Gov. Phil Bredesen said Monday he鈥檚 confident lawmakers will approve sweeping education changes in a special session that begins next week, but he鈥檚 surprised that Tennessee鈥檚 main teachers鈥� union has balked at some of the proposals.
The Democratic governor wants performance evaluations and tenure decisions for teachers and principals to be based on student testing data. He also wants mandatory annual teacher assessments.
Bredesen has said the changes would give the state a better shot at a share of more than $4 billion in federal 鈥淩ace to the Top鈥� money.
鈥淗ow well their students do 鈥� when we鈥檝e got good data on that 鈥� certainly ought to be a point on which (teachers) are evaluated,鈥� Bredesen said in an interview with The Associated Press. The governor said he was 鈥渁 little surprised鈥� at how quickly the Tennessee Education Association opposed the proposal.
鈥淲ith the number of things I鈥檝e done that they鈥檝e been happy with over the years, I thought it was a little quick off the mark on the criticism of it,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t may be that they鈥檙e just constitutionally unable to accept anything that goes anywhere near tenure or those kinds of things.鈥�
TEA lobbyist Jerry Winters said the group has agreed to annual assessments, but disagrees with the governor鈥檚 position on student testing data. He said they could not let 鈥�50 percent of a teacher鈥檚 evaluation be based on a snapshot test score on one day.鈥�
鈥淭hat is not something we can sell to our members,鈥� Winters said.
Winters said negotiations have nevertheless been progressing.
In a speech to the Rotary Club of Nashville earlier in the day, Bredesen said he expects bipartisan support for his proposals to 鈥渋mprove the culture in our schools.鈥�
Bredesen said lawmakers need to approve those changes by Jan. 19 so they can be included as part of Tennessee鈥檚 application for the federal money.
Bredesen said Tennessee鈥檚 chances for 鈥渉undreds of millions of dollars鈥� from the federal government will depend on getting the changes approved by the application deadline.
鈥淭hey made it very clear that what will count is the status of things on the 19th of January,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey want to know if you have the legal authority in the state of Tennessee do these things when you file that application.鈥�
Winters said the TEA also wants the state to earn the federal education dollars, but not at any cost.
鈥淎 lot of the Race to Top movement has been viewed by many teachers as all stick and no carrot,鈥� he said.
Meanwhile, Bredesen wants to change the higher education funding formula to emphasize graduation rates rather than enrollment. He also said he wants the state鈥檚 community colleges to work together as more of a network than they do now.
The higher education element of the session could take several weeks longer than the K-12 segment.
The Legislature last met in a special session in 2006 to take up sweeping changes in state ethics laws in the aftermath of the FBI鈥檚 Tennessee Waltz bribery sting that led to the convictions of five former lawmakers.
