Megan Ryan
Guest Writer
This year, the state of Tennessee has decided that a greater emphasis be placed on education. Taking a look at last year’s budget, the flaws are outlined all over.
Driver’s education and after school programs were given generous amounts of money, but, none of the fiscal plan supported money being distributed to provide for new technology and updated learning tools.
The fact that the $8.4 billion allotted for education is not going towards anything of true education value makes me wonder what the members of our state legislature are planning for their retirement years.
The impact of education is vital to a thriving community, which since, the Tennessee State budget calls for business and economic development as the second¬ -largest category of the budget, one would think that members of the state legislature would realize that these two entities go hand in hand.
With all hope, this year’s budget will put a greater emphasis on higher education. In the past, enrollment rates were key to receive government funding. The new budget for the year is calling for a shift for a greater emphasis placed on graduation rates.
APSU has a graduation rate of 42 percent. Yet, APSU had the third-highest government funding in the region in the 2008-2009 fiscal year.
Although last year’s budget did call for a raise for education professionals across the board, in comparison to the national average, it just was not enough. In Tennessee, teachers are paid an average salary of $42,000 a year, in comparison to the $54,000 national salary average.
Because of the simple fact that teachers are not paid adequately, more and more teachers who are not necessarily the best fit for the classroom are allowed to receive tenure and keep it for the rest of their duration as teaching professionals.
This leaves plenty of room for so many to fall through the cracks, and thus students are not receiving the education that should be provided to them. An entry-level position, in most fields, is more than what a teacher will ever make in a year during their entire career. In my opinion, it is necessary the education field become a more competitive environment so our public schools be filled with the best possible instructors.
It is not fair to thousands of Tennessee high school seniors who are not well prepared for college because their four years of high school prepared them to take the ACT rather than write a research paper.
We have seen where rushed planning and leaving too much for error can hurt a community in the past, and now that Tennessee is planning on making changes to education, I can only wait and see what real changes will be made.
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