HB 1308

PARENTAL LEAVE Present law generally requires an eligi ble employee to be granted absence from work with pay for a period of time equal to six work weeks after the birth or stillbirth of the employee's child or the employee's adoption of a newly placed minor child upon the employee giving 30-days' notice to t h e employee's local education agency (LEA) or public charter school. The six weeks do not need to be taken consecutively but must be used with a 12-month period. Paid leave must be paid at 100% of the employee's salary. An "eligible employee"" means a te a cher, principal, supervisor, or other individual required by law to hold a valid license of qualification for employment in the public schools of this state and who has been employed full time with an LEA or public charter school for at least 12 consecuti v e months. Present law prohibits an eligible employee who is granted leave as described above from being required to use sick, annual, or other leave for parental leave. The parental leave granted counts toward the employee's use of leave required to be given by this state as an employer under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. Each LEA and public charter school must establish policies for implementing this paid leave. The state must reimburse an LEA or public charter school that provides paid l eave. In order to be an ""eligible employee, this bill requires the teacher, principal, supervisor, or other individual required by law to hold a valid license of qualification for employment in the public schools of this state to meet all of the followi ng requirements:  Has a valid license of qualification, or an emergency temporary teaching permit credential issued by the department of education (""department""), required for the position the employee holds.  Has been employed full time with the same LEA or public charter school for at least 12 consecutive months in a position for which the employee is required by law to hold a valid license of qualification, or an emergency credential issued by the department, at the time of the birth, adoption, or stillbirth of the employee's child.  Has held a valid license of qualification or an emergency credential issued by the department for the entire 12 consecutive months of employment with the LEA or public charter school. ATTENDANCE REPORT TO THE COMPTROLLER O n July 1 of each year, present law requires the commissioner of education (""commissioner"") to report to the comptroller of the treasury the average daily attendance of the preceding year, as determined by the daily attendance reports of the teachers and o t her officers of the various cities and counties or by the scholastic census enumeration in odd years. This bill provides that a report is not due annually, but only upon request of the comptroller. The report must include the average daily membership of the preceding year, as determined and taken from the daily membership reports of the teachers and other officers of the various cities and counties, and the school census, as determined by the scholastic census enumeration. ""Average daily membership"" mea n s the sum of the total number of days a student is enrolled divided by the number of days school is in session during a certain period. GRADING SYSTEMS Schools Present law requires the department to develop a school grading system that annually assigns A, B, C, D, and F letter grades to schools based on certain factors. Student achievement, student growth, or any other student data that serves as an indicator of performance for a student who enrolls in, or transfers to, a public school on or af t er December 31 must not be used to assign a letter grade to the receiving school. Such data may be used to assign a letter grade to the school in which the student was enrolled prior to December 31 of the respective school year. This bill removes the ex a ct date of December 31 from the provision, and, instead, provides that a student who enrolls in, or transfers to, a public school for less than 50% of the school year must not be used to assign a letter grade to the receiving school. However, such studen t 's data may be used to assign a letter grade to the school in which the student was enrolled for 50% or more of the respective school year. LEAs Present law requires that each year the department recommend and the state board approve performance design ations for local education agencies (LEAs) based on established performance goals and measures. The state board of education may not include the performance of a student who enrolls in, or transfers to, the public school or LEA on or after December 31. H o wever, the performance data may be included for the public school or LEA in which the student was enrolled prior to December 31 of the respective school year, if applicable. This bill removes the exact date December 31, and, instead, provides that the st a te board of education may not include student data for a student who enrolls in, or transfers to, the public school or LEA for less than 50% of the school year. However, the data may be included in the performance goals and measures for the public school or LEA in which the student was enrolled for 50% or more of the respective school year, if applicable. SCHOOL SAFETY ALERT GRANT PILOT PROGRAM Present law requires the department to establish and administer a school safety alert grant pilot program, whi ch awards school safety grants to LEAs, public charter schools, private schools, and church-related schools for the purchase of mobile panic alert systems. A panic alert system is one that is capable of connecting diverse emergency services technologies t o ensure real-time coordination between multiple first responder agencies and that integrates with local public safety answering point infrastructure to transmit 911 calls and mobile activations. The department must allocate and disperse grants from the s chool safety alert grant pilot fund, subject to appropriations and the availability of funds. By July 1, 2025, and by each July 1 thereafter, present law requires the department to prepare and submit to the general assembly a report detailing all funds r eceived and payments made through the school safety alert grant pilot fund. This bill revises the first due date to be February 1, 2026, and revises each subsequent due date to be February 1 of each year. EARLY GRADES READING REPORT Present law require s the department to annually submit to legislative committees an early grades reading report. The reading report must include (i) statewide third grade reading scores, (ii) the testing procedures used to evaluate reading proficiency, (iii) the number of s tudents retained in grades K-3, (iv) the number of reading specialists in each LEA, (v) the types of reading intervention or enrichment programs offered in each LEA, and (vi) information on statewide reading initiatives. This bill removes these provision s. NOTIFICATION TO INTERSCHOLASTIC ATHLETICS Present law provides that if a student is placed in foster care and the student seeks to participate in interscholastic athletics, then the public school or public charter school in which the student is enroll ed must notify an association that regulates interscholastic athletics of the student's placement in foster care. Failure to notify the association of the student's placement may result in the student being deemed ineligible to participate in athletics f o r a period of time. Starting January 1, 2022, and each January 1 thereafter, each LEA and public charter school must submit to the department documentation of its compliance with this law. Then, by January 31, 2022, and by January 31 each year thereafte r, the department must submit a report to legislative committees documenting each LEA's and public charter school's compliance with this law. This bill removes the requirement for these two reports. TENNESSEE INVESTMENT IN STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT ACT Prese nt law establishes the Tennessee investment in student achievement formula (TISA), which is a student-based funding formula established as the system for funding education for K-12 public schools. The commissioner and each local government must distribut e allocated education funding periodically throughout the school year. An LEA's allocated education funding must not decrease more than 5% from one year to the next. This bill revises this provision to require that only an LEA's allocated education fundi n g for students in non-virtual schools must not decrease more than 5% from one year to the next. However, beginning with allocations for the 2025-2026 school year, the department must determine whether an LEA is eligible for additional funds based on fund s generated by students in non-virtual schools only. School Nurse Funding Present law authorizes an LEA to use TISA funds to directly employ a public school nurse or to contract with the Tennessee public school nurse program for the provision of school health services. If an LEA does not employ or contract for at least one school nurse for every 750 student members of the LEA, then the LEA's director of schools must submit a report to the department no later than June 1 of the respective school year th a t contains certain information. This bill changes the report's deadline from June 1 to July 31 of each year. ACADEMIC ACCELERATION POLICY Present law requires a local board of education or public charter school governing body to develop and adopt an ac ademic acceleration policy that establishes objective criteria for the enrollment of students in grades seven through 12 into any available advanced English language arts, mathematics, or science courses. By October 1, 2022, and each October 1 thereafter, the department must submit a report to legislative committees on the number and demographics of students qualified to enroll in such courses compared to the number and demographics of students not enrolled in such courses. The report must include inform a tion on the type and format of the advanced courses offered and any feedback received from LEAs and public charter schools on the implementation of academic acceleration policies. The department must post the report on the department's website. This bil l removes these provisions, and, instead, requires, upon request of legislative committees having jurisdiction over academic acceleration, the department to submit a report to the requesting committee on the implementation of academic acceleration policies. The department is not required to post the report on its website. STOCKPILE DAYS Present law provides that if a local board of education or private or church-related school exceeds the full six and one-half hours instructional time required by law by one-half hour daily for the full academic year, then such school must be credited with the additional instructional time. The excess instructional time may be accumulated in amounts up to 13 instructional days each year, and applied toward meeting instru c tional time requirements missed due to dangerous or extreme weather conditions and for serious outbreaks of illness affecting or endangering students or staff. This bill refers to these days as ""stockpile days."" This bill makes all of the following chan ges to how stockpile days may be used by schools:  Upon approval by the commissioner, present law provides that stockpile days may be used in case of natural disaster or dangerous structural or environmental conditions rendering a school unsafe. This bill removes the requirement that the commissioner would need to first approve using a stockpile day in these instances.  Present law provides that stockpile days may be used in whole day (six and one-half hour) increments. This bill provides that stockpile days may be used in whole day, half day, or one-third day increments.  Present law provides that stockpile days may be used for early student dismissal for faculty professional development under rules promulgated by the board of education. This bill adds that faculty professional development must also comply with state law.  Present law provides that stockpile days may be used for individualized education program (IEP) team meetings, school-wide or system-wide instructional planning meetings, parent-teacher conferences, or other similar meetings. All proposals for use of excess time for professional development and instructional planning meetings must be approved by the commissioner. This bill provides that stockpile days may be used for these meetings without first obtaining approval from the commissioner.  Present law provides that unused accumulated days for excess instructional time must not carry over to the next school year. This bill adds to this provision that an unused stockpile day must not be used for the purpose of ending the school year early. Additionally, present law authorizes the commissioner to approve directly proportional variations from the one-half-hour extension of the school day and the corresponding accumulation of 13 days of ad justments to the instructional time requirements. This bill removes this provision. REMOTE INSTRUCTION Present law requires each public school system to maintain a term of no less than 200 days, including 180 days for classroom instruction. An LEA may provide up to two days each semester instruction via remote instruction. These two days per semester go toward the required 180 days of classroom instruction. This bill increases the number of authorized days of remote instruction from two days to five days each semester. School Meals on Remote Days On days that remote instruction is provided, present law requires an LEA to (i) make school meals available to students in accordance with school nutrition program requirements and (ii) make services required by a student's IEP available to the student. This bill changes this provision to, instead, require the LEA to make school meals available to students in accordance with the school nutrition program requirements on days that remote instruction is provided when possible and safe, as determined by the LEA. THIRD GRADE RETENTION Present law requires a student retained in any of the grades K-3 be assigned a tutor to provide the student with tutoring services for the entirety of the upcoming school y ear based on tutoring requirements established by the department. For that purpose, the department may procure up to three online tutoring providers for LEAs and public charter schools to use to provide online tutoring services. The chief procurement of f icer is authorized to approve an emergency purchase of online tutoring providers using authorized procurement methods and the rules of the department of general services' central procurement office. This bill removes the above provisions that authorize t h e department to procure up to three online tutoring providers, including emergency procurement. This bill instead authorizes, subject to appropriation, the department to use funds to administer a grant program to assist LEAs and public charter schools in providing academic tutoring supports to students. REPORT ON CORPORAL PUNISHMENT Present law requires each LEA to submit, at least annually, a report to the department detailing the LEA's use of corporal punishment. The department must report on its web site the number of instances of corporal punishment in each LEA and the number of instances involving a student with an active IEP or an active 504 plan for a disability under Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973. This bill removes that t he report is required annually and, instead, requires the report to be submitted upon the request of the department. This bill also removes the provision that requires the department to post the report to its website. IMMUNIZATIONS Present law authoriz es the commissioner of health to designate diseases against which children must be immunized prior to attendance at any school, nursery school, kindergarten, preschool, or child care facility. Students must provide proof of immunization to be permitted t o attend school. However, certain children may not be denied admission for not being immunized, including (i) a child that has not been immunized due to medical reasons evidenced by a written statement from the child's doctor and (ii) a child that has bee n determined to be homeless and either has not been immunized or cannot provide proof of immunization due to homelessness. This bill adds that a child in state custody must not be denied admission if the child has not been immunized or is unable to produc e immunization records due to being in the custody of this state. The enrolling school for such student must comply with all federal laws pertaining to the educational rights of children in state custody, including, but not limited to, ensuring the studen t 's educational stability. INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION ACCOUNTS Eligible Students Present law creates individualized education accounts (IEAs) pursuant to the individualized education act, which provides to a student with a certain disability, and who mee ts other requirements, access to the education funds that would have been to the student's public school and instead put those funds in an IEA, to be used for certain educational expenses only. An eligible student means a resident of this state who, meet i ng certain other requirements, is a child with any of the following disabilities: (i) autism, (ii) deaf-blindness, (iii) hearing impairments, (iv) intellectual disability, (v) orthopedic impairments, (vi) traumatic brain injury, (vii) visual impairments, ( viii) developmental delay, (ix) multiple disabilities, or (x) a specific learning disability. This bill adds deafness to this list. Maximum Annual Amount Present law provides that the maximum annual amount to which an eligible student is entitled must be equal to the amount representing the total funding allocation that the student generates under the Tennessee investment in student achievement formula (TISA). This bill changes the maximum annual amount to also include the average special education f u nds generated by students with disabilities under the TISA formula for the LEA in which the student's enrollment is reported. However, a participating student that participated in the program in the 2024-2025 school year must not receive an annual amount in the 2025-2026 school year or a subsequent school year that is less than the annual amount the participating student received in the 2024-2025 school year. VIRTUAL PUBLIC SCHOOL Present law authorizes LEAs to establish virtual schools. A virtual school must be a public school and must be provided resources as any other public school in the state. A student who is eligible for enrollment in a public school in this state may enroll in a virtual school as either a full-time or part-time virtual stu d ent. Initial enrollment in a public virtual school is limited to 1, 500 students. However, any public virtual school in operation as of January 1, 2013, may continue to serve the number of students enrolled in the school as of May 14, 2013. If a public v irtual school demonstrates student achievement growth at a minimum level of ""at expectations"" as represented by the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) and guidelines adopted by the state board of education the school may exceed the enrollment cap. This bill removes that any public virtual school in operation as of January 1, 2013, may continue to serve the number of students enrolled in the school as of May 14, 2013. Instead, this bill provides that an LEA with a public virtual school in ope r ation as of January 1, 2025, may continue to serve the number of students enrolled in the public virtual school for the 2024-2025 school year. COURSE ACCESS PROGRAM COURSE CATALOG Present law creates the course access program, through which a particip ating student may enroll in two courses per school year, unless the student's home LEA approves the student to take additional courses. The department is required to publish a link to the course access catalog in a prominent location on the department's w ebsite. This bill removes the requirement to publish a link on its website. Present law requires the department to make publicly available each year the following information concerning the course access program: (i) the number of students participating in the course access program and the total number of courses in which students are enrolled, (ii) the number of approved course providers, (iii) the number of approved courses and the number of students enrolled in each course, (iv) the number of courses available by subject and grade level, (v) the number of students enrolled in courses by subject and grade level, and (vi) student outcome data, including course completion rates and other approved measures. This bill removes this provision. ON MARCH 6, 2025, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 1272, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 makes the following revisions:  Prohibits the state board from including in the performance goals and measures for a public school or LEA, the number of students enrolled in the public school or LEA who have been identified by the public school, LEA, or department of education as chronically absent due to the student's receipt of medical treatment for a chronic illness or other health-related issue.  Requires the LEA's director of schools or the director of the public charter school to notify the department in writing of each student enrolled in the LEA or public charter school who is chronically absent due to the student's receipt of medical treatment for a chronic illness or other health-related issue.  Clarifies that the provisions above do not prohibit the department of education from collecting data on students who are chronically absent from a public school or LEA in this state, or from reporting such data on the state report card or as otherwise required by the federal Every Student Succeeds Act.  Requires each LEA and public charter school to develop, adopt, and implement an intervention policy for students who are chronically absent and submit the policy to the department for approval. An intervention policy so adopted must describe (i) how chronically absent students will be identified; (ii) what documentation the LEA or public charter school will require from parents, guardians, or students to determine whether an absence from school is excused or unexcused; (iii) how the academic progress of chronically absent students will be monitored by the LEA or public charter school; (iv) how the LEA or public charter school will regularly communicate with parents and guardians of chronically absent students, which must include, at a minimum, conducting meetings or conferences at established intervals with a parent or guardian of a chronically absent student and recording the attendance of each school official and parent or guardian at each meeting; and (v) other intervention methods, including any available community resources, identified by the LEA or public charter school to assist parents and guardians of chronically absent students in addressing the factors that may be causing or contributing to the student's absence from school.  Prohibits the department of education from requiring an LEA or public charter school to submit its intervention policy to the department more than once every three years.  Defines ""chronically absent, as used in the provisions above, to mean that a student has been absent from school for 18 or more school days of the respective school year.  Clarifies that the provisions under the heading ""VIRTUAL PUBLIC SCHOOL"" do not apply to adult high schools providing virtual instruction. ON APRIL 15, 2025, THE HOUSE RECONSIDERED ITS ACTION IN PASSING SENATE BILL 1272, LIFTED THE TABLING MOTION, ADOPTED AMENDMENT #2, AND PASSED SENATE BILL 1272, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #2 incorporates the changes made by Senate Amendment #1, except this amendment deletes the language that c larifies that the provisions under the heading ""VIRTUAL PUBLIC SCHOOL"" do not apply to adult high schools providing virtual instruction. This amendment replaces the provision of this bill concerning the increments by which parental leave may be taken with a requirement that each local board of education and public charter governing body adopt a policy that requires the six workweeks of paid parental leave to be: (1) Taken co nsecutively, except in extenuating circumstances, as determined and approved by the director of schools or the director of the public charter school, as applicable or taken non-consecutively, but in increments of no less than one week; and (2) Used withi n 12 months of the birth or stillbirth of the employee's child or the employee's adoption of a newly placed minor child. This amendment removes the provision of this bill that would change the permitted total enrollment for a public virtual school. Und er present law, a substitute teacher substituting for a regular teacher on leave authorized for a period not exceeding 20 consecutive teaching days is not required to possess a teacher's license. This amendment increases such limit to 30 consecutive teac h ing days."