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HB0392 • 2026

Education

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49, relative to the school grading system.

Education
Enacted

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

Sponsor
Butler, Walley
Last action
2025-04-29
Official status
Comp. became Pub. Ch. 219
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source does not provide specific details on how schools are defined or what happens if certain conditions are not met, leaving some aspects of the law open to interpretation.

School Grading System Changes

This law requires the Department of Education to include data for student groups with at least 20 valid test scores and college readiness information if a school has at least 20 students in its graduating class when calculating school grades.

What This Bill Does

  • Requires the Department of Education to include all groups of students' data in school grade calculations if those groups have at least 20 valid test scores in math or English language arts.
  • Includes college and career readiness data for schools with at least 20 students in their graduating class.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Schools that have groups of students with at least 20 valid test scores in math or English language arts.
  • High schools with at least 20 students in their graduating class.

Terms To Know

graduating cohort
The group of students who are expected to graduate together from high school.
valid test scores
Scores on standardized tests that meet the requirements set by the Department of Education.

Limits and Unknowns

  • Does not specify what happens if a student group has fewer than 20 valid test scores.
  • The law does not explain how to handle schools with less than 20 students in their graduating class.

Amendments

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

Amendment 1-0 to HB0392

Plain English: The amendment changes Tennessee's education law to require that certain student data be included when calculating school letter grades.

  • Schools must include data from any group of students with at least twenty valid test scores in math or English language arts, and this data cannot be excluded by the department of education.
  • The amendment also requires including college and career readiness indicator data if there are at least twenty graduating students.
  • It is unclear how schools will handle groups with fewer than twenty valid test scores or graduating cohorts smaller than twenty students.
Amendment 1-0 to SB0196

Plain English: The amendment changes Tennessee's education law to require that all student data be included when calculating school letter grades if there are at least twenty valid test scores for a group of students in math or English language arts.

  • Requires the Department of Education to include data from any group of students with at least twenty valid test scores in math or English language arts when calculating school letter grades.
  • Ensures that college and career readiness data is included if there are at least twenty graduating students.
  • The amendment does not specify what happens if a group has fewer than twenty valid test scores.

Bill History

  1. 2025-04-29 Tennessee General Assembly

    Comp. became Pub. Ch. 219

  2. 2025-04-29 Tennessee General Assembly

    Effective date(s) 07/01/2025

  3. 2025-04-29 Tennessee General Assembly

    Pub. Ch. 219

  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

    Comp. SB subst.

  10. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed H., Ayes 94, Nays 0, PNV 1

  11. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0270)

  12. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Subst. for comp. HB.

  13. 2025-04-03 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  14. 2025-04-02 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  15. 2025-04-02 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  16. 2025-03-26 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  17. 2025-03-25 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  18. 2025-03-24 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) withdrawn.

  19. 2025-03-24 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  20. 2025-03-24 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  21. 2025-03-20 Tennessee General Assembly

    Engrossed; ready for transmission to House

  22. 2025-03-20 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  23. 2025-03-20 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 32, Nays 0

  24. 2025-03-20 Tennessee General Assembly

    Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0127)

  25. 2025-03-19 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  26. 2025-03-18 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  27. 2025-03-18 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 3/20/2025

  28. 2025-03-17 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  29. 2025-03-17 Tennessee General Assembly

    Senate Reset on calendar for 3/20/2025

  30. 2025-03-14 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 3/17/2025

  31. 2025-03-12 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  32. 2025-03-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 9, Nays 0 PNV 0

  33. 2025-03-11 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  34. 2025-03-05 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  35. 2025-03-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Education Committee calendar for 3/12/2025

  36. 2025-03-04 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  37. 2025-02-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal K-12 Subcommittee for 3/4/2025

  38. 2025-02-25 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action Def. in s/c K-12 Subcommittee to 3/4/2025

  39. 2025-02-19 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal K-12 Subcommittee for 2/25/2025

  40. 2025-02-18 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action Def. in s/c K-12 Subcommittee to 2/25/2025

  41. 2025-02-13 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  42. 2025-02-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal K-12 Subcommittee for 2/18/2025

  43. 2025-02-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor change.

  44. 2025-02-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) withdrawn.

  45. 2025-02-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Assigned to s/c K-12 Subcommittee

  46. 2025-02-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    P2C, ref. to Education Committee

  47. 2025-02-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  48. 2025-02-03 Tennessee General Assembly

    Intro., P1C.

  49. 2025-01-30 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  50. 2025-01-27 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  51. 2025-01-27 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

  52. 2025-01-27 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Education Committee

  53. 2025-01-16 Tennessee General Assembly

    Introduced, Passed on First Consideration

  54. 2025-01-15 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

Official Summary Text

ON MARCH 20, 2025,
THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 196, AS AMENDED.

AMENDMENT #1 rewrites the bill to, instead, prohibit t
he department of education
from
exclud
ing
from the calculation of a school letter grade
(i) t
he data of any group of students wi
thin a school if the department collects, aggregates, and reports the data, and if the group of students has at least 20 valid test scores in math or English language arts for at least one grade band; and
(ii) d
ata for the college and career readiness indi
cator if the school has at least 20

students in a graduating cohort.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
SENATE BILL 196
By Walley

HOUSE BILL 392
By Butler

HB0392
001066
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49,
relative to the school grading system.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-1-228, is amended by adding the
following as a new subsection:
( ) A school that serves students in any of the grades nine through twelve (9-12)
with at least twenty (20) students in the current school year's graduating cohort must be
identified as a high school for purposes of assigning a letter grade pursuant to this
section.
SECTION 2. This act takes effect July 1, 2025, the public welfare requiring it.