Activism has been part of Safiyah Suara’s young life since her politician mother hauled her along to demonstrations in a baby carrier. That’s why she’ll be spending this week protesting guns and the expulsion from the Tennessee House of two Democratic lawmakers by their Republican colleagues.

Without objection, the council suspended its rules to immediately nominate and approve Jones to fill the District 52 seat as Jones sat in the gallery.

A retention policy tied to state reading test scores is drawing both support and skepticism.

The House Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee advanced Governor Bill Lee’s legislation to raise teacher salaries without debate or even discussion Wednesday afternoon.The plan would increase teacher salaries to at least $42,000 next school year, $44,500 for the 2024/2025 school year, $47,000 for the 2025/2026 school year, and $50 thousand for the 2026/2027 school year.

The charter evaluation team for Knox County Schools is recommending approval for a second public charter school. The team formally presented its findings to the district board of education Monday night in support of Knoxville Preparatory School.

Before Justin Pearson was elected to the Tennessee House, before he gained acclaim for stopping an oil pipeline project planned for his neighborhood, he was a student in Memphis schools who wanted a textbook.Pearson, then 15, brought the issue to the Memphis City Schools board. The next day, the books were found sitting in storage. His principal was reprimanded, and district officials demanded that school leaders across the city prove that they had handed out textbooks.

For the first time, a charter school in Tennessee’s turnaround district will exit the state program and return to the Memphis district’s management, Memphis-Shelby County Schools announced this week.Hanley School, a K-8 school in Orange Mound, was taken over by the state and placed in the Achievement School District a decade ago to be run by a charter operator.

Tennessee Senators passed Governor Bill Lee’s legislation to raise teacher salaries on a partisan 25 to 6 vote Thursday.The plan would raise teacher salaries to at least $42,000 next school year, $44,500 for the 2024/2025 school year, $47,000 for the 2025/2026 school year, and $50 thousand for the 2026/2027 school year.

The McGavock Cluster in Donelson and Hermitage serves close to ten percent of the Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) student population and houses the largest high school in Middle Tennessee.Despite the diverse population, leaders of the proposed public charter school Invictus Nashville say enrollment data shows many students leave the area to attend middle and high school elsewhere.It’s among the reasons they’ve chosen that section of eastern Davidson County to provide an alternative education model that includes two teachers per classroom.

The education chair of the Chattanooga NAACP wants her organization’s Knoxville branch to reconsider its opposition to proposed public charter school Knoxville Preparatory School (Knox Prep).Dr. Edna Varner also serves on the board for three Hamilton County public charter schools, including Knox Prep’s affiliated school Chattanooga Prep. Wednesday she wrote a letter to the Knoxville NAACP to assure its leaders that Knox Prep will help students of color succeed with a high-quality education that may not currently be available.

The Senate Education Committee advanced two controversial bills Wednesday that have faced criticism from LGBTQ and civil rights activists.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools announced four important updates,  including one school closure, for students and families in the coming 2023/2024 school year.

Legislation designed to limit the appeal options for public charter schools who’ve had their applications wrongfully denied by school districts, saw a quick exit in the House committee process Tuesday.Members of the House K-12 Subcommittee voted 6 to 2 against Franklin Representative Sam Whitson’s legislation.  It would have prevented proposed public charter schools from appealing denied applications to the Public Charter School Commission if the school district they’re applying in has no priority schools.