"A child's learning is the function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher." James Coleman, 1972

Monday, February 03, 2014

Haslam Takes from Some to Pay for Promise to Others

Governor Bill Haslam is desperate to appear as if he is doing something to improve educational opportunity in a state that has a long history of underfunding education and masking inequality with programs intended for political gain rather than substantive results.  The Governor's most recent plan to for free tuition for students going to community college sounds great until you notice that the program cuts current HOPE Scholarship recipients enrolled in four year schools.

Before Haslam's new shell game was announced, HOPE recipients going to 4 year colleges could collect 6K per year for a total of 24K. Now students will receive 3K per year for the freshman and sophomore years, whether 2 or 4 year schools.  And 5K for junior and senior years.

A quick tally: students going for 4 year degrees will have their scholarships reduced from $24,000 to $16,000.  That's the way they roll in a state that wants to run with the big dogs but can't get  off the porch.

Scroll down here to the Tennessee Promise Information Sheet near the bottom of the page.

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