State Senator Bo Watson speaks at the Hamilton County Pachyderm Club on Monday. Senator Watson challenged Hamilton County Schools to strive to be first in literacy in the state with the third-grade retention law in effect.
photo by Hannah Campbell
With the state’s third-grade retention law in its second year, State Senator Bo Watson challenged Hamilton County Schools to lead the state in literacy.
“We can do this for ourselves if we choose to commit to do it,” Senator Watson told the Hamilton County Pachyderm Club on Monday.
Senator Watson acknowledged the shock of the Tennessee Learning Loss Remediation and Student Acceleration Act, which forced the district to report in May that 23 percent of Hamilton County students faced repeating third grade as determined by test scores in the literacy portion of the TCAP.
“There’s going to be some pain in this,” Senator Watson said. He said there are good reasons a child would test low.
“At the end of the day all those reasons don’t matter,” he said.
“A teacher has one thing to do,” he said, adding that there is “nothing more important than a child be able to read and read proficiently and read at grade level."
In public safety, where local state Senator Todd Gardenhire is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the state continues to plug away at adult and juvenile criminal justice reform.
Senator Watson said he will push for more mandatory sentencing, forcing convicted criminals to serve whole sentences.
“Whether you like it or not, you got to pay for it,” he told the group. He said Tennessee set aside $50 million this fiscal year – a start in savings to fund full prison sentences.
Senator Watson said it bothers him that criminals fear the federal system more than the state system.
“I want them to have that same fear,” he said.
When polled, the Pachyderm Club told Senator Watson to focus on schools when the state legislature convenes in January.
Six of 15 requests from the club included: hardening school security, the new state school choice program, federal funding of public schools, school curriculum, publicizing the manifesto of the Covenant School shooter and public Christian prayer in schools.
Transportation Modernization Act of April 2023
The $3.3 billion act is meant to accelerate projects already in the pipeline, he said, with $300 million set aside for local projects.
Expected controversy on the topic of choice lanes has settled to almost nothing, he said. But will private firms want to partner with the state to build toll roads?
“Whether Tennessee meets that or not, we’ll have to wait and see,” Senator Watson said. Toll roads are required to relieve 30 percent of traffic, he said, and private offers will begin to materialize in three to five years.
Inflation and the Future
After three years, Senator Watson said, federal stimulus funds are running out and inflation has caught up to Tennessee growth. Growth has settled back to normal this year at 3 to 3.5 percent, down from 11 to 14 percent growth last year, he said.
Senator Watson said that Tennessee has cut $1 billion in taxes over the last 10 years. Tennessee’s consumer-based economy encourages people to spend money, he said. State incentives aren’t rebates but intangibles such as infrastructure support and tax relief, as in repealing the Hall Tax and running the current grocery sales tax holiday through Oct. 31.
And while Tennessee is a great place to retire, he said keeping productive young people in the state via education and job training is essential to build the economy.
Though state Governor Bill Lee is refusing millions in federal money this year, Senator Watson warned that those federal taxes paid by Tennesseans will be spent elsewhere.
“That’s Tennessee taxpayer dollars going to other states,” he said.
He said 40 to 45 percent of the state’s budget comes from the federal government, mostly for education and human and child services.
Seventy-five percent of Tennessee’s state-earned funds are franchise and excise taxes on businesses, and sales tax. A large portion of the rest comes from alcohol and tobacco sales, he said.
“We are the least-taxed state in this country,” Senator Watson said.
Though Georgia is number one in friendly business taxes, he said, Tennessee comes out ahead with no income tax.
He praised Tennessee for being a solid “middle class” state, neither wealthy nor poor, that uses its money efficiently to get from point A to point B with no frills.
“We get more out of a dollar than any other state,” he said, and Tennessee is the least-indebted state in the country, he said.
Senator Watson told the group that Tennessee is one of the top five best-managed states fiscally.