Independent candidate for governor Lauren Pinkston met with Chester County educators on Tuesday, Sept. 29, to hear their concerns, understand their stories, and share perspectives regarding the future of education in Tennessee.
Pinkston welcomed a variety of stakeholders to discuss challenges in the classroom. She acknowledged that every county has unique strengths and every community has different challenges, and yet educators across the state face similar obstacles regardless of location.
She discussed vouchers, significant testing requirements and the increase in depression and anxiety among students.
“Anxieties are high for kids because the testing requirements are heavy,” Pinkston said. “It’s difficult to cover all the curriculum you’re expected to teach. Many families are pulling their kids out of public schools. Tennessee is growing but our public school enrollment is down. We have the lowest per-pupil funding in the country. Why are we not putting more into our education system?”
Beyond education, one voter called it disheartening to watch state farmland disappear because landowners can make more money by selling their land than they can from farming it.
“We’re seeing a loss of farmland across the state and families are in a very real crisis,” Pinkston said. “Our rural communities have been overlooked for far too long. Too many of the policies coming out of Nashville have centered on our metro economic hubs and the money they generate, while rural Tennessee isn’t getting that investment back.”
Pinkston has made more than 350 stops throughout the state, talking to voters on both sides of the aisle.
“What concerns me is another possible eight years of a supermajority that doesn’t have to compete for ideas,” Pinkston said. “And another possible eight years of bickering and fighting without writing policy that moves Tennessee forward. The national parties have lost who we are as real humans.”
