EDUCATION
“Education” is always near the top of the list of issues that voters are concerned about, and rightfully so. It affects so many of our issues throughout the district and the state that it certainly deserves serious attention by any candidate.
Public Schools
From my own experience as a teacher, I know that public schools are chronically underfunded, and that this impacts the classroom experience, and results. Teachers shouldn’t have to ask parents to provide basic supplies like copy paper or tissue. Tennessee ranks in the bottom 10 for state funding per pupil, spending 30% less than the national average. Among our neighboring states, only Mississippi spends less. We must increase funding and support for our public schools.
To do that, we must strongly oppose the voucher scam. Our Governor plans to siphon money away from Tennessee public schools to allow wealthy parents (and his political donors) to use taxpayer dollars at private schools. This pattern has repeated many times across the country; when vouchers are introduced, the vast majority of the benefits go to those families who are already attending private schools. Most public school students never see a benefit, and in fact the majority of them suffer from the drop in funding available to their public school. We are already shortchanging our students, we cannot make it worse by implementing vouchers.
The Tennessee legislature is also considering abandoning billions of federal dollars. These are Tennessee taxpayer dollars (roughly $2500 per student) that come back to our state from the federal government for education. Members of the leadership cite unnamed “strings” associated with these dollars, but the only real strings are that the dollars must go to education. This loss of funds amounts to roughly the cost of a dozen brand new, state-of-the-art high schools in the state, every year. Now, the governor says that the state could “easily replace” these dollars with other money. If that’s the case (and it’s a gigantic “if,”), here’s an idea—let’s put those new dollars towards education AND continue to accept the federal money. Then we could make serious investments in our students, and in our own future.
Trade/Technical Education
As part of our public education system, Tennessee should increase spending on our trade and technical schools. There are thousands of jobs available for well-paid trades like plumbers, electricians, HVAC techs, etc., and our public schools have proven that they have the ability to prepare students for these occupations. There are also opportunities for emerging industries, like the Ford Blue Oval City facility that will produce electric vehicles, not to mention other green energy jobs. We must prepare our students for the challenges of tomorrow, and that includes equipping them with the skills they will need for success in these markets.
Higher Education
Tennessee has some outstanding colleges and universities, of which we are justifiably proud. Unfortunately, rising costs make these institutions of higher learning unaffordable and inaccessible to a large portion of our students. In addition to making trade schools more affordable, we should also make it easier and cheaper to go to college. Advanced degrees in fields like engineering, digital technology, and medicine are absolutely vital in today’s economy, and far too many of our students never aspire to these jobs due to the extremely high cost.