NASHVILLE – Saying the “stars have aligned in Tennessee,” former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., today urged state legislators in Nashville to seize the moment and act on K-12 and higher education reforms Gov. Phil Bredesen will outline later this afternoon.
Dr. Frist’s comments came in an opinion/editorial piece released hours before a special legislative session on education begins.
“In my 12 years of service to Tennesseans in the U.S. Senate, I learned that progress often comes from taking advantage of moments when the stars align around a specific goal,” Dr. Frist said. “In Tennessee, one of those moments is upon us, as for the first time in more than 25 years the stars have aligned to make real, meaningful improvements to Tennessee’s education system.”
Dr. Frist is chairman of the Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education, which last year issued a report titled “A Roadmap to Success: A Plan to Make Tennessee Schools No. 1 in the Southeast Within Five Years.”
Score’s executive director, Brad Smith, said a number of the organization’s recommendations also are part of the Bredesen reforms. They include allowing student achievement data to be a component of all teacher evaluations and giving districts flexibility in paying teachers.