Lowe In The News

GUEST EDITORIAL: ACCOUNTABILITY WILL BE KEY THIS SESSION
By state Sens. Jim Kyle and Lowe Finney
The Tennessean
January 20, 2010

Other Views

Just as citizens sit down with their family budgets and make hard decisions, the state must do the same. Gov. Phil Bredesen has led this state responsibly through both good economic times and the difficult ones we are in now, but we must do more.

In everything we do, we must require accountability. Just as every household has to make the tough choices - not spending more than you have or can afford - so, too, must Tennessee government. We must examine every state department to determine which ones are working and which ones aren't. We must require any entity that receives state grants to be audited to ensure those funds are going to help people earn a living, and not for bonuses to well-paid executives.

To require this accountability of others, we as lawmakers must be accountable to Tennesseans. We must get back to the basics. For Tennesseans, that means jobs and education. We will make those two pillars of our state economy the top priorities in every sort of legislation we propose.

Small businesses create jobs and grow our economy, but they didn't get the same bailout that big banks did. That's why we led the charge to delay a state mandate forcing small contractors to carry workers' compensation on themselves and anyone else working with them. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, but these increased costs could have broken their backs. We said no.

To create more jobs, we have to strengthen education, specifically in our colleges and universities. This week, we're reviewing legislation that would tie more state funding to a proven measure of success: graduation rates. We will improve research opportunities to bring in more grants and increase economic growth. We will make transferring between two- and four-year schools easier.

Some reforms in place

These changes are necessary to help students achieve their main goal of finding a career. Newly arrived companies like Hemlock in Clarksville and Volkswagen in Chattanooga have already told us their top priority is recruiting skilled, educated workers. If we expect to continue to recruit new jobs to Tennessee, we as lawmakers need to make sure we make education accessible to all Tennesseans.

We are already walking the walk. We passed major education reform to provide more training for K-12 teachers and hold our schools accountable for teaching our students. If a school is struggling, we will do whatever is necessary to give our students the best opportunities to succeed. These efforts were part of an application for funds to help us in this endeavor, but we took the first step ourselves.

We can't allow minor disagreements to distract us from our major goals. We must focus on growing jobs, improving education and working toward what really matters: improving day-to-day life for every Tennessean and giving future generations an even better chance for success than we have now.

It has been said that extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. In these extraordinary times facing Tennessee, we must call for common-sense measures. The people of this state are counting on us to make decisions that benefit not just those at the top, but all of us.