After a first term avoiding talk about politically sensitive issues like whether he would push to expand pre-K or restructure the gas tax, Gov. Bill Haslam said those decisions could begin in another year.

Haslam is running for reelection in November against a little-known Democratic nominee, largely escaping from this election season without being pressed by a competitor to make campaign promises or charting out how he would address issues politically unpopular among the legislature's majority of Republicans.

But the governor told reporters Friday afternoon he expects to evaluate transportation funding in the next year after telling Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Denver Chamber of Commerce leaders that states will have to work on transportation funding issues while waiting for the federal government to make a move.

“I think Tennessee is going to have to — sometime in the next I-don’t-know-how-many-years — sometime next year look at highway funding. We have some serious challenges facing us,” Haslam told reporters.

Haslam said he would also consider whether to expand the state's pre-K program ahead of his original timeline tied to the conclusion of a Vanderbilt University study on the effectiveness of the state’s current pre-K program. Haslam said he may be ready to confront that issue about a year from now at the earliest, saying he wouldn’t build an expansion into this year’s budget.

Vanderbilt’s study was originally scheduled to conclude in 2015, but was extended to 2019.

“It’s fair to say that’s too long. We’re not going to wait until 2019 to make a decision on that,” said Haslam. “For us, I think it’s driven not so much when it will be completely finished but this: when do we think we’ll know enough to make a priority decision.

“The issue with pre-k is like everything else. It’s like, should we do pre-k? Might be a good idea. Should we pay teachers more? Might be a good idea. I can keep going with that list. It’s more a question of given the reality of a limited budget, which we have and are always going to have, should that be a priority for funding.”

Foreshadowing a tight budget year, Haslam is asking all state agencies to prepare 7 percent budget cuts for the 2015-16 fiscal year. Some Republican legislators have balked at the idea of expanding pre-K, questioning its effectiveness and use of state dollars to pay for it. Lawmakers have also worked to reduce a variety of taxes collected by the state, which could make restructuring taxes on motor fuel a challenging sell in the legislature.