A new Comptroller Report released this week found all of Tennessee’s locally administered school districts received more money during fiscal year 2023/2024 when the state’s new TISA school funding formula went into effect than the prior year.

Fresh off the passage of his plan to let parents use tax dollars to send children to private school during last month’s special session, Lee used the annual address to unveil multiple new proposals for education that would be funded by the Governor’s proposed $59.5 billion state budget.

State Senators re-elected Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally, R- Oak Ridge, as Speaker with a 26 to 0 vote and Representative Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, to serve as House Speaker with 75 votes to Democrat nominee Representative Karen Camper’s, D-Memphis, 23 votes.

Tennessee legislators have filed several bills this year that aim to tackle longstanding challenges in education, such as expanding school choice, enhancing student safety, and curbing distractions from cell phones.

While the majority of K-12 facilities in Tennessee are in “good” or “excellent” condition, a new report from the Comptroller’s Office of Research and Education Accountability says that nearly 60 percent of counties have a “monetarily significant school infrastructure need.”

A new memo from the State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) says the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) school funding formula has had a “positive impact” on schools’ efforts to improve student outcomes.

Representative Scott Cepicky, R-Culleoka, has won three elections for House district 64 by comfortable margins, but this week’s campaign filings show he’s facing a strong challenge in the August GOP primary.

Last Thursday Republican State House District 65 candidate Brian Beathard took to his Facebook page to attack what may be Governor Bill Lee’s biggest education accomplishment.In 2022 lawmakers passed the Governor’s Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) that invested a billion dollars into K-12 education and fundamentally changed the formula the state uses to fund schools.  Beathard told his supporters that TISA is reducing the amount of money schools in Williamson County are receiving.

The TDOE is looking to update how it reviews and classifies CTE programs in the state to determine that they align with the needs of employers across industries.

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) is proposing sending school districts across the state an extra $215 per student next school year.If approved by the Tennessee General Assembly, that funding would increase the base amount districts receive for each student under the new Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) funding formula from $6,860 to $7,075 a year. TISA replaced the Basic Education Program (BEP) funding formula the state had been using last year.

State Senator Bill Powers (R-Clarksville) took an unconventional path to politics and the Tennessee General Assembly where he's the Vice-Chairperson of the Senate Education Committee.The sixth generation Montgomery County resident served as former U.S. Senator Howard Baker’s page as a teenager in the 70s but didn’t run for office himself until four decades later.  Baker served two terms as a Clarksville City Councilman before succeeding former State Senator and current Congressman Mark Greene in what is now Senate District 22.

Representative Tim Hicks took a different path than most to the state capitol in Nashville.The Washington County Republican lawmaker didn’t attend college and instead followed his father’s advice and built a career in home construction with his family’s business.

Governor Bill Lee told Middle Tennessee’s business leaders his proposed investments in education are needed to keep Tennessee moving forward.Those comments came Thursday morning as Governor Lee provided his annual address to the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.

Senator Raumesh Akbari admits it’s not easy getting legislation passed as a Democrat in the Republican supermajority in the Tennessee General Assembly, but she’s found ways to find common ground with conservatives to accomplish important educational changes.One of the biggest was the legislation Akbari co-sponsored to create the Tennessee Promise.

One of major selling points in last year’s passage of the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement Act was that it would provide money for teacher pay raises.Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn says that money will provide an average increase of $1,250 for each teacher in the state, but not everyone will see that much and some will receive more.

Lee stated he will propose an additional investment of $350 million into TISA which would include $125 million for teacher pay raises.

The Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) cleared an important hurdle Monday morning that ensures its eventual implementation for school districts across the state next school year.The Tennessee General Assembly’s Joint Government Operations Committee provided a positive recommendation to new rules that will govern TISA when it replaces the Basic Education Program (BEP) in the 2023/2024 school year.