Governor Bill Lee conceded that there’s no pathway for his signature education bill to pass this session and vowed to bring back the Education Freedom Scholarship plan next year. On social media Monday morning the Governor expressed his gratitude to supporters of the plan to allow parents to utilize taxpayer dollars to send their children to private school and his disappointment in pulling the plug on it. The post Governor pulls plug on Education Freedom Scholarships and vows to revisit the plan next year first appeared on The Tennessee Firefly ..read more

West Nashville Representative Bo Mitchell, D-Nashville, provided Metro Nashville Public Schools with some eyebrow raising advice on the House floor Thursday. Mitchell suggested the district bulldoze buildings, like the former Hillwood High School campus, before letting public charter schools use them. The district stopped utilizing the Hillwood property as a school when the new James Lawson High School opened last August. The post Representative Bo Mitchell suggests Metro Schools bulldoze buildings before allowing organizations serving high numbers of students of color use them first appeared ..read more

In an rare move of bipartisanship, the State Senate sent legislation to Governor Lee’s desk Wednesday that should ease some of the concerns parents have about their children repeating the fourth grade. The state estimates roughly 6 to 10 thousand fourth-graders are at risk for retention under a provision of the state’s Third-Grade Retention law. The post Bipartisan vote leads to passage of legislation to reduce the number of fourth-graders held back under new reading requirements first appeared on The Tennessee Firefly ..read more

House Democrats continued their push for the removal of Tennessee Department of Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds Tuesday during a discussion about a temporary teaching license bill. Representative Kirk Haston, R-Lobelville, sponsored the bill to allow Tennessee’s Education Commissioner to issue temporary teaching permits for courses that require end-of-course testing. The permits would only be applied for and granted as a last resort for filling vacancies. The post Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds’ qualifications come under fire again during debate on the House floor first appeared on Th ..read more

Governor Lee’s signature education proposal this year appears to be on life support. Tuesday afternoon both the Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee and the House Finance, Ways, and Means Subcommittee passed the state’s budget without taking up legislation to create the Education Freedom Scholarship plan. It would allow parents across the state to use public tax dollars to send their children to private school. The post Governor’s Education Freedom Scholarship Plan faces uphill battle for passage first appeared on The Tennessee Firefly ..read more

Missy Testerman has enjoyed a teaching career that is decades longer than most, spending more than 30 years in first- and second-grade classrooms. But when she saw that her K-8 school district in rural Appalachia was quietly becoming a refuge for families from Mexico, Central America and Asia, she shifted gears and became an English as a second language teacher, pushing to smooth her students’ — and their families’ — transition to life in the U.S. The post Five Things to Know About Missy Testerman, the 2024 National Teacher of the Year first appeared on The Tennessee Firefly ..read more

The Tennessee State Senate passed a bill allowing teachers to be armed in the classroom following a chaotic discussion that included state troopers clearing spectators from the gallery above. Demonstrators in the crowd shouted their opposition to the legislation and one woman could be heard saying, “We’re all Covenant mothers,” referring to last year’s school shooting in Nashville that killed six people. The post Senate passes legislation to arm teachers following heated debate and clearing of spectators first appeared on The Tennessee Firefly ..read more

A bill that would require schoolchildren to watch a fetal development animation video made by abortion opposition group Live Action is on its way to Governor Bill Lee’s desk. The State Senate voted 21 to 6 in favor of the legislation Thursday, voting down four proposed amendments by Senate Democrats hoping to provide parents and teachers with more discretion and consent for whether not to show the “Meet Baby Olivia” video. The post Legislation requiring children to watch a video produced by group that opposes abortion heads to the governor’s desk first appeared on The Tennessee Firefly ..read more

When Lawrence Blackwell moved his family to Tennessee in 2010 to work for the University of Memphis, he chose to send his son to a unique Pre-K program operated by his new employer. The experience was so positive Blackwell kept his son on the university campus and enrolled him in its elementary school. The post Senate passes plan to enable the University of Memphis to form its own public school district first appeared on The Tennessee Firefly ..read more

Members of the House Finance, Ways and Means Committee advanced a bill Tuesday that’s designed to make it easier for public charter schools to access vacant school buildings. The bill would require local school districts that have public charter schools in them to provide a list of vacant and underutilized buildings on an annual basis. The post House finance committee advances legislation to make it easier for public charter schools to access vacant buildings first appeared on The Tennessee Firefly ..read more