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.

Members of the House Education Administration Committee advanced proposed legislation Wednesday to help public charter schools access school buildings that are sitting unused by local districts.The legislation would require local school districts that have public charter schools in them to provide a list of vacant and underutilized buildings on an annual basis. Under the bill, school districts would additionally be required to make those properties available to public charter schools at a fair market value and give charters a first right of refusal for either purchase or lease.

The Tennessee House of Representatives formally adopted new rules for this year’s legislative session Wednesday that limit debate time and silence members for speaking out of order.Representative William Lamberth, R-Portland, brought forward the change involving the amount of time members are able to speak on a topic. Under the new rule, both the Democratic and Republican caucuses each get 30 minutes total to speak on bills.Caucus leaders are responsible for dolling out how much time each individual member can speak during those 30 minutes.

Members of the Tennessee State Senate appear to be approaching the special session on public safety in a more abbreviated fashion than their House counterparts.