Bill |
Description |
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Revises eligibility requirements for HOPE scholarships. (S: Woodson; H: Winningham) SB0611/HB0653 |
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Directs the State Board of Education to develop policies and guidelines for the operation of virtual education programs. (S: Southerland; H: Hawk) SB2008/HB1872 |
940
Effective 5/19/08 |
Requires extension of the director of schools’ contract to be the first item on the agenda of the board meeting. Increases the period of notice required for such action from 10 days to 15 days. (S: Burks; H: Winningham) SB2155/HB2176 |
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Identifies specific parental involvement activities for school districts to include in their parental involvement policies. (S: Burks; H: Winningham) SB2162/HB1943 |
931
Effective 7/01/08 |
Requires school districts to provide students with remediation services for every part of the Gateway exam which they fail. Requires each LEA to provide an annual report to the commissioner of education detailing the types of intervention provided, the number of students participating and the success rate of the participating students. Such reports shall be part of the school improvement planning process. (S: Tate; H: Cooper, B.) SB2321/HB0081 |
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Authorizes an LEA to adopt rules and regulations prohibiting gang activities on school property. Requires each LEA to annually evaluate the threat to and influence on school children by gangs in the community. If an LEA determines that there is a substantial threat or influence, then it must institute gang awareness education for elementary and middle school students. (S: Tate; H: Shaw) SB2554/HB3418 |
632
Effective 7/01/08 |
Authorizes LEAs to use revenues from gifts, grants and state and local appropriations to provide hearing examinations for children who are unable to pay for such testing. (S: Marrero; H: Coley) SB2583/HB2584 |
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Establishes certain guidelines related to the isolation and restraint of special education students. (S: Black; H: Jones S.) SB2609/HB2471 |
683
Effective 4/02/08 |
Permits school board to lease or sell buildings and properties to any entity provided the action is in the best interest of the school system and community. Removes the prohibition on the use of school buildings and property for private benefit. (S: Black; H: McDonald) SB2612/HB2482 |
612
Effective 3/11/08 |
Changes the entity determining preferred reemployment for terminated teachers from the school board to the director of schools. (S: McNally; H: Brooks, Harry) SB2629/HB2545 |
691
Effective 7/01/08 |
Increases number of modular building units that an LEA's vocational-technical students may construct without complying with the Modular Building Act from one to five per school year. Removes limitation that such modular building units be residential. (S: Tracy; H: Brooks, Harry) SB2655/ HB2546 |
735
Effective 4/10/08 |
Clarifies that candidates and appointees to local public office are not required to file documents electronically with the TN Ethics Commission. (S: Burks; H: Fincher) SB2761/HB2614 |
1053
Effective 7/01/08 |
Expands the list of offenses for which parents, guardians or department of children’s services must notify schools when a student has been adjudicated delinquent. (S: Burks; H: Fincher) SB2764/HB2720 |
1052
Effective 7/01/08 |
Makes Title 37 related to juveniles consistent with the notification requirements outlined in Title 49 related to education. Designates list of offenses for which notification must be provided to the child’s school when the child has been adjudicated delinquent. (S: Burks; H: Fincher) SB2765/HB2719 |
1054
Effective 7/01/08 |
Allows volunteer school personnel who have been properly trained by a registered nurse to administer anti-seizure medications, including diazepam gel, to a student in an emergency situation in accordance with the student’s individual health plan. (S: Woodson; H: Maddox) SB2798/HB3268 |
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Revises provisions related to background checks for persons contracting with schools, school districts or child care agencies. Exempts certain individuals from the background check requirement and provides that such checks may travel with the individual to another school or district as long as the employee remains in the continuous employment of the same person, corporation or entity. (S: Woodson; H: McCord) SB 2807/HB3076 |
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Creates the Lottery for Education After School Programs Grant Fund, or LEAP Grant Fund, for the purpose of making competitive and technical assistance grants to eligible institutions that provide after-school education programs. (S: Woodson; H: Winningham) SB 2809/HB2975 |
795
Effective 7/01/08 |
Encourages LEAs to place automatic external defibrillators in schools. Specifies that LEAs are to fund the placement of such devices with existing resources or with the donation of non-governmental funds. (S: Bunch; H: Brooks, Harry) SB2828/HB2775 |
983
Effective 7/01/08 |
Encourages LEAs to include art and music education in all K-12 public schools, in conformity with an appropriate curriculum adopted by the State Board of Education. (S: Marrero; H: Cooper B.) SB2920/HB2779 |
865
Effective 7/01/08 |
Urges all public schools to provide instruction on nonviolence as means of conflict resolution as part of character education curriculum. (S: Marrero; H: Cooper B.) SB2921/HB2790 |
628
Effective 7/01/08 |
Directs the State Board of Education to develop guidelines for LEAs to use to foster foreign language fluency for all students in grades K-12. (S: Norris; H: Coley) SB2980/HB3252 |
898
Effective 5/12/08 |
Specifies that all county, municipal and special school districts in the state are to be considered separate governmental entities and are to be governed by ethical standards established by their respective boards of education. Under previous law, county and municipal school districts were governed by the ethical standards established by the county or municipal governing body. (S: Tracy; H: Brooks, Harry) SB3024/HB2544 |
985
Effective 5/21/08 |
Encourages school districts to assess the safety of walking routes near schools and report the results to the department of transportation. (S: McNally; H: Hackworth) SB3080/HB2651 |
923
Effective 7/01/08 |
Authorizes a pilot project in Knox County to allow a governing body, including the board of education to participate in electronic communication such as instant messaging between members under certain conditions. Directs governing body to make internet site where communications are occurring available for public access. Requires archiving of such communications for a period of one year so that the public may access them. Exempts qualifying communication from open meetings law. (S: McNally; H: Dunn) SB3086/HB2750 |
996
Effective 7/01/08 |
Urges local boards of education and their respective directors to make every effort to staff schools with fully licensed and endorsed personnel. (S: Harper; H: Pruitt) SB3186/HB2755 |
885
Effective 7/01/08 |
Prohibits a teacher employed by an LEA from being discriminated against or terminated for refusing to participate in or refusing to be silent about illegal activities. (S: Woodson; H: Hardaway) SB3232/HB2610 |
888
Effective 5/08/08 |
Requires the state board for career and technical education to develop policies and guidelines for cooperative career and technical training programs that provide school-supervised and school-administered work experience and career exploration for students. Permits LEAs and public charter schools to operate such programs for students who are 14 years old or older upon approval of the state board for career and technical education. (S: Burchett; H: Brooks, Harry) SB3233/HB2891 |
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Revises laws related to open records. Requires MTAS, CTAS, the Tennessee School Board Association, the utility management review board, and the state emergency communications board to develop a program for educating their respective parties about changes to the law. Requires all custodians of public records to make such records, with certain exceptions, available for inspection during business hours and with all reasonable effort. Creates the office of open records council to answer questions and provide information to public officials and the public regarding public records.
(S: McNally; H: McDaniel) SB3280/HB3637 |
867
Effective 5/06/08 |
Allows funds generated by the career and technical education components of the state funding formula to be used to match funds appropriated and paid over by the federal government for the same purpose. Requires that any additional funds appropriated for career and technical education beyond the funds available through the Tennessee BEP for career and technical education be used to provide a system of grants to improve and enhance career and technical education to be monitored by the department of education. (S: Tracy; H: Winningham) SB3282/HB2976 |
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Narrows prohibition on entities that may sponsor public charter schools, thereby allowing sponsorship by private colleges and universities. (S: Tracy; H: Harwell) SB3283/HB2956 |
647
Effective 3/25/08 |
Requires school board to give 10 day notice prior to a meeting in which it plans to terminate, suspend, or remove a director of schools from office. Current law specifies that 10 day notice is only required for extension of director's employment. (S: Tracy; H: Maddox) SB3284/HB3615 |
938
Effective 5/16/08 |
Requires any K-12 education funding appropriated outside the BEP for technology, Internet, Internet connectivity, or e-learning to be distributed according to a formula adopted by the state board of education. Grants school districts the authority to expend the funds authorized for services provided by any qualified vendor. (S: Tracy; H: Maddox) SB3286/HB3612 |
862
Effective 7/01/08 |
Requires art supplies purchased by schools for students in K-6 to be certified non-toxic by the Arts and Creative Materials Institute. Requires commissioner of education to provide access to a list of such supplies to school districts, childcare centers and other businesses and organizations that involve children and the use of art supplies. (S: Burks; H: Brown) SB3306/HB3322 |
963
Effective 7/01/08 |
Requires school districts to consider the availability of local agriculture products, freshness and transportation when submitting their plan for compliance with state minimum nutrition requirements for school lunch and breakfast programs. Also requires flexible bidding process to assist farmers to bid competitively on portions of a given nutrition plan rather than an entire nutrition plan. (S: Williams; H: Harrison) SB3341/HB3158 |
925
Effective 7/01/08 |
Adds visitation of a spouse, child or parent deployed for military duty to the list of acceptable reasons a licensed teacher may be granted leave without forfeiture of accumulated leave credits, tenure status or other fringe benefits. Limits leave for such purpose to 10 days. (S: Beavers; H: Lynn) SB3364/HB3943 |
676
Effective 4/01/08 |
Requires school principles to grant students excused absences for up to 10 days for purposes of visiting a parent or legal guardian who is stationed outside of the country and is granted rest recuperation leave by the U.S. military. (S: Beavers; H: Lynn) SB3366/HB3942 |
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Expands the list of children eligible to attend a charter school to students in grades K-3 who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Such students may only be enrolled on August 1 or later as second priority students, with first priority given to students previously eligible. Changes the sunset date of the charter school statute to 2015. (S: Tate; H: Jones U.) SB3401/HB4002 |
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Directs commissioner to require each LEA's director of schools to submit an annual personnel report to the department which shall include all non-certified personnel, part-time or full-time, employed by the school system. (S: Tate; H: Winningham) SB3409/HB2972 |
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Requires the commissioner of education to report on a semi-annual basis to the Select Oversight Committee on Education and the Senate and House Education Committees regarding disciplinary actions in Tennessee schools. (S: Burks; H: Brown) SB3469/ HB3321 |
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Revises the "School Support Organization Financial Accountability Act." Changes the definition of student activity funds. Clarifies that a school support organization is not required to be a 501(c)(3) organization. Exempts SSOs from the initial nonprofit filing fee. (S: Herron; H: Maddox) SB3530/HB3278 |
1002
Effective 7/01/08 |
In cases where county boundary lines cross through a parcel of property, makes eligibility to attend school in the county other than the county in which the residence is taxed subject to local board policy, available space and payment of tuition to the same extent permitted for pupils not residing in the county. (S: Tracy; H: Johnson P.) SB3603/HB3640 |
678
Effective 4/08/08 |
Removes minimum training requirements for hearing officers. Modifies provisions concerning required training in special education law for mediators conducting special education mediations and administrative law judges conducting special education due process cases. (S: Ketron; H: Winningham) SB3642/HB3485 |
853
Effective 4/21/08 |
Makes certain information of public employees confidential and not open for inspection by the public, including home telephone number, cell phone number, home address, and birth date. (S: Finney R.; H: Montgomery) SB3668/HB3850 |
989
Effective 7/01/08 |
Requires the development of acceptable Internet use policies for public and private schools to protect children from certain online material. Requires the director of schools to file such policies with the commissioner of education every two years. Policies must be approved by the local school board. Sets out specific provisions to be contained in the policies. Requires the commissioner of education to submit an annual report to the general assembly summarizing the filed policies. Requires private schools to use internet blocking or filtering technology. (S: Haynes; H: Winningham) SB3702/HB3051 |
772
Effective 4/21/08 |
Permits revision of election cycles of certain municipal boards of education to bring such cycles into compliance with general law. (S: Williams Mike R.; H: Harrison) SB3899/HB3745 |
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Creates the Energy Efficient Schools Initiative of 2008, which will provide assistance to school districts for capital outlay projects. Establishes the energy efficient schools council. The council will establish a technical advisory committee, which will approve energy efficient design and technology guidelines for K-12 facilities. The council shall approve design and technology guidelines and award grants or loans to school systems for qualifying capital outlay projects. (S: McNally; H: Winningham) SB4039/ HB4039 |
1037
Effective 7/01/08 |
Authorizes State Board of Education to approve a curriculum for a state-funded elective course focused on nonsectarian, nonreligious academic study of the Bible and its influence on literature, art, music, culture, and politics. (S: Herron; H: Maddox) SB4104/HB4089 |
993
Effective 5/21/08 |
Creates a two-year pilot program in Nashville to promote flexibility of class sizes in specific career and technical education courses. Allows the principal to raise the class size ratio with the approval of the commissioner of education. (S: Haynes; Gilmore) SB4136/HB4169 |
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Clarifies the state’s accountability laws related to K-12 education pursuant to the federal No Child Left Behind Act. (S: Kyle; H: Odom) SB4185/ HB4148 |
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Makes appropriations for Fiscal Year 2008-2009. (S: Kyle; H: Fitzhugh) SB4213/HB4219 |
| SJR 1180 |
Directs the BEP Review Committee to study funding policies implemented by local governments in light of the increased state funding through BEP 2.0 and to report to the General Assembly by November 1, 2008, as part of its annual report. (S: Woodson) |
