SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2011 Gov.

Haslam Seeks NCLB Waiver (News Sentinel/Humphrey and McCoy)

Tennessee will be the first state in the nation to seek a waiver from the performance standards set in the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which Gov. Bill Haslam says has "outlived its usefulness" as presently written. Haslam and state Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman told reporters Friday they would prefer that Congress revise the law, enacted a decade ago at the urging of then-President George W. Bush making significant progress "We're in education and we believe that since we lead the country in the amount of data we collect and are making a lot of progress with meeting implementing meaningful reforms, that we are capable of using what we've learned from No Child Left Behind to measure ourselves in a rigorous way," Haslam said. http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/jul/30/gov-bill-haslam-seeks-no-child-left-behind/

Haslam Seeks Waiver for No Child Left Behind (Associated Press/Johnson)

Gov. Bill Haslam said Friday that Tennessee is seeking a waiver to use its revamped education standards to measure schools instead of those mandated by No Child Left Behind, the nation's governing education law. The Republican governor and state Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman told reporters in a conference call that the federal standards no longer serve the interest of education reform in Tennessee. Recent changes made by the state such as a measure signed into law this year that would make it tougher for teachers to obtain and keep tenure allowed the state to win $500 million in the national Race to the Top education grant competition. "We're making significant progress in education, and we believe that since we lead the country in the amount of data we collect, and are making a lot of progress with implementing meaningful reforms, that we are capable of using what we've learned from No Child Left Behind to measure ourselves in a rigorous way," Haslam said. http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/News/article.php?id=92888#ixzz1TalG4tTW

Haslam Seeking Waiver from No Child Left Behind (TN Report/Zelinski)

Gov. Bill Haslam asked the federal government Friday to let Tennessee opt out of national education standards and replace them with benchmarks set by the state. The governor asked the Department of Education to allow the state to replace the gauges set by No Child Left Behind, the education reform passed under former President George W. Bush, with state-driven indicators. The state is crafting its own standards under Race to the Top, an Obama administration education initiative. This is a case of the federal government should trust the state to do whats best for the state, Haslam told reporters on a conference call Friday. Applying for a waiver is not about making excuses in Tennessee. Its actually just the opposite. http://www.tnreport.com/2011/07/haslam-seeking-waiver-from-no-child-left-behind/

Tennessee Wants Out of No Child Left Behind (Tennessean)

Tennessee leaders asked the federal government for a waiver from the No Child Left Behind law after learning nearly half the states schools did not meet its requirements. Officials in Georgia, New York and several other states have said they may ask for waivers, but Tennessee appears to be the first to do so. A yes would exempt the state from applying No Child Left Behind sanctions which include offering students tutoring or transfers to other schools and firing principals and teachers and allow it to use its own standards to hold failing schools and districts accountableThe federal government

should trust the states to know what is best for the states, Gov. Bill Haslam said. Applying for a waiver is not about making excuses in Tennessee. We think states really do know what we should do. We think we proved that in our Race to the Top application. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110730/NEWS04/110730003/TN-wants-out-No-Child-Left-Behind? odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Tennessee seeks waiver from NCLB law; Memphis schools failing federal standards (Commercial Appeal/Roberts)
Tennessee on Friday joined a handful of states seeking a reprieve from the No Child Left Behind law after nearly half of its schools failed last year to make progress at the level the federal law requires. Gov. Bill Haslam and Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman say Tennessee schools should instead be held to the state's Race to the Top goals, which are easier to meet than the rising No Child Left Behind standards. "Instead of engaging in very detailed and time-consuming school improvement plans with hundreds of schools, the state should be intervening with the lowest-performing schools," Huffman said. More than 800 of Tennessee's 1,664 schools failed to show adequate progress -- 282 of those are now on the high-priority list, including dozens of schools in Memphis and two in Shelby County Schools. High priority schools are those that fail to make progress for two consecutive years. http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/jul/29/tennessee-seek-waiver-no-child-left-behind-law/

Schools Falling Behind (Times Free Press/ Garrett)

Fewer than half of Hamilton County schools earned good standing status under federal benchmarks this year, according to state data released Friday. And for the first time, the district itself was identified as high priority, putting the system at risk of sanctions if reading and math scores dont improve. Many local schools failed to meet Adequate Yearly Progress standards set by the federal No Child Left Behind Act because state standards were raised to be more in line with national standards. Its an unrealistic expectation right now, said Kirk Kelly, director of testing and accountability for Hamilton County Schools. We now have true, honest standards. Making a 20-point gain is tough to do in math. On Friday, Gov. Bill Haslam and state Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman told reporters that only about half of Tennessee schools made AYP. Haslam also said Tennessee is seeking a waiver to use its own revamped education standards to measure schools instead of those mandated by No Child Left Behind. The governor said during a teleconference that he once preferred overhauling No Child Left Behind, but indications out of W ashington are that that doesnt seem likely anytime soon. http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/jul/30/schools-falling-behind/

Tennessee Requests Waiver for No Child Left Behind (WPLN Radio/Bowden)

Tennessee has filed for a waiver from the No Child Left Behind act. The federal law requires a certain percentage of students to make what is considered Adequate Yearly Progress. Under the proposed waiver, Tennessee would require yearly improvement in schools, but not nearly as much as No Child Left Behind. For example, while the federal law requires all third graders to be proficient in reading by 2014, Tennessees goal is only 60 percent. 2

According to Governor Haslam, No Child Left Behinds standards are no longer serving the interest of education reform. While No Child Left Behind has been very valuable, we feel like its maybe outlived its usefulness in its current form, it needs to be overhauled, we dont see the action coming from congress to do that anytime soon, and then finally we think states really do know what we should do. He says Tennessee proved that in its application for Race to the Top. http://wpln.org/?p=29306

Haslam Asks Obama Team to Waive NCLB standards for state (City Paper/Woods)
With nearly half the states schools failing to meet federal education standards in results released Friday, Gov. Bill Haslam asked the Obama administration to waive the laws requirements for Tennessee. Haslam said the escalating standards under the federal No Child Left Behind law are impossible to meet and predicted an overwhelming majority of Tennessee schools would fail in the future. Its like telling a lot of us, You need to swim from California to Hawaii tomorrow, the governor said. Well, none of us are going to make it. Thats not a good standard. Give us a way that we can show that were making real progress. Haslam said he is asking U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan to let Tennessee replace the federal measures with ones the state government set. I want to be very clear about this point, the governor told reporters. Applying for a waiver is not about making excuses in Tennessee. Its actually about just the opposite. Were making significant progress in education. http://nashvillecitypaper.com/content/city-news/haslam-asks-obama-team-waive-federal-no-child-leftbehind-standards-state

State Seeks Waiver from No Child Left Behind program (Memphis Flyer/Baker)
In a conference call/press conference Friday with members of the Tennessee media, Governor Bill Haslam and Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman announced that the state has applied for a waiver from the NCLB standards for the coming year. Amplifying on the decision, Huffman advanced the view that the federal program, created under former President George W. Bush, had outlived its usefulness and had not been subjected to a re-athorization vote since its creation in 2001Haslam said he believed that Tennessees request for a waiver from No Child Left Behind oversight was the first by a state but suggested that similar requests would be forthcoming from other states. The governor said he felt optimistic that the states request would be approved by Secreary of Edcation Arne Duncan. http://www.memphisflyer.com/JacksonBaker/archives/2011/07/29/state-seeks-waiver-from-no-child-leftbehind-program

State Asks Feds for NCLB Waiver (Memphis Daily News/Dries)

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam says the state is asking federal education officials to give the state a waiver in meeting federal education standards under the No Child Left Behind program. Haslam and Tennessee Education 3

Commissioner Kevin Huffman announced the application for the waiver as they released figures for state public school districts measuring average yearly progress (AYP) under NCLB. Haslam is one of several governors who have called for changes in NCLB that gives school districts and states more credit for making improvements toward meeting the standards even if they dont attain the standards. Haslam said he made the formal request for a waiver when it became apparent a rethinking of the George W. Bush era federal standards wasnt likely anytime soon. Applying for a waiver is not about making excuses in Tennessee, Haslam said noting Tennessee is in the second year of tougher achievement test standards. http://www.memphisdailynews.com/news/2011/aug/1/state-asks-feds-for-nclb-waiver/

Haslam Seeks Waiver from No Child Left Behind (WMC-TV)

Gov. Bill Haslam says Tennessee is seeking a waiver to use its revamped education standards to measure schools instead of those mandated by No Child Left Behind. The Republican governor and state Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman told reporters in a conference call on Friday that the federal standards no longer serve the interest of education reform in Tennessee. Haslam said he once preferred overhauling No Child Left Behind, "but indications out of Washington are that that doesn't seem likely anytime soon." http://www.wmctv.com/story/15175960/haslam-seeks-waiver-from-no-child-left-behind

Gov. Haslam Requests TN be Exempt from No Child Left Behind Standards (Nooga.com)
Citing outdated regulations of Adequate Yearly Progress standards, Gov. Bill Haslam and Education Commissioner Kevin Huffman announced on Friday the application of Tennessee for a waiver from federal No Child Left Behind standards. In a conference call with reporters, Haslam said he believed that Tennessee was the first state to apply for exemption. "We'd prefer to be overhauling No Child Left Behind, but that doesn't seem like it will be happening any time soon," Haslam said. "While No Child Left Behind has been very valuable, we feel it has outlived its usefulness." http://www.nooga.com/11340_gov-bill-haslam-requests-tennessee-be-exempt-from-no-child-left-behind/

Tennessee Deemed (KNS/Humphrey)

OK

for

weeks

if

budget

impasse

occurs

State political leaders say Tennessee's government should suffer no immediate severe financial problems if their Washington counterparts miss the deadline for raising the national debt ceiling. But the long-term outlook could be grim. "It's not a drastic like, 'Oh boy, we're not going to be able to do state government the next day if they don't meet the (deadline), Gov. Bill Haslam told the Chattanooga Times-Free Press. The governor, Finance Commissioner Mark Emkes, state Senate Finance Committee Chairman Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, and others said the state has developed contingency plans to deal with an impasse in Washington if it continues past 4

Tuesday."We've looked at what happens if the funding totally gets cut off, if they shut down, and we're actually in pretty good shape with how our payment flow works," Haslam said. "But it obviously impacts the credit ratings and funding that comes from Washington." http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/jul/29/tn-deemed-ok-for-6-weeks-if-federal-impasse/

Amazon Announces Tennessee Fulfillment Center 3.0 (TN Report/Morrow)

Upping the stakes and adding drama to the Amazon.com tax collection dilemma in Tennessee, the company announced plans Thursday for a 500,000-square-foot distribution center in Lebanon. The company said the facility will create hundreds of full-time jobs and that it plans to open the site this fall Haslam has publicly Gov. Bill backed the arrangements of the previous administration with Amazon, and he has said he believes Congress ultimately will have to settle the tax issue for states. Haslam told reporters Thursday his administration is interested in jobs, period and that Amazon had been working on the Lebanon site for some time. Amazon released a formal announcement about the site Thursday afternoon. http://www.tnreport.com/2011/07/amazon-announcestennessee-fulfilment-center-3-0/

Haslam Talks Roads, Jobs and Education during visit to P-I

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam talked about roads, jobs and the importance of education for recruiting new industries to the state during his visit to The Post-Intelligencer Wednesday morning. After six months in office, the Republican governor has been touring the state in recent days, revisiting some of the places hed last seen while on the campaign trail. His last visit to Paris was a campaign stop at Henry County Republican Party headquarters in late October. P-I Editor Emeritus Bill W illiams, who was also on hand for the visit, said as far as he knew, it was the first time a sitting governor has visited the newspaper. http://www.parispi.net/articles/2011/07/29/news/local_news/doc4e3195b98fdb6381428023.txt

Federal Cash Funding Sidewalks, Bike Trails (TN Report/Zelinski)

While the state is bracing itself for a possible downgrade in its bond rating, Gov. Bill Haslam is handing out jumbo checks to fund quarter-million-dollar courthouse sidewalks, $600,000 bike trails and other such non-traditional transportation projects.Programs like this will be a lot harder to come by in the future, Haslam said after announcing a $69,700 walkway project in Spring Hill. Already, the amount of money we have for enhancement grants are a lot less than it was five years ago. http://www.tnreport.com/2011/07/federal-cash-fundingsidewalks-bike-trails/

Law Requiring Photo ID puts some Tennessee voters in a tizzy (CA/Lollar)

The Republican-backed campaign to require photo IDs for Tennessee voters ended in June, but passage of the photo ID bill still angers Memphian Michael Blanner, who invites legislators to "pucker up and kiss my grits." 5

Blanner, 63, says he can be "a crank sometimes." But he says legislators who voted to require photo IDs disenfranchised a large number of voters, including a growing segment of older voters like him. "I think there ought to be a class-action lawsuit," he says, to overturn the law as a violation of the constitutional rights of affected voters. http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/jul/29/identitycrisis/?partner=popular

DCS looking into allegations that boys were sexually assaulted at Baptist youth camp (Associated Press)
The Tennessee Department of Children's Services is looking into allegations that boys were sexually abused at a youth camp used by Baptist churches. Rob Johnson, a spokesman for the department, said Friday that a team of investigators is looking into multiple allegations that youths were assaulted at Camp Linden in Perry County.
http://www.timesnews.net/article/9034344/tenn-dcs-looking-into-allegations-boys-were-sexuallyassaulted-at-baptist-youth-camp

Tennessee Regents OK Lambuth Deal (Commercial Appeal/Moore)

The Tennessee Board of Regents approved on Friday the next step toward the University of Memphis' acquisition of the Lambuth University campus in Jackson. On Thursday the Tennessee Higher Education Commission approved the feasibility study to take over the campus, a study that included $3.5 million for safety repairs and $15 million in longer-term maintenance. Next week the executive subcommittee of the state building commission is expected to vote on allowing U of M to lease the campus for $1 a year while Lambuth is in bankruptcy, said Monica Greppin, director of communications for the board of regents. Once out of bankruptcy, plans are also in play for the school's purchase, Greppin said. "There is a stakeholder committee that has worked out an agreement to purchase the campus from Lambuth," she said. "Once the stakeholders acquire the campus they'll transfer ownership to the board of regents." http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/jul/30/regents-ok-lambuth-deal/

Three Knox Schools added to high priority list; Two taken off (News Sentinel/McCoy)
Three Knox County schools were added to the state's "high priority" list, meaning they failed to meet federal academic benchmarks, according to Annual Yearly Progress data released Friday by the Tennessee Department of Education. Two other schools, however, were taken off the list for making significant improvements, the data showed. http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2011/jul/30/3-knoxschools-added-to-high-priority-list-2-off/

Members of Tennessee Delegation Send Letter to Education Secretary

Members of the Tennessee U.S. congressional delegation announced today that they have sent a letter to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan supporting Tennessee Governor Bill Haslams request for a waiver of the provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, commonly known as No Child Left Behind. The full text of the letter, dated July 29, 2011, and signed by Senators Alexander and Corker and Representatives Roe, Duncan, Fleischmann, DesJarlais, Cooper, Black, Blackburn, Fincher and Cohen, follows, and a PDF of the signed letter is attached. http://www.canadaviews.ca/2011/07/29/members-of-tennessee-delegation-send-letter-to-educationsecretary-duncan-supporting-gov-haslam%E2%80%99s-request-for-waiver-of-esea-provisions/

Tennessee House members split on debt decision (Tennessean/Bewley)

Middle Tennessees U.S. House members mostly agree on what a debt deal should do: cut spending, rein in long-term deficits and raise the debt limit to avoid default.But th ey disagree on the best way to get there. Republican Reps. Diane Black of Gallatin, Marsha Blackburn of Brentwood and Stephen Fincher of Frog Jump support sending a constitutional balanced-budget amendment to the states for ratification, although they didnt specifically rule out supporting a deal that would merely require a vote on such an amendment. Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper of Nashville says the best deal would resemble the bipartisan Gang of Six proposal that fizzled last week. It would have cut $3.7 trillion over the next 10 years and required tax and entitlement reforms. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110729/NEWS02/307290065/TN-House-members-split-debtdecision?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|News|s

U.S. Debt Stalemate Stokes Middle Tennesseans Fears (Tennessean)

Bobbie Bradshaw normally doesnt pay much attention to politics, but the debt crisis gripping Washington has her on edge. The Centerville woman worries the impasse could lead to cuts in her Social Security and Medicare benefits and increase the financial burden on her children and grandchildren. Theres a lot of anxiety going on, she said. The people who arent involved in politics, they dont know whats really going on. Those who are (involved), I really dont know if they know whats going on, either. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110730/BUSINESS/307300050/U-S-debt-stalemate-stokesMiddle-Tennesseans-fears?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|News

VW Hits 2,000 Workers at Chattanooga Plant (Times Free Press/Pare)

Volkswagen has hired its 2,000th employee at its Chattanooga auto assembly plant, the company said today. Amanda Sullivan of Cleveland, Tenn., was the 2,000th employee to be hired. She is a production team member in training to work in the assembly shop, according to the automaker. http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/jul/29/vw-hits-2000-workers-chattanooga-plant/? breakingnews

Lessons of Lower Ratings (Wall Street Journal)

With the U.S. flirting with default and a credit-ratings downgrade, investors are once again in uncharted waters. But while a default by a country with the global position of the U.S. would likely wreak havoc on financial markets, history suggests that losing a triple-A credit rating may not bring with it the big market disruptions that some fear. Japan, Canada and Australia, among others, have suffered the ignominy of being downgraded from top credit ratings. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903635604576476372332255528.html? mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories

OPINION

Bipartisan support garners state beautiful treasure (Tennessean/guest columnist)

In Tennessee, were fortunate that land conservation has bipartisan support. While divisive politics in Washington threaten our economic future, Tennessees politicians come together to conserve a natural treasure -- beautiful Cummins Falls. This is the eighth largest waterfall in Tennessee and the largest not already protected in a public park. Located in a gorge on the Blackburn Fork State Scenic River, it is 10 miles north of Cookeville in Jackson County. Cummins Falls is one of Gods most glorious creations and when we gather at the river to celebrate its dedication later this year, it will be with thankful hearts that politics didnt muddy the water and this conservation project was spared partisan rancor. This waterfall shall be conserved because of the crucial support of Governor Bill Haslam. It will be conserved because Deputy Commissioner of Conservation and Environment Brock Hill, a Haslam appointee, loves land and our state parks. It will be conserved because the area state legislators, Rep. Ryan Williams (R-Cookeville) and Rep. Kelly Keisling (R-Byrdstown) and Sen. Charlotte Burks (DMonterey) pushed for it. It will be conserved because a coalition of 56 conservation organizations campaigned in the legislature to Forever Green Tennessee and restore the State Land Acquisition

Fund, which Governors Haslam and Bredesen heartily endorsed, and the legislature, with bipartisan support, approved in this years budget. http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110730/OPINION03/307300052/Bipartisan-support-garners-statebeautiful-treasure?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|News|p

Trying to Cope with Voter ID (Commercial Appeal)

Tennessee's new photo identification law is a solution in search of a problem that voters will have to deal with unless courts rule that it is an unconstitutional infringement on access to the polls. The voter ID law was taken from boiler plate legislation drafted by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council. http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/jul/30/editorials-trying-to-cope-with-voter-id/

Tea Party Destruction (Chattanooga Times)

The concessions Republican House Speaker John Boehner has had to make to get his party's far-right tea party wing to pass a meaningless bill to raise the nation's debt ceiling is emblematic of the craziness surrounding what has become a huge and damaging crisis of confidence in the U.S. dollar, in America's political stability, and this nation's good faith and credit. But that is just the tip of the iceberg headed toward the Tuesday deadline. What is really at stake is the very foundation of the fairness, ideals and values long held in America with respect to our vast majority of working families, who depend heavily on their hard-earned entitlement programs and the flat-lined, modest (15 percent) of federal spending that supports discretionary support for everything from farm crops to Pell grants. http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/jul/30/tea-party-destruction/?opiniontimes

Debt Debate Rightly Focuses on Spending (Chattanooga Free Press)

While it is alarming that in three days our nation will not have enough money to pay all its debts, it is refreshing that the real debate in Washington on avoiding the partial default that would cause is between Republicans who want significant spending cuts and other Republicans who want even bigger cuts. So at least the discussion is going in the right direction. It certainly should not be focused on President Barack Obama's desire to raise taxes and promise cuts that may never materialize.

At issue is increasing our supposed "debt limit" from its current $14.3 trillion -- in other words, borrowing even more money and adding to the debt so that Washington can continue to pay its bills. While even some Democrats have abandoned the president's call for making tax hikes part of a debt limit increase, they are not proposing spending cuts that are anywhere near sufficient. http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/jul/30/a-refreshing-debt-debate/?opinionfreepress

10