Senator Raumesh Akbari (Memphis,TN) & Senator Jeff Yarbro (Nashville,TN)

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Boosting Living Standards and Education in Tennessee

NewDEALer Senator Raumesh Akbari’s recent efforts to expand opportunity for Tennesseans have included an effort with fellow Tennessee Senator, and NewDEALer, Jeff Yarbro to push for increased education funding by the state. Read more in their op-ed in the Tennessean, which addresses the deficit that was laid out in a recent Department of Education report. “This structural education deficit is compromising the future of a million public school students and has far-reaching consequences,” Akbari and Yarbro write, “from our urban population centers to rural communities.”

In addition, Akbari introduced legislation, SB 1851, to protect tipped employees, increasing their earnings by raising the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour from the current rate of $2.13, in addition to tips. Senator Akbari advocates for the bill, explaining that “tipped workers already have unpredictable pay and schedules.The least we can do is abolish the sub-minimum wage in Tennessee and provide some financial predictability to the thousands of hard-working people in the service industry.”

Race to the Tots

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Problem

Investing in a 4-year-old’s brain is the single best investment we can make for the longest term return on closing academic and achievement gaps, but it’s been difficult in many places to prioritize funding for preschool and test what works best.

Solution

Senator Ferguson has an innovative solution: “Race to the Tots,” a competitive grant funded by the state lottery that allows local districts to test ideas that demonstrate how expanding access to preschool for low-income families can benefit all of us.

Oregon Promise

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Problem

In the changing economy, it’s harder than ever to get a good-paying job with only a high school education, yet a growing number of high school graduates feel that they can’t afford a higher education. Unfortunately, it costs Oregon taxpayers an average of $14,000 per year for each unemployed young person they support.

Solution

Senator Hass wants to make it free for high school graduates to take community college classes so that they can earn technical skills or get a head start on a four year degree. Since two years of community college is cheaper than a lifetime of food stamps, he hopes to fund the program through federal Pell grants as well as future savings from students who would no longer need to rely on more expensive safety net programs.

Middle School Expanded Learning Time

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Problem

One of the biggest obstacles in preparing students–especially lower income kids–to contribute as thoughtful young leaders within our community is our antiquated school calendar.

Solution

Mayor Driscoll is leading a coalition of parents, teachers, and researchers to modernize education by redesigning and extending the school day in her city. By implementing an Expanded Learning Time program, the longer school day gives kids more time to gain critical skills, allows teachers to target their time on what works best, and helps parents keep their kids out of trouble after school.

The Education and Economic Engine Endowment

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Problem

Because many states continue to face budget challenges, many states have scaled back critical funding for education and entrepreneurship.

Solution

State Treasurer Cowell proposes the creation of a multi-billion dollar state-funded endowment using escheat money that pays for community college and university scholarships and invests in high-growth funds and companies. The endowment is literally an investment in the twin goals of educating our future workforce and creating new jobs.

Education Empowerment Zones

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Problem

Good schools can greatly influence the economic vitality of a neighborhood by improving home values and attracting higher income residents. These residents in turn attract businesses and improve the overall economic development of the town. By channeling additional funds to a struggling school, the impact extends far beyond improved test scores, into the overall economic health of the entire community.

Solution

Rep. Johnson is proposing legislation to create education empowerment zones that will provide additional funds targeted at struggling schools. These funds would be dedicated to specialized tasks like tutoring and after school programs, school supplies, and technology upgrades and could help ameliorate some of the challenges faced by schools in lower income areas. In order to qualify for these zones, the school district must commit matching funds and would be allowed to retain a certain amount of the state tax revenue from the zone.

Channeling Savings From Early Graduation Into Pre-K

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Problem

Access to a quality education at a young age is one of the most important pathways to future educational and economic success. Unfortunately, funding for such critical pre-k programs is often limited by tight budgets.

Solution

Currently, Dallas school districts with students who graduate a year early lose the funding associated with that student’s twelfth year in school. Instead of penalizing a school district for a student who has accomplished their requirements at an accelerated pace, Rep. Johnson initiated a program to redirect those savings to expand the availability of pre-k education. This allows the school districts to invest in education opportunities that have been shown to have important, positive long-term effects on student outcomes.

A Better Way for Teachers: The 403(b) Option

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Problem

Existing retirement programs for teachers often charge employees high fees and thus reduce amounts employees are actually saving for retirement.

Solution

State Treasurer Cowell set up a publicly sponsored statewide retirement plan option that will become available to school districts this fall and can offer lower fees as more teachers participate in the program. This new retirement plan provides a better opportunity for teachers in the state to save for a more secure retirement.

Pay For Success

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Problem

Government often focuses more on treatment than prevention, which leads to solutions that are more costly to taxpayers and less effective. In education, this has led us to spend more on special education, dropouts, and jail–giving us less to spend on tools that help at-risk kids learn how to contribute.

Solution

Mayor McAdams is using Pay for Success Bonds to fund high-quality preschool for at-risk kids. Private investors buy these bonds from the government and get paid back if the preschool programs succeed in saving taxpayers money from fewer at-risk kids using more expensive programs like special ed. This pay for success model gives government the tools to fund an ounce of evidence-based prevention on the front end out of cost savings on the back end–and it helps elected leaders focus on what works best to achieve outcomes.

State Bar for Teaching

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Problem

For more than a generation, America has struggled to improve our public schools–especially in our poorest areas. This hurts all of us, because our country’s economic competitiveness depends on our ability to out-educate the rest of the world.

Solution

Representative Townsend wants to improve public schools by elevating the profession of teaching with a State Bar of Teaching patterned after the professional associations that govern the learned professions of law and medicine. Studies show that countries with the highest performing students have one thing in common: more of their best and brightest students want to become teachers. A professional association would attract better students to teaching jobs by giving them the autonomy, accountability, and tools to become excellent teachers.

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