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SB0196 • 2026

Education

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49, relative to the school grading system.

Education
Active

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

Sponsor
Walley, Butler
Last action
2025-04-29
Official status
Effective date(s) 07/01/2025
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide details about the definition of high schools in this context.

School Grading System Changes

This bill changes how Tennessee grades schools by prohibiting the exclusion of certain student data from grade calculations if specific conditions are met.

What This Bill Does

  • Prohibits the Department of Education from excluding data for any group of students within a school with at least 20 valid test scores in math or English language arts when calculating school letter grades.
  • Prohibits the exclusion of college and career readiness data if a high school has at least 20 graduating seniors.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Tennessee Department of Education
  • Schools in Tennessee

Terms To Know

Letter grade
A grade given to a school based on its performance, usually using letters like A, B, C, D, or F.
Graduating cohort
The group of students who are expected to graduate in the same year from high school.

Limits and Unknowns

  • Does not specify what happens if a school does not meet the requirements for including certain data.
  • It is unclear how this change will affect schools with fewer than 20 valid test scores or graduating seniors.
  • The bill takes effect on July 1, 2025.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

Amendment 1-0 to HB0392

Plain English: The amendment changes Tennessee's education law to require that certain student data be included when calculating school letter grades.

  • Schools must include data from any group of students with at least twenty valid test scores in math or English language arts, and this applies to a specific grade level within the school.
  • The amendment also mandates including college and career readiness data if there are at least twenty graduating students.
  • The exact impact on schools with fewer than twenty qualifying students is not specified in the amendment text.
Amendment 1-0 to SB0196

Plain English: The amendment changes how Tennessee calculates school grades by ensuring that certain student data groups and college readiness information are included if they meet specific size requirements.

  • School letter grades must include data from any group of students with at least twenty valid test scores in math or English language arts, regardless of the group's size.
  • The calculation for school grades will also consider college and career readiness data if there are at least twenty graduating students.
  • The exact impact on schools that do not meet these minimum requirements is unclear from the provided text.

Bill History

  1. 2025-04-29 Tennessee General Assembly

    Effective date(s) 07/01/2025

  2. 2025-04-29 Tennessee General Assembly

    Pub. Ch. 219

  3. 2025-04-29 Tennessee General Assembly

    Comp. became Pub. Ch. 219

  4. 2025-04-21 Tennessee General Assembly

    Signed by Governor.

  5. 2025-04-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Transmitted to Governor for action.

  6. 2025-04-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Signed by H. Speaker

  7. 2025-04-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Signed by Senate Speaker

  8. 2025-04-08 Tennessee General Assembly

    Enrolled and ready for signatures

  9. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed H., Ayes 94, Nays 0, PNV 1

  10. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0270)

  11. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Subst. for comp. HB.

  12. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Comp. SB subst.

  13. 2025-04-03 Tennessee General Assembly

    H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/7/2025

  14. 2025-04-02 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/3/2025

  15. 2025-04-02 Tennessee General Assembly

    Rec. for pass. if am., ref. to Calendar & Rules Committee

  16. 2025-03-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Education Committee for 4/1/2025

  17. 2025-03-25 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action def. in Education Committee to 4/1/2025

  18. 2025-03-24 Tennessee General Assembly

    Rcvd. from S., held on H. desk.

  19. 2025-03-24 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) withdrawn.

  20. 2025-03-24 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  21. 2025-03-20 Tennessee General Assembly

    Engrossed; ready for transmission to House

  22. 2025-03-20 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  23. 2025-03-20 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 32, Nays 0

  24. 2025-03-20 Tennessee General Assembly

    Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0127)

  25. 2025-03-19 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Education Committee for 3/25/2025

  26. 2025-03-18 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 3/20/2025

  27. 2025-03-18 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action def. in Education Committee to 3/25/2025

  28. 2025-03-17 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  29. 2025-03-17 Tennessee General Assembly

    Senate Reset on calendar for 3/20/2025

  30. 2025-03-14 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 3/17/2025

  31. 2025-03-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Recommended for passage with amendment/s, refer to Senate Calendar Committee Ayes 9, Nays 0 PNV 0

  32. 2025-03-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Education Committee for 3/18/2025

  33. 2025-03-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action def. in Education Committee to 3/18/2025

  34. 2025-03-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Education Committee calendar for 3/12/2025

  35. 2025-03-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Education Committee for 3/11/2025

  36. 2025-03-04 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  37. 2025-02-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal K-12 Subcommittee for 3/4/2025

  38. 2025-02-25 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action Def. in s/c K-12 Subcommittee to 3/4/2025

  39. 2025-02-19 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal K-12 Subcommittee for 2/25/2025

  40. 2025-02-18 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action Def. in s/c K-12 Subcommittee to 2/25/2025

  41. 2025-02-13 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  42. 2025-02-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on s/c cal K-12 Subcommittee for 2/18/2025

  43. 2025-02-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor change.

  44. 2025-02-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) withdrawn.

  45. 2025-02-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Assigned to s/c K-12 Subcommittee

  46. 2025-02-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    P2C, ref. to Education Committee

  47. 2025-02-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  48. 2025-02-03 Tennessee General Assembly

    Intro., P1C.

  49. 2025-01-30 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  50. 2025-01-27 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Education Committee

  51. 2025-01-27 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  52. 2025-01-27 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

  53. 2025-01-16 Tennessee General Assembly

    Introduced, Passed on First Consideration

  54. 2025-01-15 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

Official Summary Text

ON MARCH 20, 2025,
THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 196, AS AMENDED.

AMENDMENT #1 rewrites the bill to, instead, prohibit t
he department of education
from
exclud
ing
from the calculation of a school letter grade
(i) t
he data of any group of students wi
thin a school if the department collects, aggregates, and reports the data, and if the group of students has at least 20 valid test scores in math or English language arts for at least one grade band; and
(ii) d
ata for the college and career readiness indi
cator if the school has at least 20

students in a graduating cohort.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
HOUSE BILL 392
By Butler

SENATE BILL 196
By Walley

SB0196
001066
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49,
relative to the school grading system.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-1-228, is amended by adding the
following as a new subsection:
( ) A school that serves students in any of the grades nine through twelve (9-12)
with at least twenty (20) students in the current school year's graduating cohort must be
identified as a high school for purposes of assigning a letter grade pursuant to this
section.
SECTION 2. This act takes effect July 1, 2025, the public welfare requiring it.