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.

The school’s principal Jason Webster submitted the nomination, along with an announcement that Wallen wants to make a $1.2 million dollar donation to enhance the athletic facilities at the school.

The board voted Thursday to pull more than a dozen titles from library shelves, despite receiving a report that the district’s libraries aren’t meeting state standards when it comes to the number of books available.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

School board members unanimously supported a resolution Tuesday night opposing state intervention in the Tennessee school district and calling on elected officials elsewhere to join them.

Rutherford County is one of the fastest growing areas in the state and school officials there are weighing how to handle an influx of students while trying to maintain a community feel.

During Thursday’s meeting, Board Chair Joe Smith asked Superintendent Dr. Justin Robertson what the impact would be if the district reduced the number of benchmark tests given from three per year, to two or even one per year.