The Tennessee State Board of Education meeting at Northeast State concluded with the board approving a broad package of rules and policies affecting licensure, curriculum, health and accountability.

Among the items the board approved were revisions to educator licensure rules to align with Public Chapter 328 (adding a limited occupational teaching license and updating permit and endorsement pathways), updates to professional assessments that add national evaluation series (NES) options, and first- and final-reading approvals of multiple policies on coordinated school health, graduation substitutions, educator preparation clinical practice and educator evaluation.

The board also approved statutory-alignment changes that affect local practice: the teacher leave/substitute rule (reflecting an increase from 20 to 30 consecutive days a substitute may serve without a license), and removal of certain course-access reporting requirements after statutory repeal.

Textbook and instructional materials for Schedule E (certain CTE, health and advanced manufacturing subjects) were recommended to the board by the textbook commission and approved after the commission’s 8–0 recommendation following appeals and rescoring. The board approved the Schedule E adoption list on final reading.

Accountability actions approved included the board’s adoption of the 2024–25 lists for reward schools (459 schools), priority schools (108 schools identified as CSI/priority using three years of data and bottom‑5% mechanics) and in‑need‑of‑improvement districts (bottom 5% of districts). The board also approved the new accountability hearings policy and announced the hearing committee membership.

Votes: items required roll-call votes at final reading in many cases; where a roll call was recorded the clerk reported the ayes and the chair announced the motion passed. Several routine items (consent agenda, many policy first readings) passed by voice vote ('aye' / 'motion carries'). Detailed vote tallies were provided on the record for some roll-call items (examples in the meeting transcript indicated seven ayes for certain roll-call votes); where a specific numerical tally was not read aloud the board recorded passage by voice vote.

The board stated staff will continue implementation work, compliance reporting and follow‑up where statutory or regulatory changes require district action. The board adjourned and plans to reconvene in Nashville on Feb. 27.