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Legislation Affects Tennessee Schools

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Tennessee legislation passed over 80 new laws that went into effect July 1, some of which protecting Tennessee educators and students and altering curriculum.

Senate Bill 1367, the Tennessee Accommodations for All Children Act, requires public schools to provide a reasonable accommodation to student who sends a written request that they are unwilling or unable to use multi-occupancy restrooms or changing facilities designated to a student’s sex.

Senate passed Bill 1338 ensures that the lowest-paid teachers within Tennessee receive raises, requiring the State Board of Education to increase the minimum salary on the state salary by the same percentage as any increase in funds made to the instructional component of the Basic Education Program.

To help address teacher shortages, the Senate passed a law providing aid to teachers who are moving to Tennessee to receive an appropriate teaching license. This helps qualified teachers enter classrooms quicker.

Legislation also passed Senate Bill 1191, requiring state institutions to disclose gifts received from and contracts initiated with a foreign source worth more than $10,000. This prohibits the establishment of Confucius Institutes.

The Senate also passed laws to help Tennessee students in the classroom. Of those laws are Senate Bill 7002, a bill created to ensure third grade students are reading on grade-level before being promoted to fourth grade, and Senate Bill 1304, the Textbook Transparency Act. This bill requires all textbooks to be publicly accessible and online as long as they are actively used in the classroom.

Senate Bill 627 protects students from a threat of mass violence. It creates a Class A misdemeanor offense for communicating a threat to commit an act of violence on school property or at a school related event and a Class B misdemeanor is a person with knowledge fails to report it.

The Student’s Right to Know Act and Senate Bill 458 help students while preparing for college. The Student’s Right to Know Act requires the Tennessee Higher Education Commission to publish a web-based dashboard for high school students considering their college and career options. Senate Bill 458 makes homeschool students eligible for the HOPE Scholarship if they complete six hours of dual enrollment and maintain at least a 3.0 GPA in those courses.

Senate Bill 623 bans the teaching of critical race theory and establishes parameters for the education of certain concepts related to race and sex.