Jeff is running for the State Senate because it’s time for fundamental change in the Tennessee legislature. As a state senator, he will strive to replace the sideshow politics of recent years with a focus on identifying real solutions to the problems confronting citizens across the state. Below are a few of Jeff’s priorities and ideas for moving Tennessee forward. Over the coming months, Jeff will meet citizens from across the district and will continue to expand his platform.
Education
Jeff believes that improving education is absolutely critical to Tennessee’s future and that we must welcome innovation and modernization in our schools. Through his work with Nashville students, educators, and business leaders, Jeff knows that we have the capacity to make dramatic improvements in the opportunities available to Tennessee students. Below are a few of Jeff’s education priorities:
Innovative schools: Students go to schools, not school systems. We need to be bold in creating new schools and redesigning old schools to ensure that every child has a chance to succeed. Smaller learning communities should be implemented in our comprehensive high schools so that students and teachers can form productive, learning relationships in a smaller, safer environment. We need to expand charter schools that use proven methods for improving educational outcomes, but must hold them accountable for their results. While charters and new schools are a part of the solution, we must also focus on supporting teachers and principals in our traditional public schools where most of our students must find their pathway to a better future.
School Leadership: Research increasingly shows that effective school leaders are essential to setting and implementing a vision for educational success in schools and districts. Developing a comprehensive strategy to recruit, train, develop, and compensate principals who are instructional leaders must be a priority if we are to provide Tennessee’s children with opportunities for future success. Tennessee must fully implement its Learning Centered Leadership system, improve our Tennessee Academy for School Leaders, and foster regional on-the-ground mentoring and training programs to develop 21st century educational leaders.
Creating a Culture of Professional Development: Too often, professional development for our teachers consists of one-shot seminars and workshops. Without a sustained effort, follow-up related to implementation, and a collaborative, team-based approach to instructional improvement, we will not make the necessary improvements in our schools. Our legislators must work with our educators to facilitate the dissemination of best practices and effective strategies for success.
Leveraging Data to Achieve Educational Success: Tennessee possesses one of the most comprehensive student-by-student educational performance data systems in the country. Unfortunately, too few of our teachers have access to this data and even fewer have been adequately trained on how to use it to improve teaching and learning. Currently, the default is for teachers to be blocked from accessing this data unless an administrator deems otherwise. First, the legislature should change the default so that teachers have access to this powerful tool. Second, the money that has been spent developing this data and technology will be wasted unless we provide for more training and day-to-day assistance for our teachers in using these new and powerful tools.
Commitment to Pre-K Education: Governor Bredesen’s Pre-Kindergarten initiative has made great strides towards ensuring that Tennessee’s youngest children arrive in kindergarten prepared to succeed. Funding existing pre-K programs and expanding their reach must remain a priority in the Tennessee budget.
Safer Schools: School violence–in the form of bullying, fighting, assault, or worse–is a persistent problem. Three out of four public schools experience at least one act of violence during the school year. This violence has a real and a negative impact on overall academic achievement. Students that exhibit violent behavior are more likely to drop out and end up in handcuffs. Bullied students are more prone to perform poorly. And violence can create a school environment where students are afraid, which affects their ability to learn. Tennessee should implement school violence reporting systems that will better inform schools, law enforcement, the public, and legislators about this impediment to learning. More effective coordination between our schools, our police, our juvenile justice system, and children’s services is essential to ensure effective interventions. Tennessee should enact a grant program for school-based violence prevention programs that are proven to work.
Economic Development
Expanding Tennessee’s economy and creating new jobs must be a priority for the legislature. Almost 11% of Tennesseans are currently unemployed, which has a real impact on our families and communities. If we are to come out of the current economic downturn positioned for success, Tennessee must consistently focus on the jobs of the future. A few of Jeff’s ideas for getting Tennesseans back to work are:
Health Information Technology: Middle Tennessee is poised to emerge as a Silicon Valley of Health Information Technology. Nashville is already the capital of health care entrepreneurship and has the talent and ideas to lead a revolution towards more effective and efficient health care provision. The State should partner with our businesses and universities to build the essential infrastructure, work force and information sources. Though governmental facilitation is necessary, any partnership must be based on government staying out of the way to allow the private sector to drive innovation.
Energy-Efficient Vehicle Production: Tennessee is leading the way in automotive innovation. Recently, Nissan received a $1.6 billion grant from the federal government to produce electric cars at its Smyrna facility. This new vehicle fleet will create jobs in Tennessee, improve air quality, and reduce the amount Tennesseans spend on fuel. The State should work with Nissan, Volkswagen, and others to ensure Tennessee is at the vanguard in the production of this new generation of automobiles.
Infrastructure Investment: Even in the midst of the most recent economic downturn, Governor Bredesen has shown a deep commitment to investing in traditional and high-tech infrastructure. Infrastructure development must remain a priority for Tennessee’s economy and tax base to grow. Enhancing mass transit in Middle Tennessee, creating regional megasites, and investing in fiber and broadband technology is critical to the creation of 21st century jobs in Tennessee.
Jobs Tax Credits: As Tennessee’s revenue situation improves, the State should utilize and expand franchise and excise tax credits as an incentive for new and growing businesses that are creating jobs in Tennessee.
Crime & Public Safety
In tough economic times, our state government has to focus on those essential functions such as ensuring that our communities provide a safe place to live, work, and raise children. Recognizing that safeguarding and strengthening Tennessee’s financial status is essential, Jeff will work hard to ensure that we are doing what we must to keep our neighborhoods safe. A few of Jeff’s ideas about improving public safety are below:
Tougher, Smarter Sentencing: Too many of our citizens are being victimized by repeat offenders who are not completing the prison sentences they have received for criminal convictions. 50% of felon inmates released on parole are returned to prison within three years, which is two times the recidivism rate for those who serve their full sentences. As Nashville Police Chief Ronal Serpas has noted, “By not spending the money to keep violent criminals and repeat offenders behind bars longer, the state is simply choosing to shift the known cost of these violent offenders to our communities and neighborhoods through new victims and loss of life and innocence.” In the Senate, Jeff will work to ensure that our law enforcement strategy is driven more by what’s good for Tennessee and less by the costs of incarceration.
Policing the Parentless Neighborhood of the Internet: New technologies have left our children more vulnerable than ever to sexual predators and strangers. Too often, parents cannot keep up with who their children are meeting online. Adults who pose as children on the web to prey on children should be sent to jail, and our police forces must be prepared to police this virtual space and to insert a responsible adult presence in the often parentless Internet. We also must teach our children how to be safe online just as we teach them how to be safe crossing the street.
Effective Preventions and Interventions for Juvenile Offenders: Despite the vast state and local resources focused on our children, too many of them are slipping through the cracks. Usually by the time a juvenile has committed a crime, there have been a number of red flags that should have alerted teachers or child services workers. And sadly, our juvenile system could do a better job at turning juvenile offenders around. More effective coordination between government agencies will allow us to intervene with at-risk children before they commit a crime and to put juveniles who enter the juvenile justice system on a pathway towards responsibility.
Creating a 40-Hour Work Week for Prisoners: Prisoners in Tennessee should be required to work, get an education, and learn the skills they need to be productive and responsible when they get out. Too much of prisoners’ time today is spent in idleness. The General Assembly should work with non-governmental partners to create a pilot program to impose a 40-hour work week for prisoners that promotes responsibility, education, and work to ensure a productive re-entry into society.
