GLORIA JOHNSON   State House 13

*Education

We can’t settle for anything but the best in Tennessee’s classrooms, because the countries our kids will be competing with for the jobs of the 21st century—China, Japan, India—aren’t settling, either. In tough economic times, education is an easy  target for budget cuts, but nothing could be more shortsighted. When parents are stressed at home because they’ve lost a job, children need strong, effective teachers more, not less.  When jobs are scarce, there’s no better time for young people to get that degree or for workers who’ve been laid off to go back and retrain. You don’t cut education when the unemployment rate for workers with a college degree is half the unemployment rate for those without one.  You don’t cut education when eight out of ten new jobs will require retraining or a higher degree by the end of the decade. You don’t cut education when you know that countries that out- educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow. You don’t attack and demoralize teachers when you should be motivating and energizing them. If I had to invest in higher salaries for 100,000 new teachers or in companies that outsource jobs to China and India, I’d invest in teachers any day.   If I had to invest in a thousand colleges and technical schools or a thousand prisons, I’d invest in higher education any day. It’s time to recommit to our kids, our workers, and our future by making sure Tennessee has the best-educated children and workforce in the world.

*Jobs/Economy

It’s time we have an economy that works again for people who work for a living.  In the last thirty years, productivity in this country has nearly doubled.  That means the average family should be twice as wealthy as it was then.  But that’s not what’s happened.  Middle class Tennesseans haven’t shared in the wealth they worked so hard to create.  It isn’t right that CEOs today make more money in one day than their average employee makes in an entire year.  I want to see the words “Made in America” again. It isn’t right that every time a big corporation shutters the doors of a plant in Tennessee and moves the jobs overseas its profits go up.  We need leaders who understand that the best way to keep jobs in Tennessee is to educate our children well and partner with local businesses to make sure our colleges and technical schools prepare workers for jobs in the global economy. We need an economy with good jobs, health care that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, and benefits we count on for a lifetime. Too many people are working harder and longer but still falling behind.  We need leaders we can trust to protect the interests of ordinary Tennesseans, not special interests.  We need leaders who understand the value of investing in small business and new industries that create jobs. Most importantly, we need leaders who share middle class values: education, fairness, and personal responsibility.

*Tax Relief

The question is not who is going to cut taxes, but whose taxes are they going to cut. I support tax relief that would benefit all Tennesseans, especially those hurting most in the current economy. Tennessee has a revenue surplus. This money belongs to the people and should be used to their benefit. I would support a bill to remove the sales tax on groceries or a bill that lowers the tax on groceries and increases funds for need-based scholarships similar to the Tennessee Tax Payer Relief Act put forth by Representative Craig Fitzhugh. Families are hurting in this recession and lowering the cost of the family groceries or lowering the cost of sending children to college are excellent ways we can ease the burden on working families.