Local Education Agencies

Plain English Breakdown

The official summary and text do not specify the exact financial impact or the extent to which LEAs will choose to reimburse student representatives for expenses.

Student Representatives on School Boards

This law requires local education agencies in Tennessee that operate high schools to select a student representative from their junior or senior class to serve as an advisory, nonvoting member of the school board during public meetings.

What This Bill Does

• Requires each local education agency (LEA) with at least one high school to choose one junior or senior student to be a nonvoting member on the school board.
• The chosen student must attend all public meetings but not private executive sessions and can serve for up to two years if they meet certain conditions.
• School boards must create policies that ensure fair selection processes for these student representatives, giving equal chances to students from different high schools within the LEA.

Who It Names or Affects

• Local education agencies that operate at least one high school in Tennessee.
• Junior and senior students enrolled in high schools within these local education agencies.

Terms To Know

LEA

Local Education Agency, which is a public organization responsible for providing educational services to its community.

Nonvoting member

Someone who can attend meetings and give advice but cannot vote on decisions made by the group.

Limits and Unknowns

• Boards that already had advisory groups before July 1, 2025, are exempt from creating new policies if those groups meet certain criteria.
• The exact financial impact of this law is not clear as it depends on how many LEAs will choose to reimburse student representatives for expenses.

Official Summary Text

Present law authorizes local boards o
f education for each local education agency (LEA) that operates one or more high schools to annually select, prior to commencement of the new school year, up to four high school students to serve as advisory, nonvoting members of the board. The students
s
erve without compensation but may, at the discretion of the board, be reimbursed for reasonable and necessary expenses incurred while engaged in board business. This bill requires each board of education for an LEA that operates at least one high school
t
o select one junior or senior student to serve as a nonvoting student representative on the board, to serve as the voice of the student body. The student must serve without compensation but may, at the discretion of the board, be reimbursed for reasonabl
e
and necessary expenses incurred while engaged in board business.

This bill requires each local board of education to (i)
adopt a policy authorizing at least one junior or senior student who is enrolled at a high school operated by the respective LEA to
serve as a nonvoting student representative on the board, and (ii) establish the process for selecting the nonvoting student representative and must ensure students enrolled in one high school operated by the LEA have the same opportunity as students enro
l
led at another high school operated by the LEA to serve as a nonvoting student representative. Each board may establish additional eligibility requirements.

This bill provides that all of the following applies to nonvoting student representatives:



A nonvoting student representative
must serve at least one one-year term on the board. Each one-year term coincides with the school year for which the nonvoting student representative is selected.



A nonvoting student representative must attend all board meetings unless it is a confidential, nonpublic executive session of the board. If a nonvoting student representative fails to attend more than two board meetings during the student's term on the board, then the board must remove the student from the student's position on the board and select another qualified student to serve as the nonvoting student representative for the remainder of the school year.



A nonvoting student representative may serve an additional one-year term if the student served as the representative during the student's junior year. However, a student is not eligible to serve as a nonvoting student representative on the board if the student withdraws, transfers, or graduates from the high school at which the student was enrolled at the time of selection.



A nonvoting student representative must meet any additional requirements established by the board.

ON APRIL 3, 2025, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 161, AS AMENDED.

AMENDMENT #1 rewrites the bill to, instead, (
i) require each board of education for a local education agency (LEA) that operates at least one high school to adopt and implement a policy to authorize a high school student to serve as an advisory, nonvoting representative on the board; (ii) authorize
t
he board to establish additional eligibility requirements for a student who seeks to serve on the board as an advisory, nonvoting student representative; and (iii) provide that a student serves without compensation but may, at the discretion of the board,

be reimbursed for reasonable and necessary expenses incurred while engaged in board business.

ON APRIL 16, 2025, THE HOUSE SUBSTITUTED SENATE BILL 161 FOR HOUSE BILL 1199, ADOPTED AMENDMENT #2, AND PASSED SENATE BILL 161, AS AMENDED.

AMENDMENT #2 adds an exception to the requirement for adopting a policy to authorize a high school student to serve as an advisory, nonvoting board member for
board
s
of education that created an advisory group before July 1, 2025, that consists of at least
one student from each high school operated by the LEA and that meets on a regular basis to advise the board
.

For boards that remain subject to this bill's requirement, this amendment limits the meetings on which the high school representative must be al
lowed to serve to meetings that are open to the public.

This amendment removes authorization for a board to allow reimbursement of expenses for a
student who serves as the advisory, nonvoting student
r
epresentative
.

Current Bill Text

SENATE BILL 161
By Hensley

HOUSE BILL 1199
By Kumar

HB1199
001116
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49,
Chapter 2, relative to boards of education.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-2-202, is amended by deleting
subsection (f) and substituting instead the following:
(f)
(1) Notwithstanding § 49-2-201 or this section to the contrary, each board
of education for an LEA that operates at least one (1) high school shall select
one (1) junior or senior student to serve as a nonvoting student representative on
the board to serve as the voice of the student body.
(2) Nonvoting student representatives must be selected according to the
process established by the board pursuant to subdivision (f)(5) and must serve at
least one (1) one-year term on the board. Each one-year term coincides with the
school year for which the nonvoting student representative is selected.
(3)
(A) Nonvoting student representatives must attend all board
meetings; provided, that the student representative shall not attend
confidential, nonpublic executive sessions of the board.
(B) If a nonvoting student representative fails to attend more than
(2) board meetings during the student's term on the board, then the board
shall remove the student from the student's position on the board and

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shall select another qualified student to serve as the nonvoting student
representative for the remainder of the school year.
(4) Each nonvoting student representative must:
(A) Be a junior or senior in a high school operated by the LEA;
(B) Serve at least one (1) one-year term on the board as a
nonvoting student representative, but may serve as a nonvoting student
representative for an additional one-year term if the student served as the
nonvoting student representative during the student's junior year. A
student is not eligible to serve as a nonvoting student representative on
the board if the student withdraws, transfers, or graduates from the high
school at which the student was enrolled at the time of selection; and
(C) Meet any additional requirements established by the board.
(5) Each board shall adopt a policy authorizing at least one (1) junior or
senior student who is enrolled at a high school operated by the respective LEA to
serve as a nonvoting student representative on the board in accordance with this
subsection (f). The board may establish additional eligibility requirements for
students who seek to serve on the board as a nonvoting student representative.
The policy must establish the process for selecting the nonvoting student
representative and must ensure students enrolled in one (1) high school
operated by the LEA have the same opportunity as students enrolled at another
high school operated by the LEA to serve as a nonvoting student representative.
(6) Students serve as nonvoting student members of a board without
compensation but may, at the discretion of the board, be reimbursed for
reasonable and necessary expenses incurred while engaged in board business.

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SECTION 2. For the purpose of developing and adopting the required policy, 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.