Education, Curriculum

Plain English Breakdown

The candidate explanation incorrectly states that the bill removes the requirement for annual reports, but it actually requires annual plan submissions starting from August 1, 2026.

Education Act for Child Trafficking Prevention

This bill changes Tennessee's education laws to require schools to teach students about preventing child trafficking as part of health classes.

What This Bill Does

• Removes the requirement for family life curriculum to include instruction on human trafficking prevention and treatment.
• Requires all public schools to provide age-appropriate child trafficking awareness and prevention education in health classes from kindergarten through grade 12.
• Allows schools to use healthcare professionals or social workers, who meet certain requirements, to teach about child trafficking prevention.
• Requires local school boards and charter school governing bodies to create and submit implementation plans for teaching child trafficking prevention by August 1, 2026.

Who It Names or Affects

• All public schools in Tennessee
• Local school boards and charter school governing bodies

Terms To Know

Child trafficking prevention and awareness education

Teaching students about how to recognize, avoid, and report situations involving child trafficking.

Health education

Classes in schools that teach students about physical and mental health.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify the exact content or methods of teaching child trafficking prevention.
• It is unclear how the effectiveness of this new requirement will be measured.
• There are no provisions for funding additional resources needed to implement these changes.

Official Summary Text

Present law requires that the family life curriculum include instruction on the detection, intervention, prevention, and treatment of human trafficking in which the victim is a child. Present law generally prohibits teaching topics related to sexual acti
vity to students in grades K-5 as part of a family life curriculum; provided, that such prohibition does not apply to a public school providing instruction to students in grades K-5 on the detection, intervention, prevention, and treatment of child sexual

abuse and human trafficking in which the victim is a child.

This bill replaces present law by removing instruction on human trafficking in which the victim is a child from the family life curriculum and adding

child trafficking prevention and awareness education to the components that must be included in a coordinated school health program. This bill requires that the course of instruction in all public schools include age- and grade-appropriate child traffick
ing prevention and awareness education as a component of health education for students in all grades K-12.

This bill authorizes public schools to utilize the services of a qualified healthcare professional or social worker to assist in teaching child trafficking prevention and awareness; provided, that the qualified healthcare professional or social worker me
ets the requirements for assisting in teaching family life under present law.

This bill requires each local board of education and public charter school governing body to annually submit a plan to implement the requirements of this bill to the commissioner of education and publish the plan on the website for the LEA or public char
ter school. The full text of this bill specifies components that must be include in the plans.

This bill also requires each local board of education and public charter school governing body to annually submit a report to the commissioner of education concerning implementation of this bill.

ON MARCH 9, 2026, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 1527, AS AMENDED.

AMENDMENT #1
d
eletes this bill's requirement for annual implementation reports to the commissioner. This amendment replaces this bill's requirement for annual plan submission with a requirement that, by

August 1, 2026, each local board of education and public charter school governing body adopt a
n implementation
plan and, upon the request of the commissioner, provide the plan to the department.

This amendment retains present law, which this bill would have deleted, which provides that the prohibition against i
nstruction in topics related to sexual activity
in
grades K-5

does not prohibit an LEA or public charter school from providing instruction to students in
such
grades on the detection, intervention, prevention, and treatment of child sexual abuse
.

This amendment also removes the provision of this bill that would make
child trafficking prevention and awareness education
a component of the
coordinated school health program
.

Current Bill Text

SENATE BILL 1710
By Johnson

HOUSE BILL 1527
By McCalmon
HB1527
010801
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49,
relative to human trafficking.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-1-1002(a), is amended by
deleting "healthy school environment, school counseling" and substituting "healthy school
environment, child trafficking prevention and awareness education, school counseling".
SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-1304, is amended by deleting
subdivision (a)(13)(B), and by deleting the second sentence in subsection (d).
SECTION 3. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 10, is amended by
adding the following as a new section:
(a) As used in this section, "child trafficking" means a human trafficking offense,
as defined in § 39-13-314, in which the victim is less than eighteen (18) years of age.
(b) The course of instruction in all public schools must include child trafficking
prevention and awareness education as a component of health education for students in
all grades kindergarten through grade twelve (K-12).
(c) Using the health education standards adopted by the state board of
education, an LEA and public charter school shall ensure that the instruction provided
pursuant to subsection (b) is age- and grade-appropriate and advances each year
through developmentally appropriate instruction and skill building.
(d) An LEA and public charter school may utilize the services of a qualified
healthcare professional or social worker to assist in teaching child trafficking prevention
and awareness; provided, that the qualified healthcare professional or social worker
meets the requirements for assisting in teaching family life under § 49-6-1303.

- 2 - 010801

(e) By August 1, 2026, and each August 1 thereafter, each local board of
education and public charter school governing body must submit a plan to implement the
requirements of this section to the commissioner of education and publish the plan on
the website for the LEA or public charter school. The implementation plan must include:
(1) The methods by which instruction will be delivered for each grade
level served by the LEA or public charter school;
(2) The professional qualifications of the person delivering the instruction;
and
(3) A description of the materials and resources used to deliver the
instruction.
(f) By July 1, 2027, and each July 1 thereafter, each local board of education
and public charter school governing body must submit a report to the commissioner of
education concerning implementation of this section. The report must verify that the
LEA or public charter school provided the instruction required in this section during the
immediately preceding school year and include the information described in subdivisions
(e)(1)-(3).
SECTION 4. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it,
and applies to the 2026-2027 school year and subsequent school years.