Erica is committed to working  with the Metro Nashville School Board, Director of Metro Nashville Public School, the Metro Nashville City Council, labor unions and community stakeholders to ensure that children enter school ready and able to learn, teachers have support and resources to teach, and high school graduates are prepared to pursue colleges and careers.

The importance of early childhood education cannot be overemphasized. Access to early childhood education is a need, particularly in economically lagging rural communities and low-income urban neighborhoods. Erica is committed to investing in policies that protect and expand early childhood education. 

In recent years, our teachers have seen their salaries and benefits decline significantly. As a former Metro Nashville school teacher, Erica believes paying our teachers properly is the only proven method of attracting and retaining the highest quality teachers. 

Erica will invest in proven intervention strategies to reduce the high school dropout rate and close the achievement gap.  

She supports transitional bilingual education and will help Limited English Proficient students receive access to a quality education by holding schools accountable for ensuring these students complete their studies. 

Underinvestment in public education has left many schools with too little funding for counselors, special educators, teacher training, and other needs. This has coincided with an increased reliance on suspensions, expulsions, and school resource officers to enforce school discipline—including for behavior that is far from a crime. As a result, student discipline increasingly reflects the adult criminal-justice system—with children, especially children of color, being charged, arrested, and even detained in juvenile facilities. Erica will invest in public/private partnerships to help deploy counselors and other school staff.