In a speech to the Civitan club on Friday, Senator Todd Gardenhire said that we need to “plug the drain” when it comes to financial losses in the state that result from a breakdown in education.
Senator Gardenhire, who is the second vice-chair on the Senate Education Committee pointed to several measurements of the costs incurred by the state and municipalities from undereducation and suggested some potential solutions to address those issues.
According to Mr. Gardenhire, individuals who do not receive a high school education end up receiving more than $33,000 a year annually from the government. Similarly, those who only receive a high school diploma cost $30,000 a year and those who only attain some college education cost $18,000.
He said that it is only when individuals receive a college degree that the trend reverses, resulting in a $15,000 contribution to the system.
Part of the problem, as Mr. Gardenhire sees it, is that immigrants to the state, primarily latinos, have not had residency long enough to receive in-state tuition which means that higher education simply isn’t an option.
It’s an issue that is becoming increasingly important as he estimates that by 2020 or 2025, latinos will actually outnumber blacks in Tennessee.
He said that what is needed is a workable solution to fix the education system, making it easier to afford higher education and that it is erroneous to handicap young immigrants “for what their parents did or didn’t do” in coming here.
Providing in-state tuition to immigrants who have lived here for three years, maintained a B average, and maintained a clean record could help address growing systemic education issues.
Though a bill that would have made some of those adjustments to current policy which require five years of residency failed to pass the senate this year, he said that the same issue is one of the first ones that they will handle in 2016.