Education

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary does not specify the consequences if a student is still considered a threat after the psychiatric examination.

Tennessee School Safety Act of 2026

This bill requires students expelled twice for threatening mass violence to undergo a psychiatric examination before being allowed back into school.

What This Bill Does

• Enacts the Tennessee School Safety Act of 2026.
• Requires students who have been expelled on two or more separate occasions for threatening mass violence to submit to a psychiatric examination by a trained medical professional.
• Prohibits these students from returning to school until the medical professional confirms they are no longer a threat and can safely return.

Who It Names or Affects

• Students who have been expelled twice or more for threatening mass violence on school property or at a school-related activity.
• Directors of schools and heads of public charter schools responsible for enforcing this requirement.

Terms To Know

Zero tolerance policy

A strict rule that does not allow any exceptions, especially when it comes to serious offenses like threatening violence.

Psychiatric examination

An evaluation by a mental health professional to assess someone's psychological state and safety risks.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify what happens if the student is found to still be a threat after the psychiatric examination.
• It is unclear how schools will fund these additional examinations for students who have been expelled multiple times.

Official Summary Text

Present law states that it is the
legislative intent that if a rule or policy is designated as a zero tolerance policy
in a school
, then violations of that rule or policy must not be tolerated and violators
must
receive certain, swift, and proportionate punishment.
A
student has committed a zero tolerance offense if the student
, amongst other things,
threatens mass violence on school property or at a school-related activity
.

This bill enacts the
"Tennessee School Safety Act of 2026
,
"
which provides that if
a student has been expelled on
two
or more separate occasions for the zero tolerance offense of threatening mass violence on school property or at a school-related activity
,
then the director of schools or the head of the public charter school, as applicable,
must
require the student to submit to a psychiatric examination conducted by a medical professional who is trained in performing the examination to determine if the stu
dent is not a threat to the school and can safely return to school.

This bill prohibits t
he director of schools or the head of a public charter school
from
authoriz
ing
a student who is required to submit to
such
a psychiatric examination to return to school or a school-related activity until the director of schools or the head of the public charter school receives documentation that the medical professional finds that the student is no longer a threat to the sch
ool and can safely return to the school.

Current Bill Text

SENATE BILL 1627
By Hensley

HOUSE BILL 1507
By Warner
HB1507
009731
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Section
39-13-813 and Title 49, Chapter 6, relative to
school safety.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. This act is known and may be cited as the "Tennessee School Safety Act
of 2026."
SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-3401(g), is amended by
designating subdivision (6) as subdivision (7) and adding the following as a new subdivision (6):
(6) Notwithstanding this section or another law to the contrary, if a student has
been expelled on two (2) or more separate occasions for the zero tolerance offense of
threatening mass violence on school property or at a school-related activity, as
described in subdivision (g)(2)(D), then the director of schools or the head of the public
charter school, as applicable, shall require the student to submit to a psychiatric
examination conducted by a medical professional who is trained in performing the
examination to determine if the student is not a threat to the school and can safely return
to school. The director of schools or the head of a public charter school shall not
authorize a student who is required to submit to a psychiatric examination pursuant to
this subdivision (g)(6) to return to school or a school-related activity until the director of
schools or the head of the public charter school receives documentation that the medical
professional finds that the student is no longer a threat to the school and can safely
return to the school.
SECTION 3. This act takes effect July 1, 2026, the public welfare requiring it.