Tennessee’s private school voucher program, currently limited to eligible students attending public schools in Memphis and Nashville, would expand to all four of the state’s urban districts under new legislation.A bill to extend the program to Chattanooga-based Hamilton County Schools passed last week in the Senate. And under a new GOP measure filed recently in the House and facing its first vote next week, the bill could be amended to include Knox County Schools, too.

Members of the House Education Administration Committee advanced Governor Bill Lee’s proposal to raise teacher salaries to at least $50 thousand by the 2026/2027 school year, but not without a lengthy debate over the bill’s paycheck protection provision.That section of the legislation would prohibit school districts from deducting dues from teacher paychecks for organizations and unions, including the Tennessee Education Association (TEA).

Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton’s proposals to create home school charter schools and to study the potential impact of opting to decline federal education funding appear to be dead for the year.

In 2020, Faith Miles saw her kindergarten year broken up by the pandemic. Already slower to pick up language skills than her older siblings, Faith was further set back by months of remote learning.Now in third grade, Faith is among the nearly 3,900 students in the Metro Nashville Public Schools — and thousands more throughout Tennessee — who risk failing the state reading test this spring.

Monday’s vote in favor of legislation to support economically disadvantaged students came with a misleading attack by a State Representative whose city would be among those benefitting the most.The bill makes several changes to laws governing public charter schools, including allowing an enrollment preference for students who are economically disadvantaged.

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.

Members of the House Administration Committee advanced legislation Wednesday designed to help provide at-risk students with more accessibility to public charter schools.The legislation gives public charter schools the option of providing preference to students who are economically disadvantaged, including homeless, migrants, in foster care, runaways, and those eligible for free and reduce lunches.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton wants to create a task force to study the feasibility of Tennessee rejecting U.S. education dollars to free its schools from federal rules and regulations.

The union that represents Tennessee teachers made it crystal clear this week that it's not happy with Governor Bill Lee’s proposal to stop school districts from automatically deducting dues from teacher paychecks.

The union that represents Tennessee teachers made it crystal clear this week that it's not happy with Governor Bill Lee’s proposal to stop school districts from automatically deducting dues from teacher paychecks.