Title 49, Education

(a) (1) A teacher who observes or otherwise has knowledge of an assault and battery or an act of vandalism endangering life, health, or safety committed by a student on school property shall immediately report such action to the principal of the teacher's school.(2) A principal w…

(a) The department of education, in collaboration with the department of safety, shall establish a Tennessee school safety center to develop and evaluate training materials and guidelines on school safety issues, including behavior, discipline and violence prevention. (b) The Ten…

(a) As used in this section, “classroom evacuation” means the removal of some or all students from a classroom or instructional area due to the violent, aggressive, or severely disruptive behavior of another student that creates a safety concern or substantially interrupts classr…

Every teacher in the special school district created by § 37-5-119 is authorized to hold every juvenile pupil strictly accountable for any disorderly conduct in school.

(a) The chief administrative officer, or the chief administrative officer's designee, of any institution in which the schools are located, may use corporal punishment in a reasonable manner and in accordance with this part against any pupil for good cause in order to maintain dis…

(a) The department of children's services shall adopt rules and regulations that specifically designate the method of imposing corporal punishment and the circumstances that warrant corporal punishment in the schools within its special school district. The rules and regulations s…

(a) Within forty-eight (48) hours of the imposition of corporal punishment within the special school district, the pupil shall have the right to be examined by a physician to determine if the punishment was excessive. (b) In any case in which the punishment is excessive, the pupi…

(1) The general assembly finds and declares that:(1) A safe and civil environment is necessary for students to learn and achieve high academic standards;(2) Harassment, intimidation, bullying or cyber-bullying, like other disruptive or violent behavior, is conduct that disrupts a…

(1) As used in this part:(1) “Cyber-bullying” means bullying undertaken through the use of electronic devices;(2) “Electronic devices” include, but are not limited to, telephones, cellular phones or other wireless telecommunication devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), com…

(a) Each school district shall adopt a policy prohibiting harassment, intimidation, bullying or cyber-bullying. School districts are encouraged to develop the policy after consultation with parents and guardians, school employees, volunteers, students, administrators and communit…

Each LEA shall adopt a policy prohibiting harassment, intimidation, bullying, and cyber-bullying and is encouraged to review the policy at least once every three (3) years.

(a) A school employee, student or volunteer may not engage in reprisal or retaliation against a victim of, witness to, or person with reliable information about an act of harassment, intimidation, bullying or cyber-bullying. (b) A school employee, student or volunteer who witness…

School districts are encouraged to form harassment, intimidation, bullying or cyber-bullying prevention task forces, programs and other initiatives involving school employees, students, administrators, volunteers, parents, guardians, law enforcement and community representatives.

(a) At or near the beginning of each school year, the board of education of each LEA shall be responsible for informing all pupils in grades seven through twelve (7-12), inclusive, of the Juvenile Offender Act, compiled in title 55, chapter 10, part 7. This shall be accomplished …

This act is known and may be cited as the “Teen Social Media and Internet Safety Act.”

(1) As used in this part, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Department” means the department of education;(2) “Internet” means the combination of computer facilities and electromagnetic transmission media, and related equipment and software, comprising the interconnected…

(a) (1) By January 1, 2026, the department shall develop guidance for LEAs and public charter schools to instruct students in grades six through twelve (6-12) who are enrolled in the LEA or public charter school on social media and internet safety.(2) The department shall update …

(a) The social media and internet safety guidance developed in § 49-6-4603(a) must include:(1) Time management and healthy behaviors on social media;(2) The negative effects of social media on mental health, including addiction to social media;(3) The distribution of information …

Beginning with the 2025-2026 school year, each LEA and public charter school shall prohibit students from accessing a social media platform using the internet access provided by the LEA or public charter school, except when expressly authorized by a teacher for educational purpos…

(a) The commissioner of health is authorized to designate diseases against which children must be immunized prior to attendance at any school, nursery school, kindergarten, preschool or child care facility of this state. (b) (1) It is the responsibility of the parents or guardian…

(a) Proof of immunization shall be established by a certificate of immunization listing all immunizations that a child has received. The certificates shall be signed by a physician or a health care provider administering immunizations. All certificates of immunization shall be on…

(a) The department of health shall create a plan to protect young Tennesseans against Hepatitis B by immunization and to prevent the spread of the disease. (b) The department shall also promulgate the necessary rules to add Hepatitis B to the schedule of immunizations required fo…

(a) Upon registration or as early as is otherwise possible and appropriate, public schools, nursery schools, kindergartens, preschools or child care facilities are encouraged to make reasonable efforts to apprise parents of the health benefits of obtaining appropriate eye, hearin…

(a) LEAs shall ensure that schools provide parents and guardians with information about meningococcal disease and the effectiveness of vaccination against meningococcal disease at the beginning of every school year. This information shall include the causes, symptoms and means by…

(a) Boards of education are authorized to establish and maintain night schools for persons who are over eleven (11) years of age, under rules and regulations prescribed by the state board of education. (b) Boards of education are authorized to establish and maintain night schools…

(a) To facilitate the identification and tracking of students from school to school and LEA to LEA, and to facilitate and make more efficient the keeping of records, all students shall be assigned a personal identification number upon entry into a Tennessee public school. (b) To …

(a) The general assembly finds that:(1) Students, teachers, employees, and contractors of public schools and LEAs do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression while at school or work;(2) Protecting the right to free speech for students, teachers, em…

It is the responsibility of the director of schools or chief administrative officer in every LEA to forward to the department of education a complete listing of the names and identification numbers of each student in attendance at the time and in the manner specified by the commi…

The commissioner shall use the identification numbers furnished under this part for the purpose of tracking students and for other statistical reports or surveys, but for no other purpose. Listings of student names and identification numbers shall not be public records.

A student shall be enrolled in the name that appears on the student's certificate of live birth or certificate of birth by adoption if the adoption occurs prior to the child's entrance into school. The student shall be known by that lawful name in all facets of school records, re…

(a) To receive a full diploma upon graduation from high school, a student must meet requirements as set forth by the state board of education. (b) (1) As a strategy for assessing student readiness for postsecondary education, every public school student shall take an examination …

(a) No state-mandated test shall be conducted earlier than grade three (3), except that when the first and second grade tests provided for in chapter 434, § 7 of the Public Acts of 1997 are available, these tests shall be conducted. (b) The commissioner of education shall establi…

A comprehensive writing assessment shall be conducted in at least one (1) grade within each of the following grade spans: elementary, middle grades and high school, as determined by the state board of education.

Beginning with the 2016-2017 school year, the state board of education shall approve appropriate computer science courses that every candidate for a full high school diploma may enroll in and complete to satisfy the elective focus requirement for graduation. As used in this secti…

A special education diploma shall be awarded to students who have satisfactorily completed an individualized education program and who have satisfactory records of attendance and conduct, but who have not met the proficiency testing requirements established under § 49-6-6001.

(a) No later than July 15 of each year, the department of education shall post on its website information about state mandated tests that shall be administered in the upcoming school year. The information shall include the name of the test, the purpose and use of the test, the gr…

(a) Beginning with the 2016-2017 school year, the department of education shall provide LEAs with access to their students' Tennessee comprehensive assessment program (TCAP) and end-of-course assessment items and the students' answers on such assessments. (b) Upon request, LEAs s…

(a) Beginning with the 2016-2017 school year, the department of education shall annually release the Tennessee comprehensive assessment program (TCAP) and end-of-course state assessment blueprints and scoring methodology to LEAs and post such information to the department's websi…

Any course work successfully completed in accordance with rules of the state board of education in a summer program of a school approved by the commissioner of education under § 49-1-201 is fully transferable to any other approved school.

(a) (1) A student who earns a composite score of nineteen (19) or higher on the ACT, or an equivalent score on the SAT or Classic Learning Test (CLT), and earns a capstone industry certification as promoted by the department of education, shall be recognized as a Tennessee Tri-St…

(a) Notwithstanding any other law, the department of education and the state board of education are prohibited from mandating any statewide assessments for any grades or subjects beyond those assessments required as of the 2016-2017 school year until the 2020-2021 school year. Th…

(a) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, no adverse action may be taken against any student, teacher, school, or LEA based, in whole or in part, on student achievement, student performance, or student growth data generated from:(1) The 2017-2018 TNReady assessments; or(2) The…

Tennessee comprehensive assessment program (TCAP) tests administered in the 2019-2020 school year must be administered in paper format. Before TCAP tests are administered in the 2020-2021 school year, each LEA shall participate in an online verification test conducted by the depa…

Tennessee comprehensive assessment program (TCAP) tests, which include, but are not limited to, TNReady assessments, English learner assessments, alternate TCAP assessments, and end-of-course examinations, shall not be required in the spring of the 2019-2020 school year. This sec…

(a) Tennessee comprehensive assessment program (TCAP) tests may be administered to students in a timed format. The department of education shall establish the required time limit for each TCAP test and an optional additional time period that may be added to the required time limi…

(a) An LEA or the department of education shall provide any testing materials or proposed testing materials that are in the LEA's or department of education's possession to a member of the general assembly upon the member's request to inspect and review the materials. (b) The sta…