Steve Cohen: “Today the United States received very good news concerning education in America. Nationwide, high school graduation…”

“Today the United States received very good news concerning education in America. Nationwide, high school graduation rates rose 2 percent. But even better, in my State of Tennessee, the rates rose 15 percent, the number one increase in the United States of America. Those are statistics from the year 2002 to 2009 as determined by the Promise Institute that Colin Powell headed. And part of that I'm happy to attribute it to, and that is the Tennessee education lottery which was my hallmark legislation as a State senator. The lottery referendum passed in 2002, and the education law went into effect in 2003, giving children the incentive that they can go to college, that they can have a better life. Giving them hope with HOPE scholarships has helped kids make better grades in high school and turn out better graduates in Tennessee. I appreciate the fact that Tennessee has been recognized today as the country's education grades and scores have gone up, and we need to continue working on this. And if every State gave their students HOPE, we would have a better Nation.”