The Tennessean has the 2004 Tennessee Report Card on public schools.
A few interesting factoids:
–Nearly half of the state’s 911,735 public school students live at or below the federal poverty line. The percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals has gone up in recent years and hit 49.9% last year.
–About 55% of all core academic classes are currently being taught by a ”highly qualified” teacher, a detail added to the Report Cards this year. That’s a licensed teacher with a bachelor’s degree and expertise in the subject he or she teaches. All core classes � which include English, science, math, foreign language, social studies and the arts � must be taught by highly qualified teachers by the end of the 2005-06 year.
–State and local dollars made up nearly 89% of school budgets last year. Of that amount, the state paid slightly more than 45%. The remaining amount came from the federal government.
It doesn’t reflect too well on your state when half the public school students live below the poverty line.