[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 18297]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HOPE SCHOLARSHIPS

  (Mr. COHEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, 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.

                          ____________________