UPDATE: Tennessee House lawmakers unanimously approved a bill to drop state testing requirements while also waiving a law requiring 180 days of annual classroom instruction amid mass school closures in response to the coronavirus crisis this spring. Read more.
Original story:
NASHVILLE – With all Tennessee schools now closed because of the coronavirus, state lawmakers on Wednesday were racing to drop state testing requirements while also waiving a law requiring 180 days of annual classroom instruction.
House and Senate lawmakers easily passed both bills through committees and readied them for consideration by the full House and Senate in a flurry of activity before Gov. Bill Lee proposed an emergency budget to address the COVID-19 outbreak Wednesday afternoon.
“We’re trying to cover all the things in this emergency measure that will put our schools, superintendents, principals, teachers and students at ease a little bit,” House Education Committee Chairman Mark White, R-Memphis, told subcommittee members.