Governor Bill Haslam unveiled his state budget proposal for the 2015-2016 fiscal year during his annual State of the State address on Feb. 9.
The proposal includes provisions for several allotments of educational funding, most notably a total of approximately $100 million in pay increases for state educators.
“We know that a big part of success is to have a great teacher leading every classroom,” said Gov. Haslam during his address. “Just like with state employees, we want to recruit, retain and reward the best and brightest educators. A big piece of doing that is paying good teachers well.”
The proposal also includes initiatives to lower tuition for higher education students, as well as increased funding for the state’s Basic Education Program.
“There is nothing more important to our state than getting education right,” said Gov. Haslam.
While education funding comprised a large portion of the proposed budget, several other topics were addressed during the speech. Of particular note was the governor’s insistence on avoiding large funding reductions to TennCare, Tennessee’s state-funded Medicaid program. The Tennessee Senate had previously defeated Gov. Haslam’s proposed Insure Tennessee initiative during a special session. During his address, however, the governor said that the bill’s defeat did not solve the issue of statewide healthcare.
“Too many Tennesseans are still not getting health coverage they need in the right way, in the right place, at the right time,” said Gov. Haslam. “An emergency room is not the place where so many Tennesseans should be going for health care services.”
Another provision in the governor’s budget included the relinquishing of the Woodland Hills Youth Development Center to a private contractor. The youth detention center in Nashville was the site of two large-scale escape attempts in the fall of 2014. According to the proposal, turning the center over to a private buyer would result in approximately $7.7 million worth of savings for the state of Tennessee.
The proposal also includes the closing of the Charles B. Cass Correctional Complex in Nashville, as well as small spending cuts for the Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.
