Education remains priority of leadership across Tennessee
Not long ago, a friend told me how, as she lounged on a Florida beach with her mate, a woman passing by told her, “Girl, you’re living your best life.” ❚ Shortly after that, I posted on Facebook a photo in which she looked exceptionally glamorous. An acquaintance commented, “She’s living her best life.” ❚ “What exactly does that mean?” my friend asked. She and I have heard the catchy hip-hop song by Lil Duval featuring Snoop Dogg for which “living my best life” is the refrain.
“Living your best life,” I told my friend, “means that you are confident, looking good and living your life to the fullest.”
In recent years, that phrase — living your best life — has become cemented in the American lexicon, but the true meaning goes deeper than those four simple words. It’s more than just looking good, but also feeling good about yourself and your life. It’s about being healthy and happy and doing things that bring you joy.
Living your best life is about fulfilling your life’s goals and dreams and enjoying your accomplishments, but not in a selfish way — it’s also about paying it forward and helping others.
If you don’t like the direction in which your life is moving, you may need a reset. And even if you feel that you are doing great, every life needs a tune-up from time to time.
To get out of a rut and put you on the path to your best life, here are some suggestions to ponder.
In recent years, Tennessee students were named among the fastest improving in the entire nation across math, reading and science.
Because we have invested over $1.5 billion in K-12 education, and we have made the largest combined investment in teacher salaries than at any point in recent history over the last eight years, we are seeing transformative results.
Despite gains, we still expect more
According to data from the Nation’s Report Card, the percentage of students who performed at or above proficiency in reading on their National Assessment of Educational Progress assessments has increased substantially from 25% in 1998 to 33% in 2015 for fourth
1. Define your goals and intentions
What is it that you want out of life? What are your intentions? Have you thought about it lately or are you working on goals you set way back in college or even 10 years ago? Times have changed, and so have you. To find success and happiness, you must know what it looks like.
When you set specific goals, you are more likely to move with purpose and drive to fulfill those aspirations. Write down your long-range objectives but also things you want to accomplish now.
Each Monday morning, write down what you want to accomplish that week and that day. Review your to-do list every morning. By dividing your tasks into smaller lots, you are more likely to get things accomplished.
2. Just say no
Don’t be pressured to do things you don’t want to do. We all get enough pressure with our jobs and family life, but just say no to pressure from friends, acquaintances and even family.
When your neighbor asks you to babysit her unruly kids, tell her you are busy. When your mother-in-law asks you to attend a luncheon, tell her you have another engagement.
Don’t change work shifts or days off with a co-worker when it’s not to your advantage. You should not do things that make you uncomfortable — drugs, alcohol, sex — or just to please someone else.
A stressful life is not a good life.
3. Stay in your lane
Don’t get distracted by what others are doing. In today’s world, social media often makes it appear that others are living a life more wonderful than yours. Stop comparing your life to that of others.
You also need to stay out of other people’s business. Getting involved in graders, and to 33% from 27% for eighth graders. Despite this remarkable success, we all want more for our children.
As chairman of the House Education Committee, I am committed to partnering with Speaker Cameron Sexton, House leadership and Gov. Bill Lee as we work to further strengthen the academic foundations of our current and future generations of students. Attracting and retaining the best and brightest educators, investing in our students’ well-being, and improving early childhood literacy rates across our great state will remain focal points for us throughout the 2020 legislative session.
This year’s proposed budget looks to build upon our recent momentum overhauling the state’s education system.
Recently unveiled during Gov. Lee’s State of the State address, the proposed budget invests $600 million new dollars into public education including an additional $117 million in teacher salaries — a 4% raise.
To ensure Tennessee continues to compete in both recruitment and retention of teachers, the administration has also recommended moving the minimum salary ranges of our educators from $36,000 to $40,000 over the course of the next two years. Additionally, the fiscal year 2020-2021 budget proposal encourages young professionals to pursue their passion for teaching by establishing a fellowship program, supports district-led programs with new curriculum and grants, invests in professional development and career advancement opportunities for educators and school leaders, and establishes the Tennessee Teacher and Leader Institute in order to solicit nationwide proposals so we can build the best educator preparation program in America.
As we continue our record-breaking investments in our teachers, we must also remain focused on providing additional support services for Tennessee students. Recent data indicates that one in five children experience a mental health issue every year.
To better address these heartbreaking and very serious situations, we are working to create a one-time K-12 Mental Health Trust Fund to combat this serious issue through an evidence-based, holistic approach. We are also enhancing the school-based behavioral health liaison program’s footprint from its current 36-county service area to now include all 95 Tennessee counties.
The final component of our education enhancement equation — and one of the most critical — is early childhood literacy. We simply cannot accept that two-thirds of Tennessee students are not reading proficiently by fourth grade. Reading proficiency impacts all areas of a student’s academic journey and their lives. We must do a better job ensuring our children are ready to read by targeting the early years of each individual journey.
By raising standards for public literacy training, and instruction through supports and interventions for our K-2 students, we will make significant progress in this area and allow the education torch to shine brightly for more of our students.
This state has been blessed to have many great leaders who have all propelled Tennessee to the forefront nationally in several important areas. Tennessee’s future is now, and our work together this year will spur current and future generations of students to reach new heights by achieving their academic goals and dreams. When we continue to focus on improving all aspects of education in Tennessee, our future will remain bright.
Mark White is the chairman of the House Education Committee. White lives in Memphis and represents Tennessee House District 83, which includes Shelby County.