| “These young Tennesseans are getting new opportunities and the necessary tools they need for lifelong success. We must keep up this momentum and provide additional funds across the state to further expand our nationally recognized Pre-K program.”
– House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, Dec. 2006, The Tennessean
Governor Phil Bredesen, with strong bipartisan support from the Tennessee General Assembly, has provided 70 million new dollars for pre-K education in Tennessee over the past two years. The existing pilot program, which began in 1998, continues to be funded with $10 million in state revenue. The total funding for Tennessee 's pre-K program in the 2006-2007 school year is $55 million.
Over the past two years, Governor Bredesen's pre-K initiative has brought 529 new state-supported pre-K classrooms to Tennessee, which serve 10,000 additional at-risk 4-year-olds. It is simply amazing what has been accomplished in the last two years for Tennessee's 4-year-olds:
Year Pre-K Classrooms Students Served
2006 677 13,000
2005 447 9,000
2004 148 3,000
Governor Bredesen has stated that he plans to increase the funding for pre-K each year that he is in office, with the goal of eventually offering voluntary pre-K for all of Tennessee's 4-year-olds.
- Tennessee has a total of 677 pre-K state- and lottery-funded classrooms.
- Tennessee state-supported pre-K programs are located in 88 of 95 Tennessee counties, and 124 of 136 Tennessee school systems.
- Tennessee is recognized by the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) as one of only six states with the highest quality pre-K program standards.
- Collaborative partnerships are an integral component of the Tennessee pre-K program. Local school systems have developed a variety of partnerships: Head Start, Even Start, for-profit and not-for-profit child care providers, faith-based agencies, community-based agencies and higher education institutions.
- Approximately 13 percent of Tennessee 's state-supported pre-K classrooms are located in facilities other than schools.
- United Way of Tennessee provides local matching funds for 47 new pre-K classrooms throughout the state.
- Currently, 148 of the original 149 pilot programs which began in 1998 are still operational and serving approximately 2,900 students.
- At-risk students who participated in Tennessee 's pre-K pilot program performed better than the state average in every category of first-grade achievement tests. The program is ranked among the top in the nation for its high quality standards.
- Tennessee ranked fifth in Site Selection magazine's annual state business climate rankings that were released in November 2006. The editors of Site Selection point specifically to Tennessee 's continuing investment in its pre-K program as one of the major legislative initiatives that have boosted the state's competitiveness:
“With a large budget surplus in hand, Tennessee lawmakers spent much of it on education, creating 250 new pre-Kindergarten classes, increasing lottery scholarships and giving raises and bonuses to state employees, university employees and teachers” (www.siteselection.com).
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