Gov. Bill Lee: Sumner County high schools are a model for all of Tennessee
February 9th, 2019
Original Article by Bill Lewis for the Tennessean
Gov. Bill Lee wants to model all of Tennessee’s school systems after Sumner County.
“As governor, I want to see our high schools look a lot more like Sumner County high schools all across Tennessee,” Lee said at Friday’s Sumner County Schools Career and Technical Education (CTE) Day.
By that, he means that every high school in Tennessee would provide programs and opportunities to make students career-ready.
“They have vocational, technical and agricultural opportunities in every high school,” Lee told The Tennessean Sumner. “I’ve said that we need high school to look different in Tennessee, and we need every high school in the state to have those types of programs that provide career paths for kids, whether they’re going to college or not.”
Lee has big goals for Tennessee schools
In his first legislative initiative, Lee’s proposed Governor’s Investment in Vocational Education (GIVE) Act would use lottery funds to create apprenticeships, increased dual enrollment courses and on-the-job learning opportunities.
“The goal is to have opportunity for kids to engage in a career within one year of leaving high school,” Lee told the group of community and education leaders.
In its first year, Lee hopes the GIVE Act will provide 25 Tennessee communities with a vocational program.
Lee also expressed future goals of enhancing STEM programs across the state and having computer science programs in each district.
The governor referenced Amazon, which is creating offices in Nashville, for the company’s approach of hiring employees with technical skills regardless of college degrees.
“Every kid should use their gifts and their talents to find success in life, because education is not about a test score, it is about preparing a child in life,” Lee said.