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HB1043 • 2026

Education

AN ACT to amend Chapter __ of the Public Acts of 2025 (1st Ex. Sess. – SB 6001 / HB 6004); and Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4, Chapter 49; Title 8 and Title 49, relative to education.

Education Taxes
Active

The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor
Martin G, Lowe
Last action
2026-03-25
Official status
Taken off notice for cal. in Education Committee
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details about which rules or provisions are eliminated due to specific years, nor does it mention anything about waivers for test participation rates.

Education Act to Remove Expired Provisions

This bill removes outdated parts of Tennessee's education laws related to school grading systems.

What This Bill Does

  • Removes sections (c)-(h) from the current law about how schools are graded.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Schools that receive letter grades based on student performance and growth.
  • The Department of Education responsible for grading schools.
  • Local Education Agencies (LEAs).

Terms To Know

Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS)
A system that measures how much students learn over time in Tennessee's schools.
Local Education Agency (LEA)
An organization, like a school district, responsible for providing public education to its community.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The bill does not create new requirements or add any new rules.
  • It only removes parts of the law that are no longer needed because they refer to past events or conditions.
  • There is no specific date when this change will take effect, but it becomes active immediately after being signed into law.

Bill History

  1. 2026-03-25 Tennessee General Assembly

    Taken off notice for cal. in Education Committee

  2. 2026-03-18 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Education Committee for 3/24/2026

  3. 2026-03-18 Tennessee General Assembly

    Assigned to General Subcommittee of Senate Education Committee

  4. 2026-03-17 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action def. in Education Committee to 3/24/2026

  5. 2026-03-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Education Committee calendar for 3/18/2026

  6. 2026-03-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Education Committee for 3/17/2026

  7. 2026-03-11 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  8. 2026-03-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action deferred in Senate Education Committee to 3/18/2026

  9. 2026-03-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Education Committee calendar for 3/11/2026

  10. 2026-03-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal Higher Education Subcommittee for 3/11/2026

  11. 2026-03-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor change.

  12. 2026-03-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) withdrawn.

  13. 2026-03-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  14. 2026-03-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Assigned to s/c Higher Education Subcommittee

  15. 2026-03-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Ref. to Education Committee

  16. 2026-01-14 Tennessee General Assembly

    Reset on Final calendar of Senate Education Committee

  17. 2026-01-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Education Committee calendar for 1/14/2026

  18. 2025-03-20 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action deferred in Senate Education Committee to first calendar of 2026

  19. 2025-03-12 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  20. 2025-02-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Education Committee

  21. 2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    P2C, caption bill, held on desk - pending amdt.

  22. 2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Introduced, Passed on First Consideration

  23. 2025-02-06 Tennessee General Assembly

    Intro., P1C.

  24. 2025-02-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

  25. 2025-02-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

Official Summary Text

Present law requires the
department of education
to
develop a school grading system that annually assigns A, B, C, D, and F letter grades to schools based on
(i) s
tudent performance on the Tennessee comprehensive assessment program (TCAP) tests or end-of-course exams;
(ii) s
tudent growth as indicated by Te
nnessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS) data or data from other measures of student growth; and

(
iii
)
o
ther outcome indicators of student achievement that the department finds to be reliable measures of school performance.

The department of educatio
n
must
include each school's A, B, C, D, or F grade on the state report card.

EXPIRED PROVISIONS

Present law required the implementation
of the school grading system
to
begin in the 2017-2018 school year
and the
department
to
provide notice of the adopt
ed grading scale to each LEA prior to the start of the 2017-2018 school year.
However,
student performance and student growth data from the TNReady assessments administered in the 2017-2018 school year
was
not
to
be used to assign
such
a letter grade to a
school.
Additionally,
student performance and student growth data from the TCAP tests administered in the 2019-2020 school year
was
not
to
be used to assign
such
a letter grade to a school, unless the use results in a higher letter grade for the school.

Present law provided that, i
f 80% or more of an LEA's or public charter school's students enrolled in grades 3-12 participate
d
in the TCAP tests administered in the 2020-2021 school year, then

student performance and student growth data generated from th
e TCAP tests administered in the 2020-2021 school year
was
not
to
be used to assign
such
a letter grade to a school.
However, the
commissioner of education
was authorized
, at the commissioner's discretion,
to
grant an LEA or public charter school a waiver
from the
80
-percent-participation requirement
. Further, the department was prohibited from issuing
letter grades or any other summative ratings for schools eligible for the accountability or schools that receive a waiver from the commissioner in the stat
e report card for the 2020-2021 school year
as long as
the department provide
d
student performance and student growth data to LEAs, and as required by federal law.

This bill removes all of the expired provisions described above.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
SENATE BILL 912
By Lowe

HOUSE BILL 1043
By Martin G
HB1043
003174
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Chapter __ of the Public Acts of 2025
(1st Ex. Sess. – SB 6001 / HB 6004); and
Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 4, Chapter 49;
Title 8 and Title 49, relative to education.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-1-228, is amended by deleting
subsections (c)-(h).
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.