Statehouse policy and politics
Students will be required to keep personal devices, including smartwatches, turned off and put away during school hours. Violating that policy could come with consequences, up to suspension.
MSCS’ school board will vote next week on a revised policy requiring students to keep devices off and away during school hours. But some are concerned about how to address student violations.
Two Republican lawmakers are reviving plans to have the state run the Memphis-Shelby County district. But local education experts say their recent interview, in which one lawmaker called city school leaders ‘dumbasses,’ was insulting and misleading.
Republican Rep. Mark White and Sen. Brent Taylor said the pending $6 million independent financial audit of MSCS will inform their next moves. Both introduced bills to create state-controlled boards in charge of the district that failed this spring.
Tennessee isn’t asking where the participants were enrolled before, so it won’t know how many vouchers are going to existing private school students.
A forensic audit of Memphis-Shelby County Schools is set to begin in July. Tennessee lawmakers earmarked $6 million for the deep dive into the district’s finances and administration.
Lawmakers approved a cellphone ban and new turnaround model for public schools, but a bill targeting undocumented students failed.
Lawmakers approve a forensic audit and vow to keep the legislation alive.
Legislation approved Monday introduces a new intervention model for low-performing schools before the 2026-27 school year.
The legislation outlines how elected board members could be removed and replaced, and calls for prior review of large contracts and expenditures.
The controversial ‘success sequence’ bill heads to Gov. Bill Lee for his signature. It would be required beginning in the 2026-27 school year.
Revised legislation would allow districts to charge families tuition for students who aren’t in the country legally, in a challenge to federal law.
The proposals are unconstitutional, the sponsors acknowledge. Enactment could set up a challenge to federal protections in place since 1982.
Elected board would continue in an ‘advisory capacity.’ Critics warn that the bill could open the door for the state to encroach on local control in other districts.
Two groups want to open the first charter schools for at-risk students under a new state law.
‘We most heartily agree with President Trump,’ says a resolution urging teachers to fall in line.
The planning foreshadows changes ahead for the state’s most ambitious and aggressive school turnaround model
A state panel, whose members are appointed by Gov. Bill Lee, would have more authority over charter growth.
Questions emerge about which company will manage the program, and how the state will verify students’ legal residency.
Minimum teacher pay would see a bump under Lee’s proposed budget.