The district closed schools for the ninth consecutive day on Thursday.

In an exclusive interview, Blackburn expressed support for removing tuition requirements for out-of-district students and charter school funding.

The change will move most high school start and dismissal times forward by twenty minutes, and elementary start and dismissal times forward by 10 minutes.

Blackburn reported $5.3 million in contributions while Green reported $125,000.

Lee said demand warrants the investment in what’s expected to be a tighter budget year to expand the number of scholarships to 40,000.

57 percent of the 463 Republican voters who responded to the January poll said they’d vote for Blackburn in the August primary, compared to 8 percent for State Representative Monty Fritts, R-Kingston, and 7 percent for Congressman John Rose.

A spokesperson for Metro Nashville Public Schools says as of Thursday night, 17 schools were still without power, and another eight were experiencing partial outages due to Winter Storm Fern.

On Wednesday, Blackburn shared a video clip on social media of the President praising her at the Trump Accounts summit that day, and indicating he believes she’ll win the race to succeed Governor Bill Lee.

On a 6-2 vote, the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission granted Knowledge Academy at the Crossing’s appeal for a five-year renewal of its charter agreement.

More than 100 thousand homes remain without power in Nashville alone.

According to a news release, the Tennessee Department of Education has received more than 50,304 new and renewal applications for the program that allows families to use taxpayer dollars for private school expenses.

State Republican leaders announced a series of bills on Thursday designed to target illegal immigration, including one that would require a verification of whether K-12 students have lawful immigration status.

Those schools have been without formal custodial services this year, following a decision last month against approving a contract with ABM Industries.

At Tuesday night’s board work session, multiple members expressed support to keep interim superintendent Dr. Roderick Richmond on the job.

The Gate School would utilize the Harkness Method, which involves discussion-based teaching, with small groups of students sitting around an oval table rather than in rows of desks.

Holly Logan is an English as a Second Language teacher at Westwood Elementary School and serves the district by training, supporting, and mentoring fellow educators and providing translation services. 

One board member questioned whether proposals to change start times truly addressed student needs, while others expressed concerns about busing.

State Senator Brent Taylor has agreed to move forward with State Representative Mark White’s plan to create a state-appointed oversight board for Memphis-Shelby County Schools.

Lawmakers are expected to debate multiple issues that played a prominent role in last year’s legislative session, including state intervention into Memphis-Shelby County Schools.

More than 60 percent of respondents said they support expanding the Education Freedom Scholarship and adopting policies that allow parents to send their children to public schools across district or county lines without paying tuition.