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Panel approves making Promise mentor pilot permanent, allocates $7 million in general-fund request
Summary
A subcommittee approved House Bill 148 to make permanent a Tennessee Promise mentor pilot that assigns coaches to students and provides up to $1,000 per student for emergency needs; sponsors said the program improved return rates and requested a $7 million general-fund appropriation.
A House higher education subcommittee approved House Bill 148 on Wednesday, a bill that would make permanent a pilot program within Tennessee Promise that assigns mentors to participating students and allows a coach to authorize up to $1,000 for emergency needs.
Chairman White, who presented the bill, described the pilot as a response to students who did not return for a second year because of short-term financial or life problems. "Each student will be assigned a mentor coach during their time, 4 years or 2 years in the program and that this spender coach then we would have up to $1,000 that the student can draw from," Chairman White said. He added the money would not be given directly to students; a coach would approve expenditures for emergency items, such as car repairs, that otherwise would keep a student from returning.
The sponsor said the pilot began in 2022 and that participation was associated with large improvements in returns for low-income students: "We have found out that the graduation rates for our low income students in Tennessee Promise has increased 6 times. It was about 6 percent of those returning. Now it's 6 times that," Chairman White said.
House Bill 148 requests a $7,000,000 appropriation from the general fund to support the program permanently; the sponsor said the fiscal review office previously misunderstood aspects of the fiscal note.
Committee members asked questions about the program and its funding; no roll-call of individual votes was printed in the transcript. The clerk reported the committee vote as "6 aye and 0 nays." The bill passed the subcommittee and will go to the full education committee for further consideration.
