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Straight-ahead summaries built from the official bill text. We keep the source links front and center and leave the decision up to you.

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HB0178 • 2026

Education, Curriculum

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 13, relative to the Success Sequence Act.

Children Education Housing Labor
Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor
Bulso, Bowling
Last action
2025-04-29
Official status
Comp. became Pub. Ch. 224
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details on how schools should implement or teach about the success sequence, leaving room for interpretation in terms of curriculum specifics.

Success Sequence Act

This act updates Tennessee's family life curriculum requirements to include teaching about positive personal and societal outcomes associated with completing a specific sequence of life events.

What This Bill Does

  • Defines 'success sequence' as obtaining a high school diploma or equivalency, entering the workforce or pursuing further education, getting married, and having children in that order.
  • Requires family life curriculum to include age-appropriate instruction on evidence supporting positive outcomes linked with following this success sequence.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Students in Tennessee who are learning about family life and relationships.
  • Teachers and school administrators responsible for implementing the new curriculum requirements.

Terms To Know

Success sequence
A series of steps that people should follow to achieve better personal and societal outcomes, including obtaining a high school diploma or equivalency, entering the workforce or pursuing further education, getting married, and having children in that order.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The act applies starting July 1, 2026, for the 2026-2027 school year and each following school year.
  • It does not specify how schools should teach about the success sequence or what materials they must use.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

Amendment 1-0 to HB0178

Plain English: The amendment changes when a specific education law will take effect.

  • Changes the effective date of the Success Sequence Act from an unspecified date to July 1, 2026.
  • The original text does not specify the initial effective date of the act, so it's unclear what date was originally planned.
  • It is not clear why this specific date was chosen or what changes will be made to the curriculum starting in the 2026-2027 school year.
Amendment 2-0 to HB0178

Plain English: The amendment changes the introduction of HB0178 to highlight challenges faced by millennial women regarding marriage, family formation, and economic stability.

  • Replaces the original preamble with a new one that discusses issues such as wage stagnation, student debt, unaffordable housing, and high child care costs facing millennial women.
  • Emphasizes how these challenges delay or deter marriage and childbearing among millennials.
  • The amendment text does not specify any concrete policy changes but focuses on the context and issues surrounding family formation for millennial women.
Amendment 1-0 to SB0471

Plain English: The amendment changes when a specific education law will take effect.

  • Changes the effective date of the Success Sequence Act from an unspecified date to July 1, 2026.
  • The original text does not specify the initial effective date of the act, so it's unclear what date was originally planned.
  • It is not clear what specific changes or requirements are included in the Success Sequence Act beyond its new effective date.

Bill History

  1. 2025-04-29 Tennessee General Assembly

    Comp. became Pub. Ch. 224

  2. 2025-04-29 Tennessee General Assembly

    Effective date(s) 07/01/2026

  3. 2025-04-29 Tennessee General Assembly

    Pub. Ch. 224

  4. 2025-04-21 Tennessee General Assembly

    Signed by Governor.

  5. 2025-04-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Transmitted to Governor for action.

  6. 2025-04-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Signed by H. Speaker

  7. 2025-04-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Signed by Senate Speaker

  8. 2025-04-08 Tennessee General Assembly

    Enrolled and ready for signatures

  9. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  10. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Comp. SB subst.

  11. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed H., Ayes 73, Nays 20, PNV 2

  12. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0269)

  13. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Subst. for comp. HB.

  14. 2025-04-03 Tennessee General Assembly

    H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/7/2025

  15. 2025-04-02 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/3/2025

  16. 2025-04-02 Tennessee General Assembly

    Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee

  17. 2025-04-01 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  18. 2025-03-31 Tennessee General Assembly

    Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.

  19. 2025-03-27 Tennessee General Assembly

    Engrossed; ready for transmission to House

  20. 2025-03-27 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  21. 2025-03-27 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 25, Nays 5

  22. 2025-03-27 Tennessee General Assembly

    Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0171)

  23. 2025-03-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Education Committee for 4/1/2025

  24. 2025-03-25 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action def. in Education Committee to 4/1/2025

  25. 2025-03-25 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 3/27/2025

  26. 2025-03-19 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Education Committee for 3/25/2025

  27. 2025-03-19 Tennessee General Assembly

    Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 7, Nays 1 PNV 0

  28. 2025-03-18 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action def. in Education Committee to 3/25/2025

  29. 2025-03-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Education Committee for 3/18/2025

  30. 2025-03-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Education Committee calendar for 3/19/2025

  31. 2025-03-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action def. in Education Committee to 3/18/2025

  32. 2025-03-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Education Committee for 3/11/2025

  33. 2025-03-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Rec for pass if am by s/c ref. to Education Committee

  34. 2025-02-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Education Instruction Subcommittee for 3/4/2025

  35. 2025-02-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Education Committee

  36. 2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Introduced, Passed on First Consideration

  37. 2025-01-29 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

  38. 2025-01-28 Tennessee General Assembly

    Assigned to s/c Education Instruction Subcommittee

  39. 2025-01-27 Tennessee General Assembly

    P2C, ref. to Education Committee

  40. 2025-01-16 Tennessee General Assembly

    Intro., P1C.

  41. 2025-01-15 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

Official Summary Text

ON MARCH 27, 2025
, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 471, AS AMENDED.

AMENDMENT #1 changes the effective date from July 1, 2025, to July 1, 2026, and applies the bill to
the 2026-2027 school year
, instead of the 2025-2026 school year,
and each school
year thereafter.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
SENATE BILL 471
By Bowling

HOUSE BILL 178
By Bulso

HB0178
001271
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49,
Chapter 6, Part 13, relative to the Success
Sequence Act.

WHEREAS, couples who have children within marriage have higher family incomes and
lower poverty rates than their unmarried counterparts; and
WHEREAS, over the past forty-five years, the number of children living with married
parents has declined by twelve percent; and
WHEREAS, approximately twenty-five percent of all children today do not have married
parents; and
WHEREAS, children raised by married parents are more likely to flourish compared to
children raised in single-parent families; and
WHEREAS, children raised in stable, married-parent families are more likely to excel in
school, and generally earn higher grade point averages than children who are not; and
WHEREAS, children raised by married parents are about twice as likely to graduate from
college than children who are not; and
WHEREAS, children not raised in a home with married parents are twice as likely to end
up in jail or prison before reaching thirty years of age; and
WHEREAS, children raised by a single parent are more than three times as likely to live
in poverty than children raised by married parents; and
WHEREAS, the strongest negative community predictor of children from low-income
families realizing the American dream, which includes going from poverty as children to
affluence as adults, is the share of single parents in a community; and

- 2 - 001271

WHEREAS, among millennials who finished high school, entered the workforce, and
were married before having children, ninety-seven percent did not live in poverty when they
reached adulthood; now, therefore,
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. This act is known and may be cited as the "Success Sequence Act."
SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-1301, is amended by adding
the following as a new subdivision:
"Success sequence" means a method by which a person completes the following
in the following sequence:
(A) Obtains a high school diploma or high school equivalency credential;
(B) Enters into the workforce or pursues a postsecondary degree or
credential;
(C) Enters into marriage; and
(D) Has children;
SECTION 3. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-1304(a), is amended by adding
the following as a new subdivision:
(15) Provide instruction and evidence regarding the positive personal and
societal outcomes associated with the success sequence.
SECTION 4. This act takes effect July 1, 2025, the public welfare requiring it, and
applies to the 2025-2026 school year and each school year thereafter.