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.”

School nurses may be one solution to the growing problem of chronic absenteeism in Tennessee.Chronic absenteeism has been an ongoing issue nationwide that only increased following the pandemic.During the 2022-2023 school year, more than 20 percent of Tennessee students were chronically absent and those rates are higher with high school and economically disadvantaged students.

Newly elected Republican Representatives William Slater and Kevin Raper don’t even have their pictures posted yet on the Tennessee General Assembly website, but both are now occupying leadership positions in key House Committees.Tennessee Speaker of the House Cameron Sexton appointed Slater as the Vice-Chair of the House Education Administration Committee Thursday and assigned Raper to be the House Education Instruction Committee Vice-Chair.