NASHVILLE – Tennesseans for Student Success (TSS) released the following statement after a successful election night for Tennessee General Assembly candidates who openly support higher standards and a meaningful accountability system to drive improvements in public education:

“Even as our state faces the operational, economic, and health complications of the COVID-19 pandemic, voters in Tennessee have continued to demonstrate that education is a top priority,” said Tennesseans for Student Success President & CEO Adam Lister. “In the most competitive primary elections, the candidates who won the hearts and minds of voters were those who prioritize improving outcomes for Tennessee students demonstrated through their track record of supporting those policies. Tonight’s electoral successes emphasize the education reform movement continues to have strong grassroots support across the state. The expanded number of student-centered supporters in the legislature is only an opportunity to continue creating better futures for Tennessee kids. Now, we must ensure that opportunity does not pass us by.”

Last month, TSS released extensive statewide polling that shows prioritizing improvements in education and supporting Tennessee’s students is a top priority for the people of the Volunteer State. Knowing this, and in keeping with our policy priorities around improving student outcomes and bettering our public schools, TSS launched a comprehensive issue advocacy and voter education campaign to let voters know where candidates in HD3, HD6, HD7, HD16, HD18, HD42, HD54, HD85, HD99, SD22, SD24, SD32 stand on higher standards in education, aligned assessments to those standards, protecting accountability in schools, promoting public school choice, and securing economic freedom for all. That campaign garnered nearly 9 million impressions and voter contacts across various mediums.

TSS is on the frontlines executing independent, year-round comprehensive education reform campaigns, leveraging research and sophisticated data-modeling to build authentic political power, and assembling vast coalitions of voters around the education issues they are the most passionate. Our work supporting public education and those who champion it is demonstrated by the results we have seen tonight in key districts across the state.

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