TIMES ENDORSEMENTSIn today's general election, The Chattanooga Times endorses:• Tennessee governor: Bill Haslam• Georgia governor: Jason Carter• Tennessee senator: Gordon Ball• Georgia senator: Michelle Nunn• Tennessee 3rd District: Mary Headrick• Tennessee 4th District: Lenda Sherrell• Tennessee 27th District: Eric McRoy• Wine in Groceries: Yes• Amendment 1: No• Amendment 2: Yes• Amendment 3: No• Amendment 4: No
GOT QUESTIONS?Still undecided about which candidate to support or what the proposed amendments to the Tennessee Constitution mean?For more information about what is on the ballot, go to www.timesfreepress.com/voterguide before you head to the polls today.Polls are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Tennessee and 7 a.m to 7 p.m. in Georgia.
Get out and vote
It's Election Day in our nation.
For all the hoopla, for all the television and radio and print pundits telling you that so much is at stake this year (this page included), it would seem fewer of you in this Southeast Tennessee region are voting even than in 2010 -- the last midterm election.
Early voting totals for Hamilton County were up by about 210 ballots, and Grundy County had 127 more early voters than in 2010, but largely other surrounding counties here were down -- some way down, like Franklin County with 2,010 fewer early voters.
Statewide, election officials counted 107,000 fewer ballots than the 736,886 early votes cast in 2010.
That's a stark contrast to Georgia where early voting was up by more than 150,000, probably spurred by the Peach State's competitive governor and senate races.
There, voters will have a say in whether the GOP will gain control of the Senate.
(On this subject, Republicans should be careful what they wish for. In the past two years the GOP has been able within its base to finger blame toward U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the president for childish tantrums like the sequester and shutdown and other government obstruction. But with the GOP in control in both houses, gridlock won't necessarily get better: Votes on bills are still what count, and if the GOP can't deliver, it will certainly set the stage perhaps not only for a Democrat president in 2016, but also for some congressional overhaul, as well.)
Meanwhile, for this election this year in Tennessee, it's looking as though you stay-at-home voters either don't believe us when we say much is at stake, or you just don't think your vote counts.
It does. But maybe it counts most of all if it doesn't happen.
Please vote.
What are we teaching?
Last weekend at the Hamilton County Board of Education, Superintendent Rick Smith talked a lot about his "bold vision" of making Hamilton County the best public school system in the South.
And then he talked about teacher morale and how he wants to "nurture a culture" where teachers are valued, compensated competitively and given ongoing opportunities to learn.
He asked his fellow retreat participants: "What would it take?"
His answer to his own question, however, was strange. He said "UTC's (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga) got to get better" at giving the school system "the best teacher prep college in the South."
Certainly we hope both Hamilton County teacher morale and UTC's teacher prep get better, but frankly, Mr. Smith, neither of those answers gets to your so-called "vision."
Here's a idea: Talk a bit more about student morale. Talk about student learning and opportunities for students to feel valued, taught competitively and given ongoing opportunities to learn. Talk about building the best student prep in the South.
Talk about the students -- especially those who have the hardest climb.
Hamilton County students' average ACT score inched up a mere three tenths of a percentage point to 19 this year -- out of a maximum possible score of 36. And the county's graduation rate slipped to 82.6 percent, down from 84.5 percent last year.
Schools are about students. If you put your priorities there, the teachers' morale will improve, too. Students, after all, are why teacher's teach.