NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Tennessee lawmakers on Friday finished tackling education issues that surfaced during the pandemic as Republicans fumed that some districts still are not back in classrooms but declined to act on their proposal to withhold state funding for staying virtual.
The brief four-day special session sparked various conflicts inside the Republican-dominant Statehouse over the best measures to help struggling teachers and students amid the coronavirus outbreak. However, ultimately, GOP lawmakers easily pushed through Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s agenda.
Some of those proposals would adopt a new reading threshold for students to pass third grade, boost teacher pay, and suspend teacher accountability measures tied to student testing.
“This is really important. Implementing this is going to be difficult and it’s going to take awhile, but we have to try,” said state Sen. Ferrell Haile, a Republican from Gallatin. “Opportunities present themselves, this is an opportunity we have to take advantage of.”
For months, the state’s top education officials have raised alarms that students have experienced serious adverse learning effects that could plague them for years. Lee’s administration has focused on Tennessee’s dismal third-grade reading scores, warning that student learning was suffering outside the classroom.