Gives Tennessee flexibility to measure progress with state-specific goals and rigid standards

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam lauded the approval byU.S. Department of Education officials of Tennessee’s waiver request from certain portions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).

Tennessee was the first state to request a waiver and was one of only 10 recipients of the first round of waivers. The Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) accountability model under NCLB has been an ongoing obstacle for schools and districts because it does not fully account for schools’ growth.

It won’t make the front page of many big papers or lead the nightly news, but Congress is taking real steps forward in reforming the way we spend your tax dollars.

For too long the federal budgeting process has been dysfunctional and dishonest. A combination of faux-savings, gimmicks and loopholes has created a system where Washington is predisposed to spend more money each year. My freshman class was sent to Washington to shake up the system, restore accountability and stop spending money we don’t have. And while we have made progress by changing the conversation from “How much can we spend?” to “How much can we cut?” there’s more to be done.

We are attacking business as usual on multiple fronts. In the Senate, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions has introduced legislation to strengthen the Senate’s rules against budget trickery. I along with my friend Marthy Roby from Alabama and 27 members of the freshman class are taking up the effort in the House.

Every year, the Tennessee General Assembly convenes in a joint session and invites the Governor to give an address known as the State of the State.  During this speech, the Governor typically unveils his legislative priorities, as well as his budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Recently, Governor Bill Haslam delivered his second State of the State address in Nashville.

Let me say that I have a great deal of respect for Governor Haslam and I stand ready to work with him on the major issues facing our state. And I certainly look forward to working with Governor Haslam on the most important issue facing Tennesseans – jobs.

The debates go on. Florida will have no problem with their crops this year. If I were judging the debates by the same rules of Roberts’ Rules of Order two of the debaters would be called down for mudslinging. Only two of the candidates seem to know how to stick to the issues. However, I do not necessarily blame the two mud slingers. It seems a large proportion comes in answer to questions by the moderator with the “gotcha” questions they love to ask. The Florida debates have been a fiasco at best. The boys of November and the moderators need to grow up.

Okay, Dale, you have thrown in your two cents worth. What would you do? Great question. In the “play debates” we are having I would begin with simple questions in order that the candidates would understand them. For example, I would ask about closing our borders, bringing industry back to our shores allowing energy exploration in our country retrieving our reserves and protecting the environment in the process. We need to solve the housing crisis, the health crisis, rewriting the Federal Tax Laws and turning over the education of our children to the local school boards rather than the “think-o-potomises” in the elite stratosphere of the cobweb halls of academia. Fifty years ago local school boards provided education that trained all graduates to make a living and also trained the people who put the man on the moon. We need to return to that.

Solving these problems will go a long way in bringing our economy back to where we can all enjoy a secure life style. Our young people today are full of concern, fear, and discouragement. They want the same thing their parents had, the security of a good job to provide for their future families. It is our job to remove those fears by providing them with the enthusiastic, hard working, building from the ground up nation that put the man on the moon, computers, cell phones, etc… Given the chance, God only knows what the next generation can produce. They deserve that chance. It is our job to give it to them just as our parents gave it to us. Reduce Government, allow schools to educate the entire child, and allow the parents, with God’s help, to do their job and it will happen.

Dale C. Flowers

Hendersonville