House Education Committee advances several bills on licensure, virtual students, school salaries and curriculum

The Tennessee House Education Committee advanced a slate of bills on staffing, student services and curriculum on the committee’s full calendar, moving most measures to the next legislative committee or to the calendar and rules committee for floor consideration.

The committee approved new licensure flexibility for local education agencies to hire occupational professionals for some classroom roles, allowed students enrolled in public virtual schools operated by LEAs to participate in local interscholastic athletics, extended how long substitutes may serve without a teaching license, and approved bills on reading-screen transparency, online/AI safety instruction and salary and leave parity for the state’s special schools.

Why it matters: The package touches hiring and classroom staffing, extracurricular eligibility, and information parents receive about reading progress — issues that affect school operations across Tennessee and that committee members said are intended to respond to teacher shortages, to clarify statewide practice and to increase transparency.

Key votes and short summaries

Votes at a glance (committee action, roll-call tallies as recorded in committee): - House Bill 13-23 (amended by Amendment 5 6 3 9) — Licensure changes to allow limited occupational teacher licenses and other licensure flexibility, with explicit exclusions for special education emergency credentials and a provision maintaining existing rules for certain PE staffing. Committee recorded 15 ayes, 0 nays; bill moved out to finance. - House Bill 3-55 — Permits students enrolled in public virtual schools operated by an LEA to participate in interscholastic athletics at the school where they are zoned, if they meet eligibility requirements. Committee recorded 17 ayes, 1 nay; bill moved out to calendar and rules. - House Bill 12-27 (with Amendment 3 8 6 5) — Modernizes Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) procedures and clarifies authority to identify capital investment needs. Committee recorded 18 ayes, 0 nays; bill moved out to calendar and rules. - House Bill 12-53 — Extends the maximum number of consecutive days a substitute may serve without a teaching license (from 20 to 30 days) and permits school boards to adopt a six-week paid parental leave policy for birth or adoption; committee recorded 18 ayes, 0 nays; bill moved out to calendar and rules. - House Bill 5-34 — Clarifies insurance responsibility for school bus contractors (replaces “owners and operators” language with “contractors”); committee recorded 18 ayes, 0 nays; bill is double-referred and will move to judiciary. - House Bill 6-76 (Amendment 4 2 5 5) — Requires salary and leave parity and appropriation obligations for Tennessee’s special schools (e.g., Tennessee School for the Blind and Tennessee School for the Deaf); committee recorded 18 ayes, 0 nays; bill moved out to finance. - House Bill 3-68 — Directs Department of Education to work with a nonprofit (Secret Safe Place for Newborns of Tennessee) to develop safe-haven educational materials and distribute guidelines to LEAs and charter high schools; committee recorded 16 ayes, 1 nay; bill moved out to calendar and rules. - House Bill 13-85 — Requires organizations that represent themselves as school support organizations to provide annual reports of receipts and expenditures to the Department of Education; committee recorded 18 ayes, 0 nays; bill moved out to calendar and rules. - House Bill 13-77 (Amendment 4 5 7 2) — Adds universal reading-screener results to report cards or with progress reports for grades K–8; committee recorded 18 ayes, 0 nays; bill moved out to calendar and rules. - House Bill 8-25 (Amendment 5 3 9 8) — Requires Department of Education guidance for social-media, internet and AI safety lessons to be taught in coordinated school health for grades 6–12; committee recorded 16 ayes, 0 nays, 1 present-not-voting; bill moved out to calendar and rules.

What committee members and staff said

Representative Tim Hicks, sponsor of HB 13-23, described the licensure package as “streamlin[ing] and increas[ing] teacher licensure flexibility” by creating a limited occupational teacher license and clarifying emergency and temporary permit language. Legal staff clarified statutory limits on emergency credentials: "Amendment 5 6 3 9 makes a technical change to subsection k of section 1," said Katie Robertson, Office of Legal Services. Robertson also told the committee that "in section 1, subsection f, it provides that the commissioner shall not grant a person on behalf of the state board an emergency teaching credential to teach a special education course." The special-education exclusion appears explicitly in the statutory language before the committee.

Representative Jim Powers, sponsor of HB 3-55 on virtual students in athletics, told the committee that virtual students who attend a public virtual school operated by an LEA are considered public school students and "would be required to follow vaccination requirements" applicable to other public-school students, according to legal staff. Powers said he had checked with the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) and that TSSAA "is good with this bill." Committee counsel and TSSAA staff noted eligibility is tied to a student’s enrollment and the high school where they establish attendance; questions about one-time transfers and immediate eligibility were referenced as issues addressed by separate legislation under consideration.

Representative Alexander, sponsor of HB 12-53 on substitute teachers and optional paid parental leave, said the bill is intended to reduce the classroom disruptions caused by frequent short-term absences by allowing districts the flexibility to keep a substitute in a classroom longer. Committee members voiced concern about balancing continuity against the effect of substitutes without certification; Alexander replied the bill "gives them more flexibility and latitude to make sure they could keep a teacher in that classroom for a longer period of time."

Context and next steps

Most of the measures the committee approved will be scheduled next either for Finance or for Calendar and Rules, depending on referral. A few bills required further work or cross-chamber coordination before final passage. Several items that drew substantive committee discussion — including licensure limits for special education, athletics eligibility for virtual students, classroom staffing and the treatment of reading-screen results on report cards — included clarifying input from Tennessee Department of Education staff and from the Office of Legal Services.

The committee also confirmed two advisory-board appointments: Todd Womack to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga advisory board and Rick Spell to the University of Tennessee Health Science Center advisory board; each confirmation was recorded on the committee floor without opposition.