Policy Priorities
Tennessee is at a critical juncture. Only 40% of our third-graders are reading and doing math at grade level. This alarming statistic isn’t just a number—it represents thousands of children who may struggle to succeed in school and beyond. Third-grade proficiency in both reading and math is crucial for future academic success and life outcomes. Children who aren’t reading proficiently by third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school. Similarly, early math skills are powerful predictors of later academic achievement.
This challenge presents an urgent call to action for all Tennesseans. By focusing on early childhood development, we have a unique opportunity to change this trajectory and build a stronger future for our state.
Some of our policy priorities include:
Increase access to high-quality, affordable child care
The state of Tennessee is facing a child care emergency. A recent child care survey conducted by Tennesseans for Quality Early Education found that 80 percent of Tennessee parents of children under 6 reported child care challenges that adversely impacted their work productivity or limited career opportunities – with affordability, access and difficulty finding quality care being the biggest problems. And the pandemic has significantly compounded the problem. Child care today in Tennessee costs more than in-state college tuition, and more than the average mortgage payment. Most parents need to work to earn a living for their families, but their family budgets become overwhelmed by the costs of qualty child care. We support increased state investments in child care so that more working families can access quality care for their children. Investments in child care are investments in the workforce of today and the workforce of tomorrow.
Expand options for high-quality Pre-K
Voluntary Pre-K (VPK) expansion is long overdue in Tennessee. It’s a proven tool for academic success that hasn’t been meaningfully expanded in the number of classrooms funded or amount of funding per classroom in nearly 15 years. Meanwhile, demand for the VPK program is high. Currently only 22 percent of four-year-olds are enrolled in VPK, while seventy-five percent of school districts cite waitlists totaling thousands of students. Pre-K also makes good business sense. In fact, increased academic and career achievement as well as reduced costs in remedial education, health and criminal justice system expenditures led Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman to document returns as high as $13 for every $1 invested in high-quality Pre-K for economically disadvantaged children. Heckman’s research makes clear what we already know – it’s much more cost effective to invest early than to remediate later. Tennessee must increase state funding now so that parents have more choices when it comes to early education and children have more opportunities that benefit them in the classroom and beyond.
Promote early literacy and math
Significant investments in boosting early literacy (and math) rates have been made in recent years. These include a new phonics-based reading program, high-dosage tutoring, summer learning and afterschool programs, and the new TISA funding formula for K-12 education including teacher salary increases. All of these reflect important steps in addressing the challenge of 3rd grade reading and math proficiency, yet with 60 percent of Tennessee's 3rd graders still behind, we have much work still to do. It's crucial that we strengthen early care and education, ensuring children arrive to kindergarten prepared and then get the quality K-3rd education they need to be at grade level proficiency for reading and math by the critical third grade benchmark.
Empower parents and families
Strong, healthy parents and families mean strong, healthy kids who are ready to learn. We support increased investments in health and mental health care, and in ensuring working families basic needs are met while they strive for self-sufficiency. Parents are children's first and most important teachers. We support policies and investments that promote parents' active engagement in their child's learning and initiatives that support the development of parenting skills.