Tennessee
Tennessee House Speaker Mulls Rejecting US Education Money
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — One in every of Tennessee’s most influential Republican lawmakers says the state ought to cease accepting the practically $1.8 billion of federal Okay-12 schooling {dollars} that assist present help for low-income college students, English learners and college students with disabilities.
Home Speaker Cameron Sexton advised The Related Press that he has launched a invoice to discover the thought throughout this yr’s legislative session and has begun discussions with Gov. Invoice Lee and different key GOP lawmakers.
“Mainly, we’ll have the ability to educate the children how Tennessee sees match,” Sexton stated, pointing that rejecting the cash would imply that Tennessee would now not have “federal authorities interference.”
Thus far, no state has efficiently rejected federal schooling funds at the same time as state and native officers have lengthy grumbled about among the necessities and testing that at instances come hooked up to the cash. The thought has additionally come up elsewhere in latest months amongst GOP officers, together with in Oklahoma and South Carolina.
Many Republican politicians and candidates on the federal stage have additionally made a behavior of calling for the outright elimination of the U.S. Division of Schooling.
Based on Sexton, Tennessee is presently within the monetary place to make use of state tax {dollars} to interchange federal schooling funds. He pointed to the $3.2 billion in new spending outlined in Gov. Lee’s latest finances proposal for the upcoming fiscal yr as proof that the state might simply cowl the federal authorities’s portion.
Federal {dollars} make up a small slice of Tennessee’s Okay-12 schooling funding, which had an nearly $8.3 billion finances as of fiscal yr 2023. But the federal cash is seen as a key instrument to supporting faculties in low-income areas and particular schooling.
Sexton says he has been mulling the proposal for some time, however this week, he publicly touted the thought in entrance of a packed room filled with lawmakers, lobbyists and different leaders on the Tennessee Farm Bureau luncheon on Tuesday.
“We as a state can lead the nation as soon as once more in telling the federal authorities that they’ll hold their cash and we’ll simply do issues the Tennessee method,” Sexton stated on the occasion. “And that ought to begin, at the start, with the Division of Schooling.”
Spokespersons for each Gov. Lee and Sen. Randy McNally appeared open to entertaining Sexton’s proposal.
“Though we haven’t seen the small print of the laws but, the governor is all the time interested by working with the speaker to make sure Tennessee college students have the very best entry to a high-quality schooling,” stated Lee’s spokesperson, Jade Byers.
McNally stated he was open to the proposal, saying that “federal mandates within the space of schooling will be overly burdensome.”
“McNally thinks a dialogue about forgoing this cash, a comparatively small a part of total schooling funding, to be able to preserve extra management over how we educate our Tennessee college students is a constructive dialog to have,” spokesperson Adam Kleinheider stated.
Democratic Rep. Bo Mitchell stated he had a number of issues about forgoing federal schooling funding, significantly understanding that the cash presently goes to help college students with disabilities and low-income college students.
“I’m involved about their rights and Tennessee having the ability to present these companies and uphold their rights,” Mitchell stated.
In Republican-dominant Tennessee, GOP lawmakers have more and more grow to be extra skeptical and combative over what’s taught inside public school rooms — significantly over race and gender points — and the insurance policies surrounding what companies faculties supply to college students.
To push again in opposition to these assaults, advocates have usually leveraged numerous federal funds the state receives as grounds to dam or problem numerous school-related bans. This has resulted in state and federal schooling officers usually being at odds with one another.
For instance, final September, the U.S. Division of Schooling reprimanded Tennessee for the way it was finishing up statewide testing, saying its issues “affect the state’s capacity to offer clear and clear info to the general public about college efficiency, but additionally consequence within the state utilizing info that isn’t comparable throughout faculties.”
In the meantime, Tennessee was among the many states to sue President Joe Biden ’s administration over a U.S. Division of Agriculture college meal program that prohibits discrimination based mostly on sexual orientation and gender id.
The lawsuit got here after the USDA introduced in Could that it will embrace discrimination based mostly on sexual orientation and gender id as a violation of Title IX, the sweeping 1972 regulation that ensures fairness between the sexes in “any schooling program or exercise receiving Federal monetary help.”
And in 2021, the federal division opened investigations into Tennessee and 4 different Republican-led states which have banned or restricted masks necessities in faculties, saying the insurance policies might quantity to discrimination in opposition to college students with disabilities or well being circumstances.
But it’s unclear whether or not Tennessee would have fewer conflicts with the federal authorities if the state selected to forgo the schooling funding. Whereas the U.S. Structure says public schooling is a state duty, states are nonetheless required to comply with federal legal guidelines.
Individually, in January, Tennessee sparked nationwide consideration when state’s Division of Well being introduced it was strolling away from practically $9 million in federal funding designed to stop and deal with HIV.
In a letter despatched to suppliers, the state introduced that it believes “it’s in the very best curiosity of Tennesseans for the state to imagine direct monetary and managerial duty for these companies.”
Hundreds of Middle Tennesseans gathered near in East Nashville Saturday to paint the city’s first rainbow crosswalks as a celebration of LGBTQ pride.
The event, which was sponsored by Metro Councilman Clay Capp, drew scores of elected officials, community members and a couple of protesters.
The crosswalk intersection at 14 and Woodland Streets is in front of the Lipstick Lounge, which opened in 2003 is one of only 20 lesbian bars in the U.S.
Nashville elected officials begin painting a rainbow crosswalk outside the Lipstick Lounge in East Nashville.
(Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
A street preacher with his Bible admonished participants painting the rainbow crosswalk. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
Metro Nashville Councilmember-at-Large Olivia Hill gives the peace sign to everyone before painting. (Photo:John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
Heather Sapphire, Kennedy Ann Scott and others start painting the crosswalk. (Photo:John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout)
Tennessee football’s James Pearce Jr. headlines a list of the top 25 returning players in college football for 2024 season.
The Tennessee Volunteers are entering an exciting 2024 season. They will have some new faces on both sides of the ball while also returning several key contributors from a season ago. Quarterback Nico Iamaleava has garnered quite a bit of attention this offseason as he prepares to be the full-time starter, but edge rusher James Pearce Jr. is perhaps the most notable name amongst the group.
Pearce Jr. has been labeled as one of the top players in college football and as a potential first-overall pick for the 2025 NFL draft. He is the focal point of Tennessee’s defense and will play a huge factor in the Volunteers’ success this season. 247 sports released their list of top 25 returning players for the 2024 college football season, and Pearce Jr. came in at number one on the list. Here is what the outlet wrote about him:
“Pearce ranks in a tie for the fourth most sacks amongst returning players after he racked up 10 last season as the SEC’s top edge rusher. He is the early favorite to come off the board first at the 2025 NFL Draft.”
Last season, Pearce Jr. racked up 14.5 tackles for loss, 10 sacks and 28 total tackles as a sophomore. Some outlets are claiming he is the best player in college football, and he is certainly one of, if not, the best edge defenders in the sport.
Brett Kollmann annually ranks hundreds of prospects for the NFL Draft cycle and has gotten an early start on his homework for next year’s class. He took to X on Tuesday afternoon to give Pearce an interesting NFL comparison. Aldon Smith.
The San Francisco 49ers selected Aldon Smith with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft. He made an All-Pro first-team during his second season in the NFL, tallying 19.5 sacks and becoming one of the league’s breakout stars. Off-field concerns derailed his career, but his playing heights were extremely high. Pearce was a consensus All-SEC first-team selection during his sophomore season and hopes to achieve even greater things next year.
If Pearce Jr. goes first overall, he would be the first Volunteer to do so since 1998 when quarterback Peyton Manning was the first name called. He has already joined an elite list of college football players, but he has the opportunity to do some very special things in 2024 and put him even higher up on those lists and deeper into Tennessee history books.
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The SEC football’s 10-year television contract with ABC and ESPN is worth about $3 billion. So, you might conclude the conference is set for life.
You might conclude that if you have been living in a cave. Not that there’s anything wrong with living in a cave, but it could give you a warped sense of financial matters.
Inflation is on the rise. Expenses are, too.
College football will soon begin sharing its revenue with college football players. Imagine that.
Revenue sharing won’t mark the end of NIL deals. Players will continue to capitalize on their name, image, and likeness. My guess is they will capitalize more next year and the year after that.
You think $300 million a year in TV revenue for an entire conference assures your member schools of financial security? Don’t be silly.
One thing I have learned from covering college sports for decades: Colleges never have enough money – no matter how much television networks are willing to throw their way.
Fortunately, the NCAA is aware that colleges – despite the ramped-up television deals – remain at risk for abject poverty. I assume that’s why it will allow corporate-sponsor advertisements on football fields this regular season.
This decision wasn’t impulsive. Both an NCAA panel and a committee signed off on this in a wonderful example of bureaucratic collaboration.
Don’t get the wrong idea. Players won’t have their helmets tattooed with business logos. Nor will the Aflac duck be permitted to waddle along the sideline with a football coach.
Only three corporate advertisements will be allowed – one at the 50-yard line and two other smaller ones in yet-to-be-named spots. And I’m sure such advertisements will be subtle and tasteful, so as not to detract from the natural beauty of a football field.
Maybe, that’s how it will start out. But that’s not how it will end up.
Who finds one oil well on his property and proclaims: “We’re good now. Let’s go plant some trees.” Instead, they will search feverishly to find more oil-producing wells.
Once colleges realize how much money they can rake in from corporate advertisements, do you think they will shout to the heavens: “That’s all we need”?
If you answered “yes,” go back to your cave.
I envision a field fraught with commercials since there is so much open space available for the taking. As any self-respecting corporate CEO will tell you, open space is lost money.
I envision future fields with a corporate sponsor every 20 yards. A national car manufacture could sponsor one 10-yard line. A major insurance company could sponsor a 30. Of course, goal-line advertising will cost more.
ADAMS: College football players, not other athletes, should receive their revenue sharing
And why not put the goal posts to work, too?
A corporate banner could be draped over the crossbar. Corporate flags could dangle from the top of the uprights, which will be the focal point of millions of viewers when a game-deciding field-goal attempt flies through the sky.
The sky will remain unspoiled by corporate logos – at least, until some clever CEO figures out how to put that open space to work.
John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him at: twitter.com/johnadamskns.
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