Legislature advances bills that could change charter commission responsibilities; staff highlights teacher bonus, ASD wind-down and direct-application proposal

Hayden Pendergrass, director of external affairs, briefed the commission on multiple bills in the 2025 legislative session that could affect the commission's work and charter schools across Tennessee.

Pendergrass said the special session produced one immediate school-related item: a $2,000 one-time bonus for active teachers in the school year. "The only requirement for our schools to receive that funding is for their each of their governing boards to pass a resolution by June first of this year," Pendergrass said. The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) will collect the resolutions and handle disbursement; staff expect an update in April on timing for payments.

Pendergrass highlighted several education bills of interest to the commission: • Cell-phone ban during instructional hours: passed both chambers and awaiting the governor's signature; individual districts will decide implementation details and governing boards will need policies in place before the next year. • Increased recess time (colloquially "say yes to recess"): would raise unstructured elementary recess time and was passed by the Senate and scheduled for House committee action. • Flexibility for hybrid instruction: proposes up to four days of virtual instruction to count toward the 180-day requirement during extreme weather or emergencies and has bipartisan support.

Pendergrass described the proposed wind-down of the Achievement School District (ASD). He said the original bill would have wound the ASD down immediately this summer, which could have disrupted local review of applications; an amendment lets the remaining two schools complete their current processes and allows the ASD to fully unwind as no active schools will remain after the 2026–27 year.

The administration's charter-school bill, which passed the Senate and is headed to the House, contains several elements Pendergrass summarized: • Streamlining application document submissions so the commission would receive and post many documents directly rather than relying on the department for collection. • Shifting responsibility for application and rubric development to the State Board of Education with input from the commission. • Allowing institutions of higher education to sponsor charter schools and to choose whether to apply through their local LEA or directly to the commission. • A direct-application trigger: if the commission overturns a local board decision three times within a three-year window after the law becomes effective, schools in that district could apply directly to the commission for up to five years. • A replication application for schools open at least one year to apply to replicate within the same geographic district through a shortened process; staff sought rulemaking flexibility to shape replication procedures.

Pendergrass said staff had requested two additional positions to handle a likely uptick in direct applications; those staffing requests were included in hearings but the governor's amendment tied to the administration bill did not include the extra positions. Staff said they are exploring fixes to ensure appropriate staffing if application volume increases.

Other items noted: an amendment to the Charitable Solicitations Act to explicitly include commission-authorized schools in the educational exemption; bills addressing payments and geographic/tuition issues in counties with municipal districts; and a proposal that would allow schools to require proof of lawful presence to enroll students, a measure Pendergrass said likely faces legal challenge because it conflicts with existing U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

Pendergrass and commissioners discussed specifics about how the bills would operate in practice, including timing if a direct-application trigger were enacted (the law would take effect July 1, 2025, and the three-overturn clock would begin after that date) and examples of recent overturn history referenced for context.