(a) The several appropriations of state funds annually made for the operation and maintenance of the Tennessee School for the Blind, the Tennessee School for the Deaf, the West Tennessee School for the Deaf, the Alvin C. York Agricultural Institute, and other special schools operated by the department of education as may hereafter be created shall be administered and expended under budgets approved by the department of education.
(b) The schools referenced in subsection (a) may award scholarships for the school's graduates. The graduates must be selected by the respective director of schools under the approval of the commissioner.
(c) The department shall obligate and expend appropriations for the capital improvement of the state special schools.
(d) The salary schedules for teachers and other licensed personnel in the state special schools must be reasonably comparable to those currently in effect in the LEAs where the respective institution is located, but the salaries must be paid solely out of the state appropriations made to the respective institutions.
(e) Any percentage increase to the salary schedule of an LEA where a state special school is located must also result in an equivalent percentage increase to the salary schedule for that state special school.
(f) When the general assembly appropriates monies in the budget for salaries, raises, bonuses, or other incentives for public school teachers and other licensed personnel employed in an LEA or public charter school in this state, the department of education shall also obligate and expend appropriations in an equivalent amount for salaries, raises, bonuses, or other incentives for the teachers and other licensed personnel employed in the state special schools managed and controlled by the department of education. It is the legislative intent that the general assembly will appropriate monies in a sufficient amount to effectuate this subsection (f). The state is not prohibited from providing the teachers and other licensed personnel employed in the state special schools more than what is required by this part.