House Subcommittee advances bill to help school districts plan for capital improvements

House committee hearing room (Photo by Sky Arnold)

Members of the House K-12 Subcommittee today advanced several bills, including legislation allowing local school districts to establish investment trusts dedicated for capital improvements.

The School District Capital Improvements Investment Trust Act, sponsored by Representative Kirk Haston R-Lobelville, would allow local school boards to invest any surplus money into the account, which could then only be used for repairs, new building projects, and other capitol improvements for that district. By utilizing an investment account, local districts would be able to see interest earnings on that money.

Representative Kirk Haston (Photo by Tennessee General Assembly)

Currently, school districts are not able to establish their own capital trusts. If the bill passes into law, districts will have to meet some requirements to do so. They must adopt a capital improvements plan, maintain a public school fund balance of at least two months of expenditures, and adopt an investment policy.

“There will be some required approval by the state funding board,” said Representative Haston. “It must comply with the established investment policies and legal standards, so they’ll have some guidelines and some oversight in this. It is voluntary but it’s something they cannot do right now.”

Subcommittee members also took up a bill that would examine teacher evaluation practices in Tennessee.  Brought by Representative Scott Cepicky R-Culleoka, it would require the state Department of Education and the state Board of Education to convene an advisory committee comprised of experienced educators and other experts. That committee would review teacher evaluation practices in Tennessee and other states. The department will then present the committee’s findings and recommendations to lawmakers next year. Representative Cepicky has previously run similar bills to evaluate English language arts and math curriculums. He says it has been years since evaluations for educators have been examined.

“This is the next step of progress we’re making,” said Representative Cepicky. “We’ll look inwardly and we’ll outwardly at the best practices we can find on how to evaluate our teachers in the classroom and bring that recommendation back to these committees in January of 2026.”

Both bills passed the subcommittee vote unanimously and now advance to the full House Education Committee.