Legislator Profile: Senator Raumesh Akbari finds common ground to improve education
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.
Tennessee governor’s safety bill threatens penalties for schools if they don’t lock entrances
Gov. Bill Lee is proposing sweeping changes to enhance school safety across Tennessee, requiring all K-12 public schools to keep their exterior doors locked, or risk losing escalating amounts of state funding with each violation.
Senate approves Governor Lee’s plan to make highly effective summer learning camps permanent
Tennessee Senators approve Governor Lee's plan to make summer learning camps available year-round for “at-risk” students in grades K-3 and create learning loss bridge camps for 9th graders.
Senate committee kills legislation to inject more partisanship into schools
Tennessee’s Senate Education Committee voted down legislation 6 to 3 Wednesday that would add more partisanship to public schools by allowing elections for school superintendents.Some counties held elected superintendents prior to 1992 when Tennessee removed that option to align with nationally recognized practices of appointing a director of schools.
Legislation to expand the Education Savings Account Program to Hamilton County advances
Tennessee lawmakers advanced a bill to expand the state’s ESA program to Hamilton County, allowing more students to use funds for private education.
Speaker Sexton’s home school charter school proposal sails through subcommittee
Legislators on the Tennessee House K-12 Subcommittee surprisingly approved a major proposal impacting both home school students and public charter schools with no discussion or questions Tuesday night.House Speaker Cameron Sexton’s legislation would create a charter system for home school students to take part in part-time and allow existing public charter schools the ability to create boarding schools to serve at risk students.
Senate passes legislation allowing public charter schools the ability to prioritize serving at-risk students
Tennessee State Senators gave their support Monday evening to legislation designed to help provide at-risk students with more accessibility to public charter schools.House Bill 1086/Senate Bill 0980 passed the full senate on a 26 to 5 vote.
Legislation to enable public charter schools to serve more economically disadvantaged and at-risk students faces key votes
House Bill 1086/Senate Bill 0980 faces key votes in the full Senate today and in the House Education Administration Committee on Wednesday.
Tennessee legislators look to Mississippi for guidance on changing the Third-Grade Retention Law
Wednesday members of the House Education Administration Committee received help making that decision from an unlikely neighboring state to the south. Former Mississippi Superintendent Dr. Carey Wright spoke before the committee on how her state has approached the topic of literacy and compared it to Tennessee’s intervention acts, including the Third-Grade Retention Law.
Representative Tim Hicks says he's received commitment to expand career and technical education
Legislation to expand access to career and technical education may have accomplished its sponsor’s goals without a single vote for passage.State Representative Tim Hicks of Gray, Tennessee says he decided to take House Bill 0117 off the House Education K-12 Subcommittee calendar Tuesday evening after receiving commitments from the Tennessee Department of Education to expand the availability of career and technical education and industry credentialing programs.
Education Commissioner says new school funding formula will give teachers an average $1,250 raise
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.