The Tennessee State Board of Education moved closer to approving the accountability hearing process for schools that receive failing marks under the state’s School Letter Grades.¶
The system is designed to provide the public with transparency into how well public schools are meeting state expectations by awarding each school with an A through F grade, based on a number of criteria. Parents can use the dashboard to look up the letter grade for any public school in the state. ¶
During its meeting on February 24, the State Board of Education debated the process for accountability hearings for schools that don’t make the grade. Beginning in the 2025-2026 school year, the State Board can call for an accountability hearing for any district operating a school that receives an “F” letter grade for the two previous years, or a school whose grade slips from a “D” to “F” in the previous two years. The same applies to public charter schools. During this hearing, a committee composed of State Board members will meet with district or charter school leaders to review the performance of the failing school, and how the local district or charter school’s financial, staffing, instructional, or other decisions may have affected performance goals. Following the hearing, the committee may make recommendations including a full audit of finances and academic programming, a corrective action plan, or it could decide to take no action. The full State Board would then vote on those recommendations.¶
Once a school appears for a hearing, it would not be called again for another two years, a point that was questioned during Friday’s meeting.¶
“A lot of the schools or LEAs (school districts) that we’re going to be seeing at these hearings are already going to be on some sort of turnaround plan or improvement plan, and our goal is to not add any additional burden,” said State Board of Education General Counsel Rachel Suppe. “We want to give an LEA or public charter school that’s been called for a hearing some time to implement any of the recommendations that come out of the hearing, and additional time to see whether there’s any potential impact from those recommendations.”¶
Several Board members expressed concern about the number of hearings and the time involved. Suppe told them it is estimated during the first year, around 28 hearings would be held, each expected to last up to an hour and a half.¶
“I think this needs to be revisited by the legislature because it does not seem practical to me to take this board’s time, or even a committee of this board’s time and have 28 or 30 hearings a year. It does not seem like the best use of the board’s resources,” said Board Member Jordan Mollenhour. “I’m not saying this work is not important, it is important, but I think it found the wrong home. It does not strike me as a sustainable model.”¶
“As a committee, you’re talking about at least a week’s worth full time of appearing at hearings,” said Board Chair Robert Eby. “I do say, it’s important, whether it’s us or somebody else, that these hearings are used for the benefit of the schools.”¶
In response to those concerns, Suppe noted that Tennessee is the first in the nation to implement such a state accountability hearing model for local districts. She pointed out that once the process gets going, further refinement can be made.¶
“We are always striving for continuous improvement and can make changes to these rules in order to do that,” said Suppe.¶
Board members approved the first of two required votes on the accountability hearing rules at Friday’s meeting, and could make the final vote next May.¶
