(This post was authored by Jack Powers, former legislative director for ExcelinEd in Action.)
Dynamic leadership is a critical key in crafting and implementing student-centered policies that improve academic and life outcomes.
From Gov. Bill Lee and legislative leaders in the House and Senate, to former Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn and current commissioner Lizzette Gonzales Reynolds, there has been a clear and constant commitment to create a better learning environment for educators, families and students in the Volunteer State.
During the 2023 legislative session, Tennessee policymakers took decisive action to grow the teacher talent pipeline; implement a new student-centered education funding formula; build and stay strong on laws that are addressing learning loss and early literacy; and expand the state’s education scholarship account (ESA) program to more families.
To support Tennessee students in becoming teachers and strengthen the educator pipeline, lawmakers passed the Tennessee Future Teacher Scholarship Act, creating a $4.5 million pilot program that will pay tuition and fees for college juniors and seniors who agree to teach for four years in high-need areas or subjects.
To be eligible, students must graduate from a Tennessee high school, be enrolled in an eligible Educator Preparation Program (EPP) and maintain a cumulative GPA of at least 2.75 while enrolled in the preparation program.
According to Tennessee SCORE, the new program addresses a 40% decline in students completing approved EPPs since 2011. As of last year, there were about 2,700 educator positions in the state that were vacant or filled by a teacher without the proper subject-area training. Thanks to the new law, Tennessee is taking important steps to improve the teacher pipeline by growing talented teachers at home.
This session, Tennessee lawmakers and Gov. Lee made good on their commitment to the state’s student-centered funding formula, the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement Act (TISA). Originally passed in 2022, Tennessee fully funded TISA for the 2023-24 school year.
In the budget this year, state lawmakers approved $750 million to fully fund the base allotment for TISA. On top of that, Gov. Lee and lawmakers approved another $350 million for the formula—about a $1.1 billion total increase.
TISA injects new recurring and one-time dollars into education. These investments include higher base funding for all students, new weighted funding for special populations of students with unique learning needs and direct funding for critical programs like early literacy and K-12 to career pipelines.
The new TISA funding formula ensures the state is funding schools and investing in students based on their unique learning needs instead of a one-size-fits-all approach.
The state’s investment in students didn’t stop there. For years now, Tennessee schools have grappled with stagnant third-grade literacy rates and the challenges of pandemic-related learning loss.
This year, Tennessee continued tackling these issues by fully implementing and building upon several critical pieces of legislation originally passed in 2021 during an education-focused special legislative session.
Under the Tennessee Learning Loss Remediation and Student Acceleration Act of 2021, school districts began providing intense interventions to struggling readers, including more time in third grade before fourth grade promotion to help them catch up. School districts continued offering proactive supports like academic summer camps to mitigate learning loss and accelerate academic recovery.
Recognizing the role academic remediation has played in Tennessee’s pandemic recovery, Gov. Lee and the Tennessee General Assembly passed legislation this year to permanently require and fund summer learning camps. Expanding access to summer programming will help students regain momentum toward future success, ensuring each child has the support they need to read on grade-level before they enter fourth grade and beyond.
During the 2023 legislative session, Tennessee also protected the policy that provides struggling readers with interventions and an extra year of learning before being promoted to the fourth grade, when students transition from learning to read to reading to learn.
And with SB0012/HB0433, the state expanded the popular ESA Pilot Program to include Hamilton County (Chattanooga). The ESA program, previously limited to Davidson (Nashville) and Shelby (Memphis) counties, allows families in certain districts to customize learning and direct their student’s K-12 education funding toward private school tuition, courses, programs and other services of their choice, including tutoring and educational therapy.
Even though the legislature approved the original ESA program in 2019, years of litigation prevented students and families from accessing the program. In 2022, the court ruled in favor of the program, and Tennessee families were finally able to make school choice a reality. During the 2023 legislative session, Governor Lee and the General Assembly passed HB559/SB638 to provide families who missed out a second chance. The bill allows families who were eligible during the program’s litigation period to apply and participate in the program this school year.
Tennessee has a rich history of student-centered education reform, and 2023 built on that legacy. We look forward to supporting Tennessee policymakers and education leaders as they continue to build upon successes and implement these critical education policies.
