NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced Thursday that he will focus on K-12 education, criminal justice reform, mental health, health care and rural economic development as agency hearings begin on the new governor’s state budget.
The Republican told reporters that spending may increase on the targeted areas but that’s not guaranteed.
“We will make cuts, but we’ll also make increases,” Lee said during his first budget briefing. “We’ll look at where there is an opportunity to reduce spending and then we will obviously increase spending for those things that are priorities with an overall effort to manage the budget in a way that is conservative.”
Lee is asking all 50 state agencies – including the education department – to map out a theoretical 2 percent budget cut but hasn’t decided whether he’ll request that. Budget hearings, where commissioners will present their proposals and priorities to the governor and his staff, will begin Friday.
Lee’s spokeswoman, Laine Arnold, later clarified the governor is not looking to reduce overall K-12 spending but is considering reprioritizing spending inside the education agency.