Multiple Education-Related Bills Pass in General Assembly

April 7th was a busy day for bills relating to public education in Tennessee. Legislators voted overwhelmingly in favor of educators on licensure and salary bills before the body.

HB1375 passed in the House by a margin of 88-0 to prohibit licensure decisions from being based on student growth data compiled from the Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS), while the Senate companion bill (SB2240) has passed the week prior by a vote of 26-6. “HB1375 does not go as far as HB2263, the Educator Respect and Accountability Act of 2014, by prohibiting students’ standardized test scores from influencing teacher licensing decisions altogether”, says Rep. Andrew Farmer. “However, it does remove the threat to licensure based on value-added scores, which has been a huge issue.”

The legislature also sent an overwhelmingly clear message regarding teacher salaries by returning more control to the local level. SB1856 passed in the Senate by a margin of 30-1 with its companion bill of HB1381 passing in the House by a margin of 95-0. “The State Board of Education’s overhaul of the salary schedule for educators would have ignored years of service and advanced degrees for our frontline educators”, notes Rep. Farmer. “The General Assembly has made it clear that local school systems should be in control and can determine their own schedules, as they see fit.”