Governor Phil Bredesen on Graduation Rates

The Tennessean July 14, 2005 identifys a disturbing trend with Governor Bredesen and his liberal democrat control of the State of Tennessee.

Governor Bredesen and the State Board of Education have not been reporting the graduation rates correctly. The State Board of education has reported an impressive 75.7 percent graduation rate. However Dr. Jay P. Greene, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Polict Research calculated the rate for the last year for which national comparative data is available. The Education Trust, another independent group found the exact same disjunct between Tennessee's claimed and actual graduation rates.

The graduation rate is 57 percent, ranking Tennessee as 48th among the 50 states. Tennessee is the only state attempting to pump up its own graduation rate.

Tennessee in 1991 had a graduation rate rate of 69 percent to more recently at 57 percent. This is troubling that the graduation rate has declined and that the liberal democrat control is not being honest about graduation rates, all at a time when the lottery is providing scholarships.

Remember liberal democrat Senator Steve Cohen promised the lottery to be the end all cure to our miserable failure at the number of students attending college after high school. Those of us opposed to the lottery knew that it would move those that need a high school diploma into the drop-out ranks.