Tennessee lawmakers approved expanding the private school voucher program to Hamilton County, but not Knox County. The final bill now awaits Gov. Bill Lee’s signature.

Tennessee lawmakers advanced a bill to expand the state’s ESA program to Hamilton County, allowing more students to use funds for private education.

The Tennessee Senate approved a bill to include Hamilton County in the state’s ESA voucher program. The bill now moves to the House for discussion.

By any measure, Chattanooga Preparatory School’s first high school basketball season was a slam dunk success.The newly established public charter school entered the 2020/2021 season with only a 9th grade class, so the varsity boys team consisted solely of freshmen. The Sentinels still went 10 and 5 on the year, coming one game shy of qualifying for the 8-team state tournament.That record included a 5 and 1 district result for the only public charter school in Tennessee’s Division I Class 1A Region 3 District 5. The Sentinels only district loss came to Polk County rival Copper Basin. The two teams split their season series and then faced off in the district championship game where Copper Basin won a nail-bitter by just two points.It would appear one season of facing the Sentinels was more than enough for Copper Basin.During last month’s Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) annual regional meetings, the small Polk County school proposed moving all public charter schools out of the Division I that they are currently in with traditional public schools. Under the proposal, public charter school athletes would instead compete in Division II with private schools.

Tennessee’s private school voucher law, which now only affects districts and some students in Memphis and Nashville, would widen to include Hamilton County Schools under new legislation filed this week.Sen. Todd Gardenhire, a Chattanooga Republican, wants the legislature to expand the eligibility criteria for the education savings account program to include students in districts with at least five of the state’s lowest-performing schools, as identified in the last three “priority school” cycles since 2015.

Jeffrey Stubblefield didn’t spend his summer break like most elementary school children.  Then again, Stubblefield is no ordinary fourth grader.From May 31 to August 8 this summer Stubblefield spent an astonishing 30,150 minutes reading.  That adds up to roughly seven hours a day with a book.

The department says the TN ALL Corps District Support Network will provide districts with new opportunities to engage in collaborative learning experiences, share best practices, and enhance local tutoring programs.

Each summer students from across Tennessee take part in a competition that takes place in chairs, bedrooms, libraries, and even cars.It’s known as Tristar Reads and the goal is to spend the most minutes reading over the summer break. Tennesseans for Student Success created Tristar Reads in 2016 to help stop the so-called “summer slide” that many students encounter over the summer months when they’re not in school.This year, 77 participants students spent roughly 273 thousand minutes reading including overall winner Jeffrey Stubblefield.