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 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.

There may not have been a single piece of legislation that was more impactful in 2022 than the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement Act.TISA as it was called, invested a billion dollars into K-12 education and fundamentally changed the way public schools are funded to be based on individual student needs.Still, the chair of the Tennessee Senate Education Committee says he wasn’t entirely sold on TISA at first.

State Senator Dawn White was always going to make an impact on education. The Murfreesboro legislator says even as a young child growing up in Eagleville Tennessee, she was attracted to teaching. “I mean my mother will tell you the stories of when my sister and I would play when we were little kids, I would always be the teacher so it’s just something that I always had a passion for and a heart for,” said Sen. White. 

Perhaps no issue was more impactful in last year’s legislative session than education. The 112th General Assembly ended with the historic passage of the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) Act that completely overhauled the way public schools are funded in Tennessee.The 113th General Assembly that begins at noon today likely won’t pass legislation as sweeping, but that doesn’t mean legislators won’t have an opportunity to make an impact on K-12 education.

A Tennessee bill would allow every public school teacher in the state to have $500 to spend on classroom supplies.The bill would be an adjustment on the $200 initially stipulated for each teacher’s use in the new Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement funding formula, set to begin in the 2023-24 school year.

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) released the 2020-2022 Accelerating Tennessee Report this week to showcase the steps that have been taken to improve public education in the volunteer state.The report details how Tennessee has been able to implement and execute academic initiatives and strategically invest in schools, students, and faculty since 2020. The state supports nearly one million students, over 70,000 educators and over 1,800 schools across 147 districts.“I am deeply proud of the work Tennessee’s districts, school leaders and educators, students, elected officials, community partners, families and department staff have done strategically and with a common goal in mind—achieving the best for ALL students,” said Tennessee Department of Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn.The report details some of the key steps Tennessee took following the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure students received a high-quality education during remote learning. This includes the Reading 360 and Tennessee All Corps initiatives Tennessee launched in 2021 to give students the best chance at recovering from pandemic learning loss with additional resources to ensure they are reading at grade-level.“One-on-one tutoring provides individualized assistance to get our students not only back on track academically but on a successful path for their future,” said Cameron Sexton, Speaker of the House, Tennessee General Assembly. “We all want and continue to work towards the same outcome in education- every student that graduates from a Tennessee school does so with the skills and opportunities for success in life.”TDOE additionally focused on providing each Tennessee student with the proper tools and skills they need to succeed post-graduation. The Innovative School Models initiative allows school districts to reimagine the middle and high school experience to improve student readiness. The initiative was launched in 2022 with a $500 million investment from the state.“Instead of asking all students to conform to one traditional educational experience, we are creating individual pathways for students to achieve success,” said Dr. Annette Tudor, Director of Schools, Bristol City Schools.Tennessee became the first state in the nation to launch a Grow Your Own initiative, which creates a pathway for Tennessee students to become Tennessee teachers, a direct response to combat nation-wide and local teacher shortages.In addition to these initiatives, Governor Bill Lee introduced legislation to implement a student-based funding formula, replacing a decades-old, outdated formula that no longer served the state productively. The Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement Act brings an additional $1 billion in annual investment, revolutionizing the way the state supports its students and provides them with necessary resources.“What lies ahead is a continued commitment and focus on closing achievement gaps, strategically investing in proven initiatives, and accelerating student academic achievement,” said Commissioner Schwinn. “The department will continue to prioritize transparency and access to actionable data and resources for Tennessee students, families, and stakeholders to continue partnering in this essential work.”

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee promised to continue his educational priorities after comfortably winning a second term.Governor Lee won nearly 65 percent of the vote to Democrat Jason Martin’s nearly 33 percent Tuesday night.  It’s an improvement over Lee’s victory four years ago where he won with 59 percent of the vote.

29.5 percent of respondents in a new poll of East Tennessee residents cited education and children as the topic they want elected leaders to focus on. That’s 6 points higher than the 23.2 percent who listed price increases and inflation in the poll.If the rest of the state is as focused on education as those polled, voters will have plenty to consider win the Governor’s race between Governor Bill Lee and Democrat Jason Martin.

Tennessee’s per-pupil spending on K-12 public school students, amongst the lowest in the country, increased an inflation-adjusted 18% from 2002 to 2020 while its student population grew 13%, according to a new study from the Reason Foundation.The study looked at spending increases across the country, where spending per student increased $3,211 per student, or 25%. In Tennessee, the raw data showed that the 18% increase amounted to $1,704 in inflation-adjusted spending per student.