STATE EDUCATION NEWS

The PAEMST award is considered the nation’s highest honor for U.S. K-12 science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and/or computer science teachers.

Lawmakers passed the legislation last month that requires each school district in the state to create a policy for a student to serve as a nonvoting school board member.

Education advocacy organization Tennesseans for Student Success created Tristar Reads to encourage children to read during their summer break.

Under the new law, charter operators that want to replicate an existing academic model, or public colleges and universities that want to establish charters, now have the option of applying directly to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission for approval.

Lawmakers on the Joint Government Operations Committee met Monday to review administration rules for the newly launched Education Freedom Scholarship program and to ask questions about some of the challenges that appeared during its launch.

Governor Bill Lee signed the legislation creating the program in February, allowing up to 20 thousand families to use $7,295 in taxpayer dollars to pay for private school expenses.

Both polls asked voters for their support of key education policies that have been backed this year by Republican leaders, including President Trump and Governor Bill Lee.

A new report from the National Education Association finds Tennessee’s education investments appear to be making an impact, but not one that’s large enough to vault the state to the head of the class for education spending.

The Tennessee Department of Education plans to launch the application portal at 10 P.M. CT according to a news release sent to the Tennessee Firefly.

This week, State Representative Scott Cepicky, R-Culleoka, and State Senator Adam Lowe, R-Calhoun, said they plan to explore whether the TSSAA should continue to exist in its current form.

Among the bills that did pass were multiple changes to help Tennessee’s public charter schools. 

The future of legislation to enable state-intervention into Memphis-Shelby County Schools could be decided in a conference committee.

If approved by the Tennessee House, the bill will create a ten-member advisory committee that also studies the academic requirements for career and technical education students, whether schools should have a minimum number of required instructional hours, and the licensure requirements for teachers.

The measure would allow a student to transfer to another school without losing athletic eligibility provided the sending school does not attest the transfer was due to athletic or disciplinary reasons.

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.

If each chamber passes its version, the final details of one of the most talked about pieces of legislation this session would be decided in a conference committee.

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.

The measure from State Senator Adam Lowe, R-Calhoun, would allow a student to transfer to another school due to a significant academic, social-emotional, environmental, or mental health need, provided the sending school does not attest the transfer was due to athletic or disciplinary reasons.

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.

It received a positive recommendation on a narrow 8-7 margin, with Representative Jeremy Faison, R- Cosby, joining six Democrats on the committee voting against the legislation.

The bill from Senator Paul Rose would extend existing pronoun policy to students and prohibit teachers from asking students to call them by a name or pronoun inconsistent with their biological sex.

The legislation would create what a federal education deregulation cooperation task force charged with investigating the Tennessee impact of recent presidential administration efforts to slash the U.S. Department of Education.

Speaking to House Education Committee members Wednesday evening, Representative Mark White said only 17 percent of the district’s students demonstrate proficiency in math, and just 23 percent meet reading proficiency standards.

Representative Mark Cochran, R-Englewood, announced Wednesday morning that he plans to amend his legislation without including the key compromise announced in the Senate that would study the state’s accountability system instead of weakening it.

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.

Watson told committee members his bill is meant to help gather information and ease what he calls a financial burden placed on local districts with English language learnerprograms, pointing to a steady rise in the costs of those programs over the past eight years.

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.