Senator Dawn White named new Senate Education Committee Chair

Senator Dawn White (Photo by Tennessee General Assembly)

Tennessee Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally, R-Oak Ridge, named a former teacher to head up the Senate Education Committee Thursday morning.

State Senator Dawn White, R-Murfreesboro, will chair the committee that’s expected to play a big role in the legislative session and upcoming special session on Governor Lee’s Education Freedom Scholarship Act of 2025 that would allow families to use taxpayer dollars to send their children to private school. Former Senator Jon Lundberg had led the committee since 2022, but the chair opened up when he lost in the August Republican Primary.

Before running for office, Senator White spent seven years as a kindergarten teacher at Black Fox Elementary School in Murfreesboro. The new committee chair told the Tennessee Firefly that one of her main priorities this year is to find innovative ways to put more money into fast growing school districts like Rutherford County Schools.

White says the school district is spending between $80 million to $110 million a year building new schools and the same is true of other fast growing suburban counties around Nashville.

“I talk to other legislators in these fast-growing counties and it’s a huge problem we’re all facing,” said White. “I’ve talked to my local school boards, my superintendent, talked to principals, and administrators and you know, they’re busting at the seams. They have portables out there and that’s not good for children as well and so we need to shrink the class sizes in Rutherford County and actually have them a classroom.”

Senator White also lists addressing teacher shortages and supporting career and technical education (CTE) programs as priorities.

The Education Committee White will be leading mostly remains the same from last session. Senator Bill Powers, R-Clarksville, will serve as 1st Vice-Chair and Senator Raumesh Akbari, D- Memphis, will serve as 2nd Vice-Chair.

One notable change is that Senator Todd Gardenhire, R-Chattanooga, who successfully led efforts to expand a pilot program allowing parents to send their children to private school with public dollars, is off the committee and Senators Kerry Roberts, R-Springfield, and Adam Lowe, R-Calhoun, are joining existing members Rusty Crowe, R-Johnson City; R-Ferrell Haile; Joey Hensley, R – Hohenwald; and Mark Pody, R-Lebanon. 

Education committees merged in the House

House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, made the decision to reorganize education committees in his chamber.

Previously Representatives split education into two committees, Education Administration and Education Instruction, with three subcommittees under them. Now the chamber will have just one Education Committee with an Education Administration Subcommittee, Education Instruction Subcommittee, Higher Education Subcommittee, and K-12 Subcommittee under it. 

Representative Mark White (Photo by Tennessee General Assembly)

Representative Mark White, R-Memphis, previously chaired the Education Instruction Committee and Representative William Slater, R- Gallatin, served as its Vice-Chair.  White will now chair the new Education Committee and Slater will chair the new Education Administration Subcommittee.

White also told the Tennessee Firefly that addressing the state’s teacher shortage is a priority and he said legislators will look at ways to help those already working to become teachers get certified.

“Are there obstacles in the way that’s preventing a teacher that goes into the classroom on a permit and they teach for three years on that permit, which is what we put into the law, should that not count for something. If they’ve gotta go back to higher education to get that 18 hours of Pedagogy to be licensed in a certain subject, should that three years that they’re teaching on a permit also count for something,” said White.

Representative Charlie Baum, R-Murfreesboro, is replacing Representative Justin Lafferty, R-Knoxville, as chair of the Higher Education Subcommittee and Representatives Scott Cepicky, R-Culleoka, and Representative Kirk Haston, Lobelville, are keeping their chairs of the Education Instruction Subcommittee and K-12 Instruction Subcommittee respectively.

Representative Debra Moody, R-Covington, had chaired the prior House Education Instruction Committee, but she will instead chair the House Calendar and Rules Committee this session.