Haslam’s spending plan includes millions for teacher raises, education

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Republican Gov. Bill Haslam’s $34.8 billion spending plan includes new spending for schools, colleges and road projects along with another large deposit into Tennessee’s emergency budget reserves.

Governor Bill Haslam has proposed the largest investment in K-12 education without a tax increase in the state’s history, according to WKRN News 2.

He spoke on his 2016-2017 budget proposal Monday night during his State of the State address held at the Tennessee State Capitol.

Haslam also proposed to transfer $130 million from the general fund to pay for highway projects and maintenance. That’s about half of the amount diverted from the highway fund to help bridge budget gaps about a decade ago.

Placing $100 million into budget reserves would bring the state’s rainy day fund to $668 million, its second-highest level on record.

Within the budget, Haslam calls for 261 new dollars for Tennessee public education, including $104.6 million in pay raises for teachers.

Haslam also proposes putting $100 million into the state’s Rainy Day Fund, $60 million for salary increases for state employees, and another $36 million for market rate adjustments for state employees making less than $50,000 annually.

The governor also proposed significant investments in higher education and the Drive to 55 initiative, which is the state’s effort to increase the number of Tennesseans with a post-high school degree or certificate to 55 percent by 2025.

The proposal invests $581.6 million in state and other funds to build new buildings and fix existing higher education and general state government facilities, including:

$85.5 million for a new Tennessee Tech University laboratory science building
$39 million for a new dentistry building at the UT Health Science Center in Memphis
$38.8 million for Tennessee State University’s new health science building
$36 million for renovations to UT-Chattanooga academic buildings
Other budget investments include $130 from the General Fund to repay the Highway Fund, $24 million in state funds for the Employment and Community First CHOICES program, and $12.8 million for facilities and homeland security upgrades for the Military Department.