Representative William Lamberth’s, R-Portland, is hoping the second time is the charm for legislation designed to help improve school safety during an active shooter situation.Lamberth tried unsuccessfully to pass the bill during last year’s special session on public safety, but it wasn’t among the four Tennessee Senators approved.The bill would require each school district to develop specific procedures to follow if an unannounced fire alarm goes off. Lambert told the House K-12 Subcommittee Tuesday afternoon that this type of planning could save lives in an active-shooter situation.

School boards in as many as six counties could vote on applications this year for new public charter schools.A diverse group of potential charter operators sent 21 charter application letters of intent to school districts across the state, the first step in this year’s new start charter application process. Those operators include an existing charter operator, prior applicants who failed to receive approval, along with a host of new organizations with no experience in Tennessee.A diverse group of potential charter operators sent 22 charter application letters of intent to school districts across the state, the first step in this year’s new start charter application process. Those operators include existing charter operators, prior applicants who failed to receive approval, along with a host of new organizations with no experience in Tennessee.

Tennessee’s tighter budget has claimed its first education related legislative victim of the session.Monday night Representative Jay Reedy, R-Erin, pulled HB1604 from discussion in the House Higher Education Subcommittee saying he currently doesn’t see a way forward because of the cost.The bill would have waived tuition and fees at public higher education institutions to dependent children under 23 of Tennessee veterans that are 100 percent permanently and totally disabled due to a service-connected injury.

The House Democratic Caucus called for Tennessee Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynold to resign Monday morning, saying she doesn’t have the necessary qualifications and experience.State law last updated decades ago requires that the Tennessee Department of Education’s commissioner “shall be a person of literary and scientific attainments and of skill and experience in school administration” and “shall also be qualified to teach in the school of the highest standing over which the commissioner has authority.”House Democratic Caucus Chair John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, said an examination of Reynold’s background shows she doesn’t meet these requirements.

In 2021 the Greater Memphis Chamber launched a new tool to help better inform businesses that are considering locating to the Memphis region.The Memphis Moves dashboard provides a variety of employment and education data that employers can use to decide if Memphis is a good fit for them. This data includes information on the existing jobs in the region for various occupations, the number of graduates receiving an industry certificate or a degree, and an interactive map to help employers visualize where universities, colleges, and vocational and technical schools are located.

Tennessee students in a pilot educational savings account program in three counties are receiving $9,800 – the average statewide funding per public school student – this year.That’s higher than the $7,075 first-year number in a proposed statewide ESA program and higher than what the funding was estimated to be heading into the approval of the pilot, which is currently taking place in Davidson, Shelby and Hamilton counties.

With a busy classroom schedule and school operations consuming each day, it’s rarely easy for public school teachers to stay on top of every education bill that’s making its way through the Tennessee General Assembly.Educator voices can be important though to the lawmakers who vote on those bills and that’s one reason why organization Tennesseans for Student Success created Teachers for Student Success two years ago.

When Tennessee lawmakers return to Nashville from this week’s snow delay, fourth-grade retention may very well succeed last year’s heated debate over third-grade retention.Last Wednesday’s discussion in the Senate Education Committee with new Tennessee Department of Education Commissioner Lizette Reynolds brought a preview of what that debate may look like.

Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, announced Thursday that he’s moving Representative Justin Jones, D-Nashville, off a key education committee. Sexton appointed Jones to the Education Administration Committee during last summer's special session on public safety but Jones will not serve on that committee during this year’s session.

Five Tennessee State Senators who served on last year’s panel that looked into the possibility of rejecting federal education funding are breaking with their House colleagues and submitting a separate recommendation.

Five Tennessee State Senators who served on last year’s panel that looked into the possibility of rejecting federal education funding are breaking with their House colleagues and submitting a separate recommendation.

Tennessee lawmakers are returning to Nashville Tuesday to reconvene a 113th General Assembly that adjourned in April with more attention for its controversies than legislative accomplishments.The next few months of the session could bring more turmoil, with Governor Lee’s proposal to allow families across the state to use public dollars to attend private school along with the forthcoming Joint Working Group’s recommendations on potentially rejecting federal education dollars.

Tennessee’s learning loss in math could have a permanent impact on the lifetime earning potential of its students.That’s according to Dr. Eric Hanushek of Stanford University’s Hoover Institution think tank. Hanushek says students could see a 5.8 percent drop in overall lifetime earnings based on the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) math results.PISA is provided to 15-year-old students from more than 70 countries every three years and Tennessee students dropped 12 points between 2018 and 2022 on the assessment.

When members of the Tennessee General Assembly convened the 113th General Session last January, ChatGPT was less than two months old.Today 100 million people use the artificial intelligence (AI) platform each week and it’s a leading part of the AI revolution that’s widely predicted to impact our daily lives. That’s especially true for life in the classroom, and Representative Scott Cepicky, R-Culleoka, believes artificial intelligence needs guardrails sooner than later.Cepicky’s is proposing a bill to require each university and K-12 school district in Tennessee to develop a policy for how both teachers and students will be allowed to utilize AI.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s proposal to allow families to use taxpayer dollars to attend private school is broadly popular according to a new poll by conservative think tank the Beacon Center.

The Tennessee Department of Education rolled out its much-anticipated School Letter Grades platform Thursday. The system is designed to provide the public with transparency into how well public schools are meeting state expectations by awarding each school with an A through F grade.Parents can use the dashboard to look up the letter grade for each public school in the state.

The Tennessee Comptroller’s Office of Research and Education Accountability (OREA) released a new report that found students who face language, disability, and economical challenges have significantly higher dropout rates than their peers in Tennessee.This disparity is especially a concern for English language learners (ELL) who have a dropout rate of 30 percent in 2021-22, exceeding the state rate by nearly three times.

A heated debate at recent Williamson County School Board meetings will be moving to the Tennessee General Assembly next year.Representative Gino Bulso, R-Brentwood, is sponsoring legislation to prohibit traditional public and public charter schools from displaying any flag in the classroom that isn’t the official United States flag or the official state flag of Tennessee. This legislation would effectively ban all pride flags in public schools.Representative Bulso told the Tennessean he was encouraged to file the bill by parents in his county and a school board member who were concerned about “political flags.”

The association that oversees middle and high school sports in Tennessee will now allow church-related schools to become members.The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association’s (TSSAA) Legislative Council approved several changes to its bylaws this month, including allowing Category IV schools, which are church-related schools, to join. Previously, the TSSAA only allowed Category I (public schools), Category II (private schools), and Category III (regionally accredited) schools to become members.