By AP
Nashville, TN – Tennessee State Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey says a Republican alternative plan to close a budget gap won't include changes to Tennessee's pre-kindergarten program. Ramsey, a candidate for governor, says while he's been a skeptic of expanding pre-K in the past, he says he's politically realistic enough to know that his party can't back up what's already been done.
Republicans are working to craft an alternative to Governor Phil Bredesen's proposal to raise $85 million by lifting a sales tax cap on big-ticket items. House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada suggested earlier this week that changing the funding mechanism for the $83 million-per-year pre-K program could be a way to find extra money.