Title 49, Education

(a) Notwithstanding § 37-5-107 or § 37-1-612, if a school teacher, school official, or other school personnel has knowledge or reasonable cause to suspect that a child who attends the school may be a victim of child abuse or child sexual abuse sufficient to require reporting purs…

This part shall be known and may be cited as the “Financial Literacy Program Act of 2010.”

(a) There is hereby created the Tennessee financial literacy commission for the purpose of raising funds, developing, managing and implementing the plans and programs described in this part. Such educational programs include, but are not limited to, financial literacy education p…

(a) The commission's board of directors shall be composed of eleven (11) members, three (3) of whom shall be the state treasurer, ex officio; the commissioner of financial institutions, ex officio; and the commissioner of education, ex officio. (b) The non-ex officio members shal…

(a) The purposes of the commission are to:(1) Formulate and implement educational programs to improve the financial literacy of the citizens of this state, including, but not limited to, elementary school students and parents;(2) Educate the public in Tennessee about effective pe…

(a) Counsel for the treasury department shall serve as the attorney to the commission. (b) Notwithstanding subsection (a) or any other law to the contrary, in cases where the interest of the commission requires additional counsel, the treasurer, with the approval of the attorney …

(a) Funds of the commission shall be used exclusively for the purposes and activities set forth in this part and shall be invested by the state treasurer in accordance with § 9-4-603. (b) Any reserve balance remaining unexpended at the end of a fiscal year in the commission's acc…

The commission shall be subject to examination and audit by the comptroller of the treasury in the same manner as prescribed for the department of the treasury.

(a) Upon request of the governor, the education committee of the senate, or either education committee of the house of representatives, the commission shall provide a report on the commission's activities. (b) The commission shall study financial literacy in this state. The commi…

(a) Subject to applicable federal and state laws, rules, and regulations, and upon the request of the commission, each public elementary and middle school, or each LEA on behalf of the schools, shall provide information to the commission or department of education about the finan…

As used in this part, “limited public forum” means public property that the LEA provides for students as a place for expressive activity which may impose reasonable, content-neutral time, place and manner restrictions on certain groups or topics of speech; provided, that the rest…

(a) An LEA shall treat a student's voluntary expression of a religious viewpoint, if any, on an otherwise permissible subject in the same manner in which the LEA treats a student's voluntary expression of a secular or other viewpoint on an otherwise permissible subject and may no…

(a) An LEA shall not be required to provide a limited public forum pursuant to this part. If the LEA determines that it is appropriate to allow a student speaker at a school event, then this part shall apply. (b) To ensure that an LEA does not discriminate against a student's pub…

Students may express their written beliefs about religion in homework, artwork, and other written and oral assignments free from discrimination based on the religious content of the student's submissions. Homework and classroom assignments shall be judged by ordinary academic sta…

Students may organize religious student groups, religious clubs, “see you at the pole” gatherings, or other religious gatherings before, during, and after school to the same extent that students are permitted to organize other noncurricular student activities and groups. Religiou…

All employees of each LEA shall attend the annual in-service training in suicide prevention required to be provided to teachers and principals in accordance with § 49-6-3004(c)(1) or other equivalent training.

(a) Each LEA shall adopt a policy on student suicide prevention. The policies shall be developed in consultation with school and community stakeholders, school-employed mental health professionals, and suicide prevention experts, and shall, at a minimum, address procedures relati…

(a) No person shall have a cause of action for any loss or damage caused by any act or omission resulting from the implementation of this part or resulting from any training, or lack thereof, required by this part. (b) The training required by this part, or the lack thereof, shal…

(a) This section and § 49-7-182 are known and may be cited as the “Save Tennessee Students Act.” (b) If an LEA issues new student identification cards for students in grades six through twelve (6-12), then the LEA shall include on the identification cards:(1) The telephone number…

(a) County and city boards of education are empowered to exercise the right of eminent domain and to take and use the property of individuals or private corporations for public school purposes as provided in this section. (b) The county mayor or mayor of the city shall appoint no…

(a) All municipal corporations establishing or having a free public school or free public high school are empowered to take and condemn the lands, property, property rights, privileges and easements of individuals and private corporations, in the mode and on the terms provided in…

(a) It is unlawful for any teacher, supervisor, commissioner, director of schools, member of a board of education or other school officer in the public schools to have any pecuniary interest, directly or indirectly, in supplying books, maps, school furniture or apparatus to the p…

(a) The custody of all county school property shall be with the county board of education. (b) The board may designate the principal teacher of the local school, during the school term, or the truancy officer, to look after the protection and preservation of school grounds, house…

(a) The United States flag shall be displayed on every public school building. It is the duty of the board of education to purchase at wholesale prices, on competitive bids, as many flags as needed for the various schools and to pay for them out of the public school funds. (b) In…

(a) The board of education is authorized to receive donations of money, property or securities from any source for the benefit of the public schools, which funds it shall, in good faith, disburse in accordance with the conditions of the gifts. (b) (1) The board has the power to p…

(a) It is the general assembly's intent that surplus property in a local education agency (LEA) acquired by taxpayers' dollars, instead of being destroyed, be sold or transferred to a local government, as provided in § 49-6-2006. (b) All LEAs that receive any state funds shall se…

(a) In order to maintain the conditions and atmosphere suitable for learning, no person shall enter onto school buses, or during school hours, enter upon the grounds or into the buildings of any school, except students assigned to that bus or school, the staff of the school, pare…

No sign or message in support of or opposition to a referendum or initiative placed before the voters shall be displayed on a sign owned by an LEA or its schools or attached to LEA-owned buildings. No audio or video messages in support of or opposition to a referendum or initiati…

(a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the “Minimum Kindergarten Program Law.” (b) The minimum standards for kindergarten programs in the public school system shall be as follows:(1) The kindergarten program shall offer only the conventional five-day week and shall c…

(a) Local boards of education and public charter school governing bodies, as defined in § 49-13-104, may allow schools in the LEA or the public charter school, as applicable, to display the Ten Commandments, the first sentence of the second paragraph of the preamble to the Declar…

(a) Boards of education may provide school transportation facilities for children who live more than one and one-half (1½) miles by the nearest accessible route from the school to which they are assigned by the board of education and in which they are enrolled. (b) Boards of educ…

The state board of education is directed to formulate rules and regulations governing school transportation as needed to protect the lives and welfare of school children.

No pupil shall be charged a fee by the county board of education or by any employee of the board for the privilege of being transported with public funds to any public school.

(a) All pupils within a county shall be provided equal opportunity to attend school with any other pupil transported at public expense, except as conditions of roads or remoteness may prevent. (b) In all cases where transportation cannot be furnished to a child because of the con…

No pupil shall be allowed to remain in transit to or from school on a school bus more than one and one-half (1½) hours in the morning or one and one-half (1½) hours in the afternoon.

School bus routes shall be subject to the approval of the commissioner of education in order that the most efficient and economical services may be rendered. This section only applies where specific request for approval is made by the county board of education where the school bu…

(a) No person shall be authorized to drive a school bus in this state unless the person possesses a certificate issued by the county board of education. (b) The county board of education is authorized to adopt rules and regulations prescribing the qualifications of school bus dri…

(a) The local board of education shall require annual physical and mental examinations of school bus drivers and require reports to be made on forms prescribed by the local board of education. (b) It is the duty of the local board of education to revoke the certificate issued to …

(a) Students must be transported in safe equipment:(1) Constructed of steel or materials providing similar safety; and(2) That include other safety features as set forth in the specifications for school buses approved by the department of safety. The department of education shall…

(a) A school bus shall at no time transport more pupils than the manufacturer's rated capacity for the bus, allowing no less than thirteen linear inches (13″) of seat space for each pupil. The commissioner of education may, under rules and regulations prepared by the commissioner…

No school bus shall be operated to transport pupils to and from school unless the school bus is insured for liability and property damage according to rules and regulations of the state board of education.

(a) No privilege tax shall be collected from any school bus operator or from any board of education for operating a vehicle to transport children to and from school unless the vehicle is used for profit in transporting other than school pupils. (b) No owner or operator of a schoo…

A willful violation of this part is a Class C misdemeanor.

(a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the “Tennessee Children with Disabilities Transportation Act of 1991.” (b) (1) School districts and other entities entitled by the laws of this state to receive school aid for educational and related services provided by them fo…

Notwithstanding any rule of the state board of education or the department of safety to the contrary, all school buses purchased by an LEA or private contractor to transport school students shall meet national minimum school bus standards and all applicable federal motor vehicle …

(a) Each local board of education (LEA) and charter school, and charter management organization as applicable, that provides or contracts for transportation services shall appoint a transportation supervisor responsible for the monitoring and oversight of transportation services …