State Senator Andy Berke (D-Chattanooga) is a politician who loves to talk about education. And he has a lot to say—from ensuring that “90 percent of all education dollars are spent in the classroom” to advocating “new and innovative strategies to raise the quality of instruction.” In a recent op-ed in The Tennessean, Berke maintains that politicians have a new urgency, citing the widening income gap between college graduates and everyone else.
Berke’s editorial comes in the wake of the Tennessee Department of Education’s 2009 Report Card for the Hamilton County Department of Education—a report card full of C’s in academic achievement and student progress. Berke writes, “When the public schools of the state’s capital receive a poor report card and schools across the state struggle to meet our new higher standards, it is well past time for talk. It is time to focus—and act—on specifics.”
For the senator, that means focusing on recruiting the best teachers, equipping them with best tools and providing more support. “Unless we are willing to try new and innovative strategies to raise the quality of instruction in our state, Tennessee will suffer the consequences,” Berke argues. Among those strategies, Berke is sponsoring legislation that would use lottery dollars as scholarship funds for the best and brightest Tennessee college students “on the condition that they teach in our public schools after graduation.”
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