The House Education Instruction Committee advanced legislation Tuesday that would require Tennessee students to watch a fetal development video created by a group that opposes abortion rights.The committee voted on party lines in favor of Representative Gino Bulso’s, R-Brentwood, family life curriculum bill requiring schoolchildren to watch “Meet Baby Olivia.” Abortion rights opposition group Live Action created the three-minute ultrasound computer animation focusing on the development of a fetus for family life curriculums.

State Representative Justin Jones, D-Nashville, represents a district that touches four school clusters with some of the highest performing public charter schools in Nashville.Those charters in east and southeast Nashville include a dozen that outscored the average grade district run public schools received in their cluster on the state’s School Letter Grades assessment. The remaining public charter schools scored equal to the cluster average and 40 percent of the Reward schools in these four clusters are charters.

Proposed legislation that requires firearm safety to be taught in schools advanced from the House Education Instruction Committee Tuesday morning.Representative Chris Todd, R-Madison County, says he created the bill with the hope that it would save lives by teaching kids what to do when they encounter a firearm.“It’s certainly not about how to handle a firearm or proper techniques or anything like that. This is literally going to be more on the lines of ‘if you see a gun, tell an adult.’ And that’s the general concept that I think all of these type courses are going to have,” said Todd. “I think this is definitely going to save some lives.”

Tennessee State Representative Gloria Johnson, D-Knoxville, logged on to social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, at 10 PM Friday night to produce a multi tweet attack on proposed legislation designed to improve the school facilities economically disadvantaged and students of color attend.Her followers received a host of misleading information about not only the bill but also public charter schools in general.

Members of the House Democratic Caucus held a press conference Tuesday to release what they’re calling a “family-first” agenda for the new legislative session.Members of the Democratic caucus also criticized the Freedom Education Scholarship Act that’s a key priority for Governor Bill Lee and some members of the Republican Supermajority. The act would allow Tennessee families the ability to use public dollars to send their children to private school.

The expulsions of two Democratic lawmakers last week may not last long after all.Wednesday afternoon members of the Shelby County Commission unanimously voted to reappoint Representative Justin J. Pearson.  That vote followed a Metro Council move to reappoint Representative Justin Jones to his Nashville seat.

Activism has been part of Safiyah Suara’s young life since her politician mother hauled her along to demonstrations in a baby carrier. That’s why she’ll be spending this week protesting guns and the expulsion from the Tennessee House of two Democratic lawmakers by their Republican colleagues.

Without objection, the council suspended its rules to immediately nominate and approve Jones to fill the District 52 seat as Jones sat in the gallery.

Thursday morning two House Democrats used what would otherwise be a routine vote to reauthorize the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission to take swipes at public charter schools despite academic success in their own counties.

Few educational issues have generated more disagreement this year than Tennessee’s Third-Grade Retention Law.The legislation was designed in 2021 to ensure that students who a need additional help in reading would receive it before being promoted to the fourth grade.Wednesday afternoon Reginald Nash with advocate organization the Education Trust told members of the State House Education Instruction Committee that any tweaks need to include an emphasis on building the literacy foundations both at the start of third grade and much earlier.