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SB1003 • 2026

Education

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

Education
Active

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

Sponsor
Hensley, Haston
Last action
2025-05-13
Official status
Effective date(s) 07/01/2025
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary does not provide specific details on funding allocation.

Amends Tennessee Education Law for Pre-K Evaluation

This act requires LEAs and public charter schools in Tennessee to allow pre-k teachers to use a universal reading screener approved by the state board of education as an alternative growth model, alongside the existing portfolio model.

What This Bill Does

  • Requires the state board of education to approve at least one universal reading screener for evaluating pre-k students.
  • Allows LEAs and public charter schools to use the results from this universal reading screener as an alternative growth model for teacher evaluations.
  • Removes previous exemptions that allowed schools to skip using the portfolio model during the COVID pandemic.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Pre-kindergarten teachers in Tennessee
  • Local education agencies (LEAs) and public charter schools providing voluntary pre-K programs

Terms To Know

Universal Screener
A standardized test used to evaluate the growth of pre-k students, which can be an alternative to the portfolio model.
Portfolio Model
The current method for evaluating pre-K and kindergarten teachers in Tennessee based on a collection of student work samples.

Limits and Unknowns

  • Does not specify how much funding will be provided to implement the new universal screener requirement.
  • It is unclear if all LEAs and public charter schools will adopt the same universal reading screener or have different options.
  • The effectiveness of using a universal reading screener instead of the portfolio model for teacher evaluations remains to be seen.

Amendments

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

Amendment 1-0 to HB1002

Plain English: The amendment changes how teacher evaluations are done in Tennessee's kindergarten through second grade and pre-kindergarten classes.

  • Removes specific sections from existing laws about education evaluation.
  • Allows teachers of young students to use reading tests as part of their performance reviews.
  • The exact impact on teacher evaluations is unclear without more context.
Amendment 1-0 to SB1003

Plain English: The amendment changes how teacher evaluations are done in Tennessee's kindergarten through second grade and pre-kindergarten classes.

  • Removes certain sections of existing laws related to education evaluation.
  • Allows teachers in K-2 grades to use a reading test called the 'Tennessee universal reading screener' or another approved test to help evaluate their performance.
  • If a similar reading test is given to pre-kindergarten students, it can also be used by those teachers to help evaluate their work.
  • The exact details of how these changes will affect teacher evaluations are not fully explained in the amendment text.

Bill History

  1. 2025-05-13 Tennessee General Assembly

    Effective date(s) 07/01/2025

  2. 2025-05-13 Tennessee General Assembly

    Pub. Ch. 385

  3. 2025-05-13 Tennessee General Assembly

    Comp. became Pub. Ch. 385

  4. 2025-05-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Signed by Governor.

  5. 2025-04-23 Tennessee General Assembly

    Transmitted to Governor for action.

  6. 2025-04-22 Tennessee General Assembly

    Signed by H. Speaker

  7. 2025-04-22 Tennessee General Assembly

    Signed by Senate Speaker

  8. 2025-04-22 Tennessee General Assembly

    Enrolled and ready for signatures

  9. 2025-04-16 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  10. 2025-04-16 Tennessee General Assembly

    Am. withdrawn. (Amendment 1 - HA0302)

  11. 2025-04-16 Tennessee General Assembly

    Subst. for comp. HB.

  12. 2025-04-16 Tennessee General Assembly

    Comp. SB subst.

  13. 2025-04-16 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  14. 2025-04-15 Tennessee General Assembly

    H. Placed on Regular Calendar for 4/16/2025

  15. 2025-04-14 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/15/2025

  16. 2025-04-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action def. in Calendar & Rules Committee to 4/17/2025

  17. 2025-04-09 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  18. 2025-04-09 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Calendar & Rules Committee for 4/10/2025

  19. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Sponsor(s) Added.

  20. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Engrossed; ready for transmission to House

  21. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed Senate as amended, Ayes 32, Nays 0

  22. 2025-04-07 Tennessee General Assembly

    Senate adopted Amendment (Amendment 1 - SA0278)

  23. 2025-04-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 4/7/2025

  24. 2025-04-03 Tennessee General Assembly

    Senate Reset on calendar for 4/7/2025

  25. 2025-04-02 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  26. 2025-04-01 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Regular Calendar for 4/3/2025

  27. 2025-03-26 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  28. 2025-03-26 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  29. 2025-03-25 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  30. 2025-03-19 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on Senate Education Committee calendar for 3/26/2025

  31. 2025-03-19 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action deferred in Senate Education Committee to 3/26/2025

  32. 2025-03-19 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  33. 2025-03-18 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  34. 2025-03-12 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  35. 2025-03-12 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  36. 2025-03-11 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  37. 2025-03-05 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  38. 2025-03-04 Tennessee General Assembly

    Action def. in Education Committee to 3/11/2025

  39. 2025-02-26 Tennessee General Assembly

    Placed on cal. Education Committee for 3/4/2025

  40. 2025-02-25 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  41. 2025-02-19 Tennessee General Assembly

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

  42. 2025-02-12 Tennessee General Assembly

    Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Education Committee

  43. 2025-02-11 Tennessee General Assembly

    Assigned to s/c K-12 Subcommittee

  44. 2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    Introduced, Passed on First Consideration

  45. 2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly

    P2C, ref. to Education Committee

  46. 2025-02-06 Tennessee General Assembly

    Intro., P1C.

  47. 2025-02-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

  48. 2025-02-05 Tennessee General Assembly

    Filed for introduction

Official Summary Text

Generally, present law requires LEAs that receive approval for state funding of a voluntary pre-kindergarten (pre-k) program to utilize the pre-k/kindergarten growth portfolio
model approved by the state board of education, or a comparable alternative measure of student growth approved by the state board of education and adopted by the LEA, in the evaluation of pre-k and kindergarten teachers.

This bill adds a requirement tha
t the state board of education approve at least one universal screener for pre-k students to be used as an alternative growth model to generate individual growth scores for pre-k pursuant to the evaluation guidelines developed by the department of educati
o
n. The universal screener approved by the state board must not be based on the pre-k/kindergarten portfolio growth model. This bill requires LEAs and public charter schools that provide a voluntary pre-k program to allow pre-k teachers to use the result
s
of the universal screener as an alternative growth model to generate their individual growth scores.

This bill deletes provisions of present law that excused LEAs and public charter schools that provide a voluntary pre-k program from using the pre-k/kin
dergarten growth portfolio model during years associated with the COVID pandemic.

This bill also makes a technical clarification to present law by specifying that teachers in non-tested grades pre-k through two may be "allowed" rather than "authorized" t
o use the results of certain math or reading screeners as an alternative growth model to generate their individual growth scores.

ON APRIL 7, 2025, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 1003, AS AMENDED.

AMENDMENT #1 rewrites this bill
. Under this amendment, i
f a universal reading screener approved by the state board
of education
is administered to pre-
k
students at an LEA or public charter school, then the LEA or public charter school
is required to
allow the pre-
k
teacher whose stude
nts were administered the universal reading screener to use the results of the universal reading screener as an approved alternative
student
growth model or the pre-k/kindergarten portfolio growth model to generate individual growth scores for teachers pur
suant to the evaluation guidelines developed by the department
of education.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
HOUSE BILL 1002
By Haston

SENATE BILL 1003
By Hensley

SB1003
003074
- 1 -

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

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-105, is amended by deleting
subsections (g) and (h) and by designating the existing language of subsection (e) as
subdivision (e)(1) and adding the following new subdivisions:
(2) The state board shall approve at least one (1) universal screener for pre-
kindergarten students to be used as an alternative growth model for purposes of
subdivision (e)(1) to generate individual growth scores for pre-kindergarten teachers
pursuant to the evaluation guidelines developed by the department. The universal
screener approved by the state board to evaluate pre-kindergarten teachers must not be
based on the pre-k/kindergarten portfolio growth model.
(3) LEAs and public charter schools that provide a voluntary pre-kindergarten
program shall allow pre-kindergarten teachers to use the results of a universal screener
approved by the state board pursuant to subdivision (e)(2) as an alternative growth
model to generate individual growth scores for pre-kindergarten teachers.
SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-1508, is amended by deleting
subsection (d) and substituting instead the following:
(d) LEAs and public charter schools may allow teachers in the non-tested grades
kindergarten through two (K-2) to use the results of the Tennessee universal math
screener, the Tennessee universal reading screener, or a universal reading screener
approved by the state board of education, as described in subsection (b), as an

- 2 - 003074

alternative growth model for purposes of §§ 49-1-302(d)(2)(B)(ix) and 49-6-105(e) to
generate individual growth scores for such teachers pursuant to the evaluation
guidelines developed by the department. The department shall not base the Tennessee
universal math screener, the Tennessee universal reading screener, or a universal
reading screener approved by the state board of education used to evaluate teachers
pursuant to this subsection (d) on the pre-k/kindergarten portfolio growth model.
SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it,
and applies to the 2025-2026 school year and each school year thereafter.