Title 49, Education

(a) Each LEA may offer interest-free loans to a teacher for the purpose of obtaining a master's or doctoral level degree at any state college or university in the subject area or field of study in which the person teaches or plans to teach in the public elementary or secondary sc…

No teacher or other educator shall be discouraged or disciplined by any supervisor, including a principal, the director of schools, or the local board of education, for reporting inaccuracies, errors, or potentially inflammatory material in textbooks and instructional materials o…

(a) This section is known and may be cited as the “Educator's Bill of Rights.” (b) For purposes of this section, “educator” means any teacher, principal, supervisor, or other individual required by law to hold a valid license of qualification for employment in the public schools …

Notwithstanding any law except §§ 8-23-201 and 49-2-203 to the contrary, noninstructional personnel employed by any public school in this state shall be eligible to run for public office.

(a) A school counselor or school teacher is responsible solely for providing counseling and guidance to students at the school or schools at which the counselor is employed. If a counselor is employed as such on a less than full-time basis, those hours devoted to guidance and cou…

(a) If any statute creating a state board, commission or committee specifies or authorizes an employee of an LEA to serve as a member, then the employee shall be eligible to serve on the state board, commission or committee without the loss of compensation, annual leave, sick lea…

(a) All educators and other school personnel to be employed for the following school year shall be assigned to the several schools by June 15 next preceding the school year for which those persons are employed. (b) If a sufficient number of educators and other personnel are not a…

(a) After the election of teachers, the director of schools shall establish the salary rating of each person employed as teacher or principal-teacher, and also the director of schools and other school personnel employed on a system-wide basis in the public schools, using for this…

(a) No person shall be employed to teach in any public elementary or high school or receive pay for teaching out of the public funds of any school system until the person has received a license from the commissioner or state board of education. (b) As used in parts 2, 4 and 7 of …

No person who has any contagious or communicable disease in a form that might endanger the health of school children shall teach in any school, and any teacher must submit to a physical examination by competent physicians when so required by the local board of education.

(a) All persons now teaching or who may hereafter be employed as teachers in any school supported in whole or in part by public funds of the state, county or municipality shall be required to take and subscribe to an oath to support the constitutions of the United States and Tenn…

(a) (1) Each local board of education or director of schools, as appropriate, shall require all persons applying for a position as a teacher as defined in § 49-5-501, or for any other position requiring proximity to school children, to file, in writing, in advance of employment, …

All teachers shall make a written contract with the director of schools or board of education at a fixed salary per month before entering upon the teachers' duties.

(a) Teachers in service and under the control of the public elementary or high schools of this state may continue in such service unless written notice is sent to the teacher from the teacher's board of education or director of schools, as appropriate, of the teacher's dismissal …

(a) A teacher employed full time by any institution of public education, including higher education, may be employed and paid by the same or another institution for additional part-time work outside the teacher's regular hours, not to exceed fifteen (15) clock hours beyond the te…

(a) The conditions under which it is permissible to break a contract with a local board of education are as follows:(1) The incapacity on the part of the teacher to perform the contract as evidenced by the certified statement of a physician approved by the local board of educatio…

Each school having nine (9) or more teachers shall have at least one (1) full-time supervising principal.

(a) Except as provided by subsection (f), and in addition to the requirements of § 49-5-406, an LEA, public charter school, state college or university maintaining a training school pursuant to § 49-8-105, private college or university maintaining a training school pursuant to § …

Every public elementary and secondary school in this state is encouraged to have in its employ, or as a volunteer, at least one (1), preferably more, persons who are currently certified by the American Red Cross or another qualified certifying agency approved by the department of…

(1) The chair of the state board of education, or the chair's designee, may issue subpoenas for the appearance of persons or the production of items, including, but not limited to, documents; videos; and audio recordings, that the chair, or the chair's designee, considers materia…

(a) Any person employed in a public high school as an agriculture education teacher may be employed on a twelve-month contract, or as recommended by the local agricultural education craft advisory committee. These contracts shall be subject to approval by the local board of educa…

(a) The state board of education shall automatically revoke the active license of a licensed educator without the right to a hearing upon:(1) Receiving verification of the identity of the educator together with a certified copy of a criminal record showing that the educator has p…

(a) An LEA may grant release-time to a professional employee to hold office as a representative of a local professional employees' organization as defined in § 49-5-602. Release-time may be granted if the local board approves the request or if release-time is agreed to as part of…

(a) When a final order is issued following a contested case hearing in which a teacher or administrator is issued a formal reprimand or the teacher's or administrator's license is denied, nonrenewed, suspended, or revoked based on the teacher's or administrator's misconduct, the …

(1) As used in this part, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Abolition of position” means a regular bona fide elimination of a position for sufficient, just and nondiscriminatory reasons;(2) “Board” means the local board of education holding jurisdiction in its respective…

(a) The teachers' continuing contract law, compiled in § 49-5-409, shall not be construed to be affected by this part, except that the continuing contract law shall not apply to teachers who have acquired tenure under this part. (b) (1) This part shall not affect the operation of…

(1) Any teacher who meets all of the following requirements is eligible for “tenure”:(1) Has a degree from an approved four-year college or any career and technical teacher who has the equivalent amount of training established and licensed by the state board of education;(2) Hold…

(a) Any teacher, otherwise qualified for tenure status, shall meet the following requirements prior to becoming eligible for tenure status:(1) Served five (5) school years or not less than forty-five (45) months within a seven-year period as a probationary teacher; and(2) Receive…

The local board of education has the authority to set standards of employment or to maintain educational requirements of the personnel in service over and above those required by the state board of education whenever the board is in position to support the superior program; provi…

(a) A teacher shall give the director of schools notice of resignation at least thirty (30) days in advance of the effective date of the resignation. A teacher who fails to give such notice, in the absence of justifiable mitigating circumstances, shall forfeit all tenure status u…

(a) If a teacher transfers from one LEA in this state to another LEA, the LEA from which the teacher transfers shall send to the LEA to which the teacher transfers the results of the teacher's last five (5) evaluations or the results of all evaluations, if fewer than five (5) are…

The director of schools, when necessary to the efficient operation of the school system, may transfer a teacher from one location to another within the school system, or from one type of work to another for which the teacher is qualified and licensed; provided, that transfers sha…

(a) (1) No teacher shall be dismissed or suspended except as provided in this part.(2) The causes for which a teacher may be dismissed or suspended are: incompetence, inefficiency, neglect of duty, unprofessional conduct, and insubordination, as defined in § 49-5-501.(3) A direct…

(a) A tenured teacher who receives notification of charges pursuant to § 49-5-511 may, within thirty (30) days after receipt of the notice, demand a full and complete hearing on the charges before an impartial hearing officer selected by the board, as follows:(1) The teacher shal…

(a) A tenured teacher who is dismissed or suspended by action of the board pursuant to § 49-5-512(c)(3), or suspended by action of the director pursuant to § 49-5-512(d)(4), may petition for a writ of certiorari from the chancery court of the county where the teacher is employed.…

(a) (1) Should it be desired to incorporate any local teacher tenure system into the state system, the board having jurisdiction over the teachers under the local system shall publish in some newspaper of general circulation in the town or county in which the local tenure system …

(a) The state board of education is authorized and directed to establish a system of tenure for teachers in schools and institutions under its jurisdiction. (b) The board shall promulgate and publish reasonable rules and regulations for the establishment of a tenure system for su…

The general assembly recognizes the vital position occupied by institutions of higher education in the training of teachers, the improvement in the quality of the education profession, and the impact on Tennessee students. In acting to support these functions in public institutio…

All students wishing to enter approved teacher training programs shall be required to submit a score on a secure standardized test or tests chosen by the state board of education. The board is authorized to promulgate rules and regulations listing the test or tests authorized for…

(a) In order to assure the public that every teacher has been adequately trained, licenses to teach shall be issued only to those students who have been graduated from a Tennessee institution certified by the department of education or from an out-of-state institution certified b…

In order to gain experience in a school and demonstrate readiness for teaching, educator preparation providers shall require clinical experiences, including field experiences and clinical practice, as defined by the state board of education. During the clinical practice, each can…

(a) All students desiring a license to teach must pass both a test that measures professional knowledge and a standardized or criterion-referenced test for each desired area of endorsement. These tests shall be developed or acquired by the department of education, validated and a…

Those students who achieve a passing score on the state teacher's examination required by § 49-5-5605 are eligible to be awarded a license by the state board of education and may apply for employment in the school system of their choice.

(a) The state board of education shall review the scores on the state teachers examination from each public and private teacher training institution. Any institution that had thirty percent (30%) or more of its students fail the examination in the previous year shall be informed …

All teacher training institutions are encouraged to offer, and encourage all students to take, a course specifically designed for prevention and intervention strategies in behavioral/emotional disorders. This course should include information from the fields of psychology and edu…

(a) The state board of education shall promulgate rules to create a pathway to allow privately operated child care programs, as defined in § 49-1-1102, and child care agencies, as defined in § 71-3-501, that serve children from birth until kindergarten enrollment to be eligible t…