Policy & Legislation Elizabeth Fiveash, Assistant Commissioner, Policy & Legislative Affairs

 The Policy & Legislative Affairs team aims to inform and influence education policymaking at the state level.  We represent and advocate for the policy positions of the department and the governor before the Tennessee General Assembly. During legislative session our team works to protect key department initiatives like accountability and high quality standards and assessments.  The legislative teams also strives to build and engage relationships with other external stakeholders like educators, the state board of education, and state education policy organizations. What we do 2

 Legislature convened on January 12,  Legislature adjourned on April 22,  Last year of the 109 th General Assembly.  110 th General Assembly will convene on January 10, th General Assembly Highlights 3

 Governor Haslam’s administration proposed 42 bills (3 education).  1,271 bills were introduced, of those around 200 were education related.  604 pieces of legislation passed, of those around 50 are education related.  Nearly $5 billion was appropriated for K-12 education.  2016 General Assembly Public Acts - Bills are approved by the Legislature, signed into law by the Governor, filed with the Secretary of State, and then assigned a Public Chapter number. 109 th General Assembly Highlights 4

 Public Chapter 660: Requires each local school board to adopt a policy on the use of religion in curriculum and instructional materials prior to the school year; requires each LEA to maintain a publically available syllabus for grades 6-12 in social studies, science, math, and ELA courses; requires the state board to initiative the standards review process for social studies; and requires teacher training institutes to include curriculum on the teaching of religion. Effective March 29,  Public Chapter 669: Requires that students in grades K-1 receive 3, 15 minute periods of non-structured physical activity per day; requires students in grades 2-6 receive at least 2, 20minute periods of non-structured physical activity at least 4 days a week; and requires students in grades 7-12 receive 90 minutes of physical activity a week. Effective March 31,  Public Chapter 680: Requires the department to develop a grading system that annually assigns schools a letter grade on the A-F scale. The grading system must be based on student performance on TCAP or end-of-course exams, student growth and other outcome indicators of student achievement. School grades shall be assigned in the school year. Effective March 24, Public Chapter Highlights 5

 Public Chapter 703: Requires pre-k programs to meet criteria for "highly qualified", adds new requirements to the pre-k application, and requires districts that receive approval of a voluntary pre-k program to utilize the pre-k/k growth portfolio model. Effective April 6,  Public Chapter 712: Provides teachers with the option to include or not include results from the TNReady and TCAP tests within the student growth component of their evaluation, depending on which scenario benefits them the most. If at any point in this three-year transition an educator’s evaluation would not benefit by including the student growth data from the test, educators will have that data excluded. Effective April 6, Public Chapter Highlights 6

 Public Chapter 844: Enacts the Tennessee Student Assessment Transparency Act which eliminates the 8th grade EXPLORE and 10th grade PLAN assessments; provides students with the one ACT or SAT re-take; requires the department to annually release test questions and student answers review beginning in the school year; requires LEAs to inform parents of how they can gain access to the individual results of their child; and requires the department to release assessment blueprints and assessment scoring methodology to all districts and post on the department’s website. Effective July 1, Testing Transparency 7

 Public Chapter 1020: Makes enhancements to BEP including: More than $100 million for teacher salaries; Nearly $30 million to fund the 12th month of insurance; $15 million for recurring technology funds; Nearly $20 million to better serve high need student populations; and Almost $50 million to address enrollment growth and inflationary costs. The legislation also clarifies the use of salary funds so that if a school district is below the state weighted average teacher salary, it will be required to use salary funds strictly for salaries and, if the district is above the state weighted average salary, it will be permitted to continue to operate under the current law, which allows the funds to be expended on salaries or benefits. Effective July 1, BEP Enhancement Act 8

 Public Chapter 783: Requires principals or a designee to initiate an investigation into a report of bullying within 48 hours and to initiate an appropriate intervention within 20 calendar days of receipt of the report. Requires LEAs to inform parents or guardians of a student’s involvement with bullying or harassment and updates LEA reporting requirements.  Public Chapter 1058: Requires LEAs to screen all students for dyslexia using procedures developed by the department of education. Students who exhibit characteristics of dyslexia shall be given appropriate interventions and notice shall be provided to their parent or guardian. Establishes a dyslexia advisory council to study and report on matters relating to dyslexia. Effective July 1, Public Chapter Highlights 9

Districts and schools in Tennessee will exemplify excellence and equity such that all students are equipped with the knowledge and skills to successfully embark on their chosen path in life. Excellence | Optimism | Judgment | Courage | Teamwork