NASHVILLE NEWS

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) and Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) received top honors at the 2025 ACT State and District Summit for their leadership in preparing students for postsecondary success.

Tennessee Nature Academy has secured a 23-acre permanent campus site in Cane Ridge, thanks to a $2 million land donation from the McGowan family. The tuition-free public charter school will use the forest, stream, and wetland-filled property to deepen its outdoor-based, hands-on learning model for grades 5–12. Groundbreaking is set for July 30, 2025.

A national study finds just 12% of certificates and industry credentials significantly raise wages—leaving many Tennessee workers struggling as rent and home prices outpace income.

For the last five years, students at Valor Collegiate Academy have been able to participate in school-based athletics on Overton High School teams as part of an agreement between the schools.

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) released the 2024–25 Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) results Tuesday afternoon, revealing year-over-year improvements in student proficiency across every tested subject and grade level.

In years past, district leaders in Nashville have given staff more time to review the sometimes-expansive applications by scheduling charter decisions in the July school board meeting.

The research of Tennessee’s more than 100 public charter schools found these students consistently outperformed traditional school peers in math and English language arts following the pandemic.

In an effort to close the gap between classrooms and careers, SCORE has awarded Future Forward grants to seven programs across Tennessee.

For a group of students from the Roots of Music program in New Orleans, performing at CMA Fest in Nashville last weekend marked several firsts: first plane ride, first time outside Louisiana and first national performance opportunity.

All three applicants have the ability to appeal to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission that has overturned at least one MNPS charter denial four years in a row.

The board unexpectedly decided late last week to hold votes on amended applications from the Rock Academy, the Forge School, and Rocketship Public Schools at Tuesday night’s meeting.

Speaking before at the Rotary Club of Nashville Monday, O’Connell reaffirmed that his office has done nothing to warrant the investigations now underway in the U.S. House Judiciary and Homeland Security committees, though the mayor said both are taxing vital Metro resources.

At Tuesday’s budget meeting, Board Member Zach Young said the district could do a better job attracting hard-to-fill specialty teaching positions if the raise was higher than 3 percent.

Under her instruction, 74 percent of students were reading on grade level. By comparison, 2024 state testing data shows that 33 percent of elementary school students in Metro Nashville Public Schools achieved proficiency.

The move coincides with existing CEO Dwayne Tucker’s decision to continue serving Tennessee State University as interim president and not return to LEAD for the 2025/26 school year.

If approved by the Metro Council, education will make up more than 37 percent of the total Metro budget.

The public charter school operator opened its first school, KIPP Academy, with one fifth-grade class in 2005. Today KIPP Nashville operates nine schools serving 3,417 students and employing a staff of more than 450.

The board voted down applications from the Rock Academy, the Forge School, and Rocketship Public Schools Tuesday.

The Metro Nashville Public Schools Board of Education is scheduled to vote on applications from Forge School, the Rock Academy, and Rocketship Public Schools Tuesday night.

The Tennessee House passed legislation proposed by students Wednesday that requires each school district in the state to create a policy for a student to serve as a nonvoting school board member.

Members of the Tennessee House sent a sign of increased support for innovative education options Monday by voting 70 to 19 in favor of legislation that supporters say will improve the approval process for public charter schools.

The TCAP is a statewide standardized testing program that includes assessments in English language arts (ELA), math, science, and social studies.

Lawmakers are currently considering legislation that would require each school district to create a policy for a non-voting student school board member.

State Representatives John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, and Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis, both serve districts where multiple public charter schools are outperforming traditional public schools nearby.  Still both lawmakers openly questioned the performance of those schools during debate over new charter legislation Monday morning in the House Government Operations Committee.

The report claims Hale intentionally left behind materials to be found, analyzed, and publicly released and investigators say she wanted books, documentaries, and movies to be made about her. They also say she hoped her actions would show future shooters how they could succeed with proper planning.

Legislation that supporters say will help ensure public charter schools are approved timely and without political bias advanced from the House Education Committee Tuesday, but not without multiple misleading statements by Knoxville-based opponents.

The committee found several factors are making it more challenging to recruit career and technology (CTE) teachers, including money.  The report said teacher salaries remain significantly lower than wages in many CTE industries.

The Governor Bill Lee backed legislation would allow charter applicants the ability to apply directly to the charter commission if they want to open a school in a district that has had three charter denials overturned in three straight years.

Legislation presented by Representative Debra Moody, R-Covington, Tuesday would sunset the state ASD, replacing it with a progressive, three-tiered intervention system that would give more control to school districts.