From school threats to book bans and higher-ed funding debacles, 2024 marked a year of controversy and contention among education policymakers.

Since opening its doors nearly a decade ago, Libertas School of Memphis has gained support from local community members in the Frayser area for showing a “strong trajectory of student growth” and tackling chronic absenteeism.

A Tennessee legislator recently introduced a new bill that would allow public schools to display the Ten Commandments on school property.

Tennessee Sen. Charlane Oliver, D-Nashville, and State Rep. Aftyn Behn, D-Nashville, recently introduced legislation to make pre-kindergarten free and accessible for all four-year-olds statewide.

The 9 members of the Tennessee State Board of Education unanimously approved new rules that govern expectations for future opportunity charter schools.

Tennessee State University officials told state leaders Monday that the university is currently looking for new ways to save money, amid concerns about financial mismanagement.

End-of-course exams for public high school students in Tennessee will now have less of an impact on students’ final grades, according to state education leaders.

The Tennessee Public Charter School Commission has approved changes to a charter agreement with Empower Memphis Career and College Prep Charter Schools that would allow the operator to open a new school in a different location next school year.  

Tennessee legislators have filed several bills this year that aim to tackle longstanding challenges in education, such as expanding school choice, enhancing student safety, and curbing distractions from cell phones.

While the majority of K-12 facilities in Tennessee are in “good” or “excellent” condition, a new report from the Comptroller’s Office of Research and Education Accountability says that nearly 60 percent of counties have a “monetarily significant school infrastructure need.”

One of the key investments in Tennessee’s 2021 special legislative session was the creation of summer learning camps designed to help children overcome pandemic learning losses. The state has continued operating them ever since, and at Wednesday’s state budget hearing, Department of Education Commissioner LIzzette Reynolds made the case for an additional $57.8 million investment.

The Tennessee Higher Education Commission is requesting new funding in the state’s higher-ed budget to capitalize on the progress made through other state investments geared toward boosting postsecondary enrollment and expanding workforce training.

Despite the fact that the U.S. Department of Education funnels more than $800 million into Tennessee alone, some leading Republican legislators have signaled support for President-Elect Donald Trump’s promise to eliminate the department altogether.

There have been some mixed reactions to Tennessee lawmakers’ efforts to reintroduce school choice legislation for vouchers that allow public tax dollars to be used for private school enrollment.

Voters in Colorado, Kentucky, and Nebraska have decisively rejected efforts to implement school voucher programs that would allow families to use tax dollars for private school enrollment.

Testing didn’t receive a lot of headlines during the debate earlier this year over Governor Bill Lee’s plan to let families use taxpayer dollars to send their children to private school, but it played an important role in why the legislation failed. Members of the State House and Senate advanced different versions of the Governor’s Education Freedom Scholarship, sometimes called vouchers, and couldn’t come to a compromise on those differences. One of the biggest involved a provision in the House version of the legislation that would reduce the number of tests students in public school are required to take.

The Governor’s new voucher plan unveiled Wednesday includes no reduction in testing and additionally requires participants in grades 3 through 11 to either take a nationally standardized achievement test or The Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program.

Despite criticizing Gov. Bill Lee’s plan previously as “terrible,” Representative Scott Cepicky’s, R-Culleoka, expects lawmakers to iron out their differences about school choice legislation next year.

Students for Education (SFE), a Tennessee-based nonprofit dedicated to encouraging youth civic engagement, is expanding its national footprint as part of a broader effort to help soon-to-be voters advocate for their own education and influence public policy.

A new survey study from the Applied Social Research Lab at East Tennessee State University indicates that 56 percent of Tennesseans believe the state is “headed in the wrong direction.” Respondents cited concerns over the economy, as well as a divide over Tennessee school districts’ efforts to ban inappropriate books from school libraries.

A new statewide survey from the Beacon Center of Tennessee found that Tennessee voters are “more likely to vote for candidates” who support school choice by a 40-point margin.

Learn more about the recent Beacon poll findings.