old former Knoxville mayor says that verdict is pretty much out of his hands.

"Other people will decide that," said Haslam, who won national acclaim for his 2014 program called Tennessee Promise, which offers last-dollar aid to recent high school graduates to attend community and technical colleges.

Still, the governor does have thoughts about what was most important to him as he prepares to depart office on Jan. 19 when fellow Republican Bill Lee is sworn in as Tennessee's 50th governor.

During a sitdown interview with the Times Free Press last week in his state Capitol office, Haslam said, "I think in terms of our major accomplishments, I really hope that we spent eight years trying to get to the right answer instead of just our answer or the political answer."

Sometimes, "that worked and we had success - and sometimes we didn't," Haslam said. "But I hope we're known as people that really did try to get to the right answer regardless."

As for failures, the governor said, "I'm sure everybody would say Insure Tennessee" - his 2011 effort to extend Medicaid coverage to nearly 300,000 low-income adult Tennesseans under the Affordable Care Act using federal dollars.

Fellow Republicans in the GOP-run General Assembly balked at the program and a Senate panel killed it - twice.

"There's no question that was a disappointment because I did think we came up with a plan that was different enough from the ACA to succeed and also wasn't going to cost the state a penny," Haslam said.

But he has no regrets about making the effort, noting, "I still think it was a fundamentally good idea, wasn't going to cost the state any money and had some very conservative principles in it around health care."

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Bo Watson, R-Hixson, said he believes Haslam did "extremely well" as the state's 49th governor.

"The record speaks for itself - from economic development to education reform, " he said. "I think he's certainly positioned the state for continued prosperity - if we keep it on the right track."

Among other things, Watson credited Haslam, along with the help of lawmakers, for getting the state triple-A bond ratings, the highest grade, from all three major credit rating agencies for the first time ever.

Former House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh, a Democrat, offered Haslam praise in several areas, including the governor's push for Insure Tennessee. But he said the governor should have continued to press the issue.

He also sharply took issue with the governor's support of public charter schools as well as school vouchers, which would have allowed parents to use public tax dollars to send their children to private schools.

While Tennessee's rankings on the National Assessment of Education Progress soared under Haslam - from 2011 to 2015 Tennessee students went from performing in the 40s to the mid-30s among states - Fitzhugh said continued blowups in the delivery of the state's TNReady testing to students "lost the confidence of the parents, the students and the teachers."

Haslam said he believes the latest effort to move to a new vendor to deliver the exams should smooth over concerns. Nonetheless, some lawmakers remain upset and question the online testing that comes at the end of the school year. Incoming Gov. Bill Lee has said he will review problems when he assumes office.

Haslam said he is concerned if "the reaction's going to be to throw the baby out with the bath water. I think that would be a really big mistake."

David Mansouri, president of the nonprofit education advocacy group SCORE, said the Haslam administration's "results on education speak for themselves. Over the last eight years, on the K-12 side, Tennessee has become one of the fastest-improving states in education."

Tennessee has also led the nation in higher education in terms of providing access, Mansouri said. He called both K-12 and higher education achievements "remarkable" and "an incredible legacy of success for students."

Halsam said "some of the big accomplishments that people will remember" will include the Tennessee Promise and Tennessee Reconnect, his follow-through program aimed at adults that was enacted in 2017 by state lawmakers.

Both programs rely on interest proceeds generated on a reserve in the Tennessee Education Lottery fund. They are part of Haslam's Drive to 55 program, which seeks to boost the state's number of Tennesseans with college and technical school degrees or certificates to 55 percent of the adult population by 2025.

Mike Krause, executive director of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, said 51,000 Tennesseans so far have used the program to go back to school.

"He developed and implemented a program [that has] become the envy of the rest of the nation in terms of higher education," Krause said, noting eight states so far have followed Tennessee's lead and implemented similar programs aimed at bolstering workforce development.

The state has already increased post-high school attainment from 36 percent to nearly 41 percent, and that's not including any of the Tennessee Promise data scheduled to come out in the spring.

Haslam also cited his 2017 Improve Act, which increased gas and diesel taxes for the first time in nearly 30 years, raising about $350 million annually for highway and bridge projects, while cutting some $420 million in general fund taxes where revenues had been booming.

"It was not easy," said Haslam, who was successfully pressed by Republican senators to offset fuel tax increases by cutting more taxes in non-transportation areas where revenues were booming.

The state lowered the sales tax on grocery food sales, for example, from 5 percent to 4 percent. Another important change in business taxes benefited manufacturers such as Volkswagen and Collegedale-based McKee Foods.

Haslam said the new money for transportation will "make a significant dent in our backlog of [road] projects." Included among the early 1,000 projects across the state are 23 in Hamilton County at a projected $600 million cost.

The governor said those and other tax cuts over his tenure resulted in cutting "nine times more in taxes than we can find any other administration has cut. But in doing that, the state is still in arguably one of the best financial positions it's ever been in with debt."

Meanwhile, the state's Rainy Day reserve fund has been replenished from the hit it took in the 2008 Great Recession.

Teacher tenure, Kevin Huffman and a Hamilton County lawsuit

When Haslam succeeded Democrat Phil Bredesen in 2011, he had an advantage no Republican governor had enjoyed since shortly after the Civil War - a General Assembly controlled by fellow Republicans.

That often helped him in areas such as his civil service overhaul, as well as pursuing changes in K-12 education such as battling the Tennessee Education Association over changes to teacher tenure laws.

But at times it's also proved a problem. Then-Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, the Republican Senate speaker whom Haslam had beaten in the 2010 GOP gubernatorial primary, and his allies pushed their own ideas of reform - school vouchers and a law ending collective bargaining by teachers with local school districts.

While the voucher bill repeatedly failed, Haslam signed the collective bargaining bill into law.

Haslam's first education commissioner, Kevin Huffman, proved to be a controversial choice, rubbing teachers, principals, superintendents and, ultimately, state lawmakers, including Republicans, the wrong way as the hard-charging commissioner sought to shake up the system and address failing public schools.

He departed in 2015. That same year, the Hamilton County Board of Education sued the state over education funding, charging the system was getting shorted under the state's education funding formula. Shelby County and Metro Nashville followed with their own legal actions.

Haslam, meanwhile, over time poured new funding into education, about $400 million of it into teacher pay in an apparent nod to the legal assault. And overall, K-12 education spending increased by $1.5 billion during his tenure.

Another controversial move taken by the Haslam administration was to create a special Achievement School District to take over persistently failing public schools. It's fallen heavily on Shelby County schools. A recent report by Vanderbilt University says the program isn't working.

Huffman's successor, Candice McQueen, took a different approach for Hamilton County's lowest-performing schools. There was no state takeover. Instead, the plan calls for creating a Partnership Network that leaves responsibility for the schools with the district. It includes an advisory council and a state-funded partnership liaison.

Jim Wrye, chief lobbyist for the Tennessee Education Association, which represents many teachers, said that while the group has had its differences with Haslam in areas such as tenure and testing, "first and foremost we always gave him acknowledgement on the investments he made in education."

While teachers wish more had been done, the governor "really did make a good-faith effort in education funding. You have to give credit where credit is due," Wrye said.

Still, Wrye added, educators remain concerned that more flexibility granted by the state to school districts resulted in less new money than intended winding up in salaries.

Changes at UT, Tennessee Regents

As governor, Haslam reversed a decades-long state trend of stinting on taxpayer support of higher education. Fully funding formula growth for the University of Tennessee and Tennessee Board of Regents systems has allowed institutions to keep annual tuition and fee hikes from soaring.

In 2016, Haslam won approval from lawmakers for his Focus on College and University Success Act. It restructured the Tennessee Board of Regents, separating out six non-University of Tennessee system universities, including Tennessee Tech, and making them independent entities with their own boards.

The TBR now concentrates on its two-year community colleges and one-year programs at Tennessee applied colleges of technology.

With the University of Tennessee system under repeated attack by Republican lawmakers upset over the UT-Knoxville campus' events and programs, ranging from the annual student-led "Sex Week" to diversity efforts and perceived political correctness, Haslam this year overhauled the entire system's governance board with legislative approval.

It slashed the size of the UT system board, while naming advisory boards to UT at Chattanooga and UT's other universities. But Senate Republicans took a last-minute swipe at the governor, rejecting several of his nominees.

Economic development

After becoming governor, Haslam accelerated the state's economic development efforts. According to Department of Economic and Community Development figures, there have been 1,305 projects with nearly 177,000 new job commitments and companies pledging $34.69 billion in capital investments.

He overhauled the state's incentive structure. Expansions included the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, for which the state ultimately provided $166 million in incentives after the governor, U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Republican lawmakers first blasted the German auto manufacturer for not strongly opposing a unionization effort.

Last year, Nokian Tyres announced it was investing $360 million to build its first North American plant in Rhea County.

Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger said Haslam "has been a great partner for Hamilton County in economic development and helping with the growth of jobs in this county. He's always been at at the table with us to help us financially support any new businesses or expanding businesses."

Haslam attributed some of his economic development successes to being "in the right place at the right time, just to be honest" with the economy improving.

But he said his "goal was always to have the most high-quality jobs in the Southeast. And if you look at job growth with average median income growth, I think you could say we've grown quality jobs faster than anyone else."

Civil service, outsourcing battles

As governor, Haslam's mantra was "effective, efficient, customer-focused government." And that ties in with what he believes is his most far-reaching achievement when it comes to altering state government operations.

It's the controversial 2012 civil service overhaul called the Team Act, which made it easier to hire, promote, reward or fire state workers. The Tennessee State Employees Association furiously fought it. But with the aid of the first Republican-controlled General Assembly since shortly after the Civil War, it passed.

"I honestly think in terms of changing state government that passing the Team Act was as big a deal as anything we've done," Haslam said. "Because for the first time you could hire and recruit based on performance rather than just who's been in line the longest."

The TSEA later filed an unsuccessful lawsuit after a number of workers lost their jobs. In a recent column in the group's newsletter, current executive director Randy Stamp wrote a column titled "The Haslam Years, 'The Good, Bad and Ugly."

Stamps credits Haslam's efforts to improve employee pay in some areas. But he slammed the governor on the "bad" impacts, charging the law stripped employees of "basic civil service" protections, slashing benefits for new hires by reducing pension plans and insurance.

He also criticized Haslam's efforts to privatize areas including state park hospitality operations and to "outsource thousands of state employees at colleges and universities."

Both the park and higher education outsourcing efforts stalled.

U.S. Senate bid?

Haslam, whose wealth has been estimated by Forbes Magazine at $2.5 billion, has been mum about what he'll do after leaving office. But one major route opened up publicly last week as his ally, Republican U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, announced he would not seek a fourth term in 2020.

Alexander said he thought Haslam, among others, would be a good candidate for the seat.

"I will give it serious consideration and will have a better answer to your question in coming days," Haslam told the Times Free Press in an interview.

The governor later told The Tennessean that "obviously, you want to think seriously about an opportunity like that. It's too important of a role and I care too much about the future of our state and country to not at least seriously consider it."

Dr. John Geer, a Vanderbilt University political science professor, said if Haslam opts to run for Senate "it changes the entire dynamics. Maybe somebody who's in the Republican Party chooses to challenge him. But given the kind of popularity he has, the success he's enjoyed, he'd be very hard to beat."

Contact staff writer Andy Sher at asher@timesfreepress.com or 615-255-0550. Follow on Twitter @AndySher1.

HASLAM ADMINISTRATION TIMELINE

2011:

- Teacher tenure: Changed teachers' probationary period before they become eligible for tenure from three to five years, linked tenure status to performance evaluations.

- Departmental reviews: Launches pilot of his "top-to-bottom" reviews of department operations and regulations.

2012:

- Civil service overhaul: Made it easier to hire and fire state workers. Created new employee evaluation system, gave state officials the ability to offer merit pay to workers.

2013:

- Tennessee makes historic progress in 2013 on National Assessment for Education Progress rankings, becoming the fastest-improving state in the country. Scores largely stable since.

- Drive to 55: Announces Drive to 55, a scholarship, mentoring and community service program aimed at boosting numbers of state residents with four-year, two-year or technical certificate degrees.

2014:

- Tennessee Promise: Ground-breaking tuition-free scholarship, mentoring and community service program. Provides recent high school graduates with lottery funded, last-dollar scholarships to attend community and technical colleges.

2015:

- Insure Tennessee - Plan to extend Medicaid coverage to some 300,000 low-income, uninsured working adults under the federal Affordable Care Act belly flops - twice - among fellow Republicans in control of the General Assembly.

2016:

- Focus on College and University Success Act: Restructured Tennessee Board of Regents. Six non-University of Tennessee system universities made self-governing, while 13 community colleges and 27 colleges of applied technology remain under the Regents.

2017:

- Improve Act: Raised gas and diesel taxes for first time since 1989 to accelerate nearly 1,000 road projects. Also cut state sales tax on food, Hall Income Tax on investment income and franchise and excise taxes on manufacturers.

- Tennessee Reconnect: Begins the state's program for adult learners to earn an associate degree or technical certificate tuition-free.

- Announces state has 10 percent fewer workers than when he assumed office. Says workers getting paid better.

2018:

- The University of Tennessee Focusing On Campus and University Success (FOCUS) Act. Restructured UT system's Board of Trustees to improve governance, established advisory boards for the primary UT campuses, including the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, to create a local focus for each campus.

- TN Together plan to combat state's opioid epidemic passes.

- Announces that he and state lawmakers made tax cuts over eight years that topped $572 million while cutting $500 million from state budget operations and having lowest debt per capita of any state in nation.

Source: Newspaper archives

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