STATE GOVERMENT NEWS

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

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.

Legislation that prevents Tennessee counties from switching to a caucus for local partisan elections passed a House vote Monday and now heads to Governor Bill Lee, despite pushback from Republican Party leaders.

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 lawmakers are proposing legislation that ensures every county that currently uses a primary for local partisan races continues to do so and prohibits them from switching to a caucus or convention.

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.

State Representative Rick Scarbrough is co-sponsoring legislation that would require school districts that report credible threats of violence or significantly disruptive behavior to law enforcement, to notify parents within 48 hours.

Senator Lowe’s legislation would create a ten-member advisory committee appointed by state leaders to study the state’s testing and accountability systems.

Under the bill, the education commissioner would be able to recommend the removal of the director of schools and some or all school board members.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 Plyler vs. Doe decision prohibits public schools from refusing to admit undocumented students and the legislation is envisioned by supporters as an opportunity to challenge that decision.

During a school board meeting Tuesday night, the MSCS board voted unanimously to support a resolution opposing state intervention and calling on other elected officials to oppose it as well.

The bill, brought by Speaker Pro Tempore Pat Marsh, R-Shelbyville, would allow local school boards to introduce a merit-based pay structure to award additional compensation to high-performing educators.

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.