This afternoon’s education forum in Clinton brought a preview of the State’s likely course in the coming year: funding will be a key issue, but recently, the discussion has moved from “equity” to “adequacy.” That’s a giant step forward, because as long as they’re just rearranging who gets more and who gets less, we’re doomed to be “equally inadequate.”

Jerry Winters, Director of Government Relations for TEA (the state teachers’ union) predictably expressed concern about “virtual schools” (also called e-learning, where students could complete coursework online rather than in a traditional classroom) run by private, for-profit companies siphoning off per-pupil funding from the public schools. He’s also concerned about health issues, and stressed that we shouldn’t expect our teachers to also function as nurses.

He closed his opening remarks with a statement of opposition to “differentiated compensation” (higher rates of pay for harder to fill posiitons, such as advanced science and math teachers. Of course, since the TEA includes a large number of elementary teachers and those who teach something other than advanced science, math, or foreign languages, it’s not surprising that a majority would be opposed.

Bruce Opie, the Legislative Liason for the Department of Education, reiterated that funding would again be at the top of the priority list. He indicated that after reviewing performance data for pre-K programs in Tennessee and elsewhere, the Governor is now “a believer” in the effectiveness of that program, and that his goal is to have voluntary preschool universally available — beginning with at-risk and economically disadvantaged children.

The Governor has also been studying best practices at some of the State’s top performing high schools, and is looking toward improving the senior year experience by fostering partnerships between community colleges and the high schools in their service area. One example of a program that’s already underway is between Northeast State Technical Community College and high schools in the Tri-Cities area. There, students can pursue dual enrollment, earning both high school and college credit simultaneously.

All three school systems in Anderson County were represented either by board members, administrators, or both. Audience questions seemed, for a change, to be largely in sync — a need for some state funding for School Resource Officers and relief from unfunded mandates (such as the state’s allowable pupil-teacher ratio being imposed at the classroom level, while funding is only provided at the system level, resulting in a number of required teaching positions for which there is no state funding at all).

A shared concern among audience members was actually federal mandates, both No Child Left Behind, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. An interesting discussion ensued about the theory of declining all federal funding and eschewing all federal mandates, and whether the dollars would balance. No conclusion was reached, but the $1 billion in federal funds that flows to the state for education seemed to be a sticking point that no one could move beyond.

Jim Hackworth closed by reminding the audience that Anderson County has seen over 5,000 new jobs created in the past five years, with a $600 million increase in the tax base. Education is critical to economic growth, and is one area with an almost certain return on the investment.