Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA)

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details on the definition of 'key terms' as claimed, but it includes definitions for least restrictive environment and peer model.

Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) Act

This act amends Tennessee's education funding laws by expanding the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement formula to include pre-K students with special needs and their peer models, ensuring these students receive adequate funding without affecting fast-growth stipends for local schools.

What This Bill Does

• Expands TISA to fund pre-K students who need special education services and their peers.
• Requires the comptroller's office to review state spending on all levels of education, not just K-12.
• Ensures that LEAs receiving funding for pre-K special needs students do not lose out on fast-growth stipends.

Who It Names or Affects

• Local Education Agencies (LEAs) and public charter schools
• Pre-K students with disabilities and their peers

Terms To Know

Least restrictive environment

A setting where children with disabilities are educated alongside non-disabled children to the greatest extent possible.

Peer model

A child without a disability who is in the same classroom as a pre-K student with special education needs.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify if local contributions will need to increase due to expanded funding requirements.
• It's unclear how much additional state and local funding will be required beyond FY25-26.

Official Summary Text

Present law provides that
t
he Tennessee investment in student achievement formula (TISA) is a student-based funding formula established as the system for funding education for K-12 public schools.
This bill adds that
TIS
A

also funds pre-K
students with special education needs and
peer models.

Present law requires t
he comptroller of the treasury, through the comptroller's office of research and education accountability,
to
review and study TISA to determine the effectiveness of state expenditures on K-12 education.
This bill requ
ires the comptroller to review and study state expenditures on education in general, instead of only K-12.

FAST-GROWTH STIPENDS

Present law provides that a

local education agency (
LEA
)
that experiences growth in excess of 1.25%, as compared to the prior
year, is eligible for a fast-growth stipend equal to the increase in allocations in excess of 1.25%.

Subject to available appropriations, an LEA that experiences
a
verage daily membership
(
ADM
)
growth in non-virtual schools exceeding

2% for each year of a
three-consecutive-year period is eligible for an infrastructure stipend.

The infrastructure stipend is a per-student flat dollar amount based on the number of member students in non-virtual schools in the LEA for the current school year in excess of a 2%
ADM growth in non-virtual schools from the prior year.

This bill provides that a
n LEA's receipt of TISA funding in any school year for
pre-K
students with special education needs and peer models who were enrolled in the LEA's
pre-K
program in the imme
diately preceding school year must not affect the amount of state funds the LEA receives
for fast-growth stipends. For purposes of this bill, a "pre-K
student with special education needs
"

i
s a child between three and five

with a disability
,
who is enroll
ed in a
pre-K
class in an LEA or public charter school with the peer models required to educate the child in the least restrictive environment, and for whom the LEA or public charter school must provide a
free appropriate public education
, pursuant to
the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
.
"Peer model" means a child without a disability who is in the same classroom as a
pre-K
student with special education needs
.

APPLICATION

This bill
applies to the 2025-2026 school year and each
subsequent
school year
.

Current Bill Text

SENATE BILL 679
By White

HOUSE BILL 401
By White

HB0401
001781
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49,
relative to education funding.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-3-103(a), is amended by deleting
the first sentence of the subsection and substituting instead the following:
(a) The Tennessee investment in student achievement formula (TISA) is a
student-based funding formula established as the system for funding education for
kindergarten through grade twelve (K-12) public schools, pre-kindergarten students with
special education needs, and peer models.
SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-3-104, is amended by adding the
following as new, appropriately designated subdivisions:
( ) "Least restrictive environment" means that, to the maximum extent
appropriate, a child with a disability, as defined in § 49-10-102, is educated with children
who are not children with a disability, and that special classes, separate schooling, or
other removal of a child with a disability from the regular educational environment occurs
only when the nature or severity of the child's disability is such that education in regular
classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be satisfactorily
achieved in accordance with the child's individualized education program;
( ) "Peer model" means a child without a disability who is in the same classroom
as a pre-kindergarten student with special education needs;
( ) "Pre-kindergarten student with special education needs" means a child with a
disability, as defined in § 49-10-102, who is between three (3) and five (5) years of age,

- 2 - 001781

both inclusive, and who is enrolled in a pre-kindergarten class in an LEA or public
charter school with the peer models required to educate the child in the least restrictive
environment, and for whom the LEA or public charter school must provide a FAPE, as
defined in § 49-10-102, pursuant to the IDEA, as defined in § 49-10-102;
SECTION 3. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-3-111(d), is amended by deleting
"kindergarten through grade twelve (K-12)" in the first sentence of the subsection.
SECTION 4. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-107, is amended by adding the
following as a new subsection:
(f) An LEA's receipt of TISA funding in any school year for pre-kindergarten
students with special education needs and peer models, as those terms are defined in §
49-3-104, who were enrolled in the LEA's pre-kindergarten program in the immediately
preceding school year must not affect the amount of state funds the LEA receives
pursuant to this section.
SECTION 5. For rulemaking purposes, this act takes effect upon becoming a law, the
public welfare requiring it. For all other purposes, 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.