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.
Tennessee 3rd-grade retention law will intensify Memphis students’ pandemic woes, local critics say
Many Memphis youths are already struggling to overcome emotional and psychological trauma inflicted or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.But the specter of being held back in third grade if they can’t pass the state’s reading test will pile onto that trauma, Memphis and Shelby County child and education advocates said during a town hall Wednesday.
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.
What qualities should the next superintendent in Memphis have? One student and one teacher see race and gender differently
Six months after former Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) superintendent Joris Ray resigned while facing claims of abusing his power, the district is narrowing down the qualities it's seeking in his replacement.As part of an ongoing effort to amplify those community voices, the Tennessee Firefly spoke with one student and one teacher, who’s asked that his identity be kept confidential. We found both share some similarities in the type of superintendent they'd prefer to see take over but they view race and gender differently.
Knox County School Board members refuse resolutions to “empower” parents, prohibit explicit content, and support women’s sports and literacy
Each year the Knox County Board of Education provides members of the Tennessee General Assembly with a list of legislative priorities the board hopes legislators will adopt in the upcoming session.This year’s priorities included supporting literacy instruction, parental transparency, age-appropriate content, and women’s sports, but several board members, declined to stand up for them.
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.
Representative Scott Cepicky cuts back the amount he wants to provide teachers for classroom supplies
Culleoka Representative Scott Cepicky drew cheers from public school teachers when he proposed legislation this year to provide them with $500 for classroom supplies.Tuesday Cepicky walked that number back in the House K-12 Subcommittee, by amending his bill to offer less assistance.
Tennessee Senate approves adding Hamilton County to ESA/voucher program
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.
Tennessee is talking about rejecting federal education funding. What would that mean for kids?
When House Speaker Cameron Sexton recently floated the idea of Tennessee rejecting U.S. education dollars to free its schools from federal rules and restrictions, he made the pivot sound as simple as making up the difference with $1.8 billion in state funds.“I don’t think the legislation would be too hard to do,” he said last week after publicly declaring his desire to “do things the Tennessee way” at a Tennessee Farm Bureau reception on Feb. 7.
Tennessee provides free help to aspiring teachers studying to take licensure tests
The Tennessee Department of Education is now offering Tennessee Teacher Apprenticeship candidates free access to “Keys to the Classroom.” The suite of prep materials is designed to help aspiring teachers pass Tennessee’s licensure tests.These resources are available through the Tennessee Grow Your Own Center in partnership with Study.com.
