Lee Spokesman Rebukes Claims Tennessee Education Commissioner Lacks Qualifications as Democrats Demand Resignation

TDOE Commissioner

The office of Tennessee Governor Bill Lee on Tuesday pushed back on claims by Democrats in the Tennessee House of Representatives who claim that Lizzette Reynolds, the Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE), lacks the constitutional qualifications required for the position.

Reynolds has faced calls for her resignation by Democrats since late January, when Democrats claimed in a press conference that Reynolds is not eligible to lead TDOE citing the Tennessee Constitution.

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Tennessee Releases Letter Grades for Every School in the State for First Time Since Bill Passed in 2016

Students Classwork

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) released letter grades for every school in the state for the first time on Thursday, fulfilling the department’s obligations under a bill passed in 2016.

Letter grades are available for every school covering the last school year, the TDOE confirmed on Thursday. Commissioner of Education Lizzette Reynolds said the letter grades “will provide Tennessee families with a clear rating system” to understand how a given school performs over years. She urged parents and other community members to “play a role in supporting the success of our students” regardless of a school’s letter grade.

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Tennessee Department of Education Funds 32 School Districts with Perkins Reserve Grants

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) recently announced that 32 school districts across the state have been awarded funds from the Perkins Reserve Grant (PRG) to support career and technical education (CTE) for the 2023-24 school year.

Tennessee’s CTE consists of “16 nationally recognized career clusters with the ultimate goal of preparing students for success at the postsecondary level and in their chosen careers.”

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Tennessee Department of Education Releases Third-Grade Retention Appeals Data

On Thursday, The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) released data on the results of third-grade retention appeals filed with the state. Parents of third-grade students who did not meet the criteria for promotion to 4th grade based on Spring TCAP results are provided an opportunity to appeal that decision.  The released data comes with approximately two weeks left in the appeals window.

Since the appeals window opened on May 30th, the department has received 9,205 appeals forms, representing 8,206 individual students.

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Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn Resigns, Governor Lee Names Lizzette Gonzales Reynolds as New Top Educator

Commissioner of Education Penny Schwinn is leaving the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) effective June 1, online education policy magazine The74, reported Monday. The outlet reports that Schwinn has grown tired of distracting culture war battles over the way race and gender are taught in the state’s classrooms. In response, Governor Lee is returning to familiar ground for her replacement.

Lee named Lizzette Gonzales Reynolds as the news Education Commissioner, who, like Schwinn, is a former Texas Deputy Commissioner of Education.

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Tennessee Lawmakers Put State Department of Education on Notice About Low Math Proficiency Rate

Tennessee lawmakers questioned Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) representatives after they revealed the low percentage of state high school students who were proficient in math. 

Tennessee’s Deputy Commissioner of Education Eve Carney and Assistant Commissioner of Academic Strategy Christy Wall appeared before the State House Education Instruction Committee this week to talk about upcoming math instructional strategy for Tennessee schools. 

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Virginia Names Tennessee Chief Academic Officer as Its New Superintendent of Public Instruction

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin has announced the appointment of Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) Chief Academic Officer Lisa Coons as Virginia’s 27th superintendent of public instruction. The move comes as Coons was recently named a finalist for the job of Nebraska’s State Superintendent of Schools. Coons’ appointment is effective April 17, with Virginia Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera touting her as a welcome addition to the team.

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Nebraska Names TDOE Chief Academic Officer as Finalist for State’s Top Education Position

The architect behind Tennessee’s revision of English Language Arts (ELA) instruction, Tennessee Department of Education(TDOE) Chief Academic Officer Dr. Lisa Coons, has been named a finalist for the top education job in Nebraska. The search for a new superintendent was prompted by Matt Blomstedt stepping down as commissioner in January, after 9 years of service, to join a Washington D.C. Education Advocacy Group. 

An ad hoc search committee of the Nebraska State Board of Education (NDE) named four finalists for Nebraska’s next Commissioner of Education, and Coons’s name is among them.

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Bill Would Increase Tennessee Teacher Pay, Stop Payroll Collection of Dues

A bill to both raise the minimum Tennessee teacher salary to $50,000 by 2026-27 and eliminate the option of districts collecting Tennessee Education Association dues from paychecks passed the Senate Education Committee this week.

The bill is sponsored by State Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, but was termed an administration bill supported by Gov. Bill Lee. When asked why the two topics were combined by both a Republican and Democratic member of the committee, representatives from the Tennessee Department of Education said that was the choice of Lee.

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Governor Lee Declares March 2023 Tennessee Literacy Month

Governor Lee is an avid advocate for literacy in Tennessee. In that spirit, he has proclaimed March 2023 as Tennessee Literacy Month, and throughout the month, the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) will be highlighting how reading is an essential skill for all students.

Commissioner Schwinn and the TDOE  invite all Tennesseans to celebrate Tennessee Literacy Month, by spotlighting the Reading 360 initiative and the focus Tennessee’s educators, families, elected officials, and community partners have placed on improving literacy rates for all learners in the state.

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TDOE Releases Annual Educator Survey Revealing Growing Teacher Dissatisfaction

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) and Tennessee Education Research Alliance (TERA) released on Friday key findings and responses from the 2022 Tennessee Educator Survey (TES). Survey results reveal that in every category measured, teachers are more dissatisfied this year than last year.

In 2021, 91 percent of teachers reported being generally satisfied. In 2022, that number has declined to 87 percent.

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Rules Governing New School Funding Formula Pass Out of the Joint Government Operations Committee Meeting, Moves Toward Full Implementation

The rules governing Tennessee’s new K-12 education funding formula – Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA) – took another step towards full adoption on Monday, passing out of the Tennessee General Assembly’s Joint Government Operations Committee with a positive review. On the State House side, the proposed rules passed by a majority, with only 5 “nay” votes. While on the State Senate side, things were much closer, with a 4-2 in favor.

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Tennessee State Board of Education Considers Rule Change That Would Result in Change to Value of Education Savings Accounts

On January 30th the Tennessee State Board of Education will hold a rulemaking hearing on BEP to TISA transition rules. Included is a provision that could serve to increase the value of state Education Saving Accounts (ESA), potentially even doubling that value. This could ultimately lead to increased investment by state lawmakers. 

Item number 7 under proposed rule 0520-01-16 governing ESAs reads as follows:

“The maximum annual amount to which a participating student is entitled under the Program shall be equal to the amount representing the per-pupil state and local funds generated and required through the state’s K-12 education funding formula Basic Education Program (“BEP”) for the LEA in which the participating student resides, or the statewide per pupil average of required state and local funds as determined through the state’s K-12 education funding formulaBEP funds, whichever amount is less.”

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U.S. and State Education Departments Announce Title 1 Funding Cuts as Schools Approach Second Semester

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) notified school districts of modifications in their federal financial allocations this past week. These annual adjustments are typically made earlier in the school year, giving districts time to recalculate local budgets. While districts should have been aware that changes were coming, the timing of this year’s adjustments arrived unexpectedly and created confusion.

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) spokesperson Sean Braisted told The Tennessee Star in an email, “We expected to receive our final allocation at some point in the fiscal year, so this is not unexpected.  Our original allocation is a preliminary allocation, and the determination of a final allocation amount (and subsequent budget revision) happens annually.”

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Analysis: Tennessee State Report Card Scores for Cannon, Williamson, and Nashville Metro School Districts

The recently released Tennessee State Report Card for schools and districts offers a means for parents to gather information about their children’s schools and compare and contrast neighboring school districts. The report focuses on performance, but also provides data on student demographics, student funding, staffing levels, and other pertinent information required by parents to make informed judgments about their children’s education opportunities.

“With the release of the State Report Card, Tennessee continues our firm commitment to providing families with clear, actionable information on how our districts and schools are serving students,” said Commissioner Penny Schwinn. “The Report Card allows stakeholders to access years’ worth of meaningful data through an interactive, easy-to-navigate online platform, and now the latest data is available to help Tennesseans to explore and learn about their local schools and districts.”

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TDOE Announces Partnership to Deliver Foundational Reading Books to Young Children Through the Christmas Season

The Tennessee Department of Education announced a partnership with the Governor’s Early Literacy Foundation (GELF) on Wednesday aimed to deliver books to the parents of young elementary school-aged children this winter. The books are offered at no cost and are for kindergarten through second grade children. The effort is part of the state’s increased commitment to early childhood literacy under Governor Lee.

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New TDOE State Report Card Shows Improvement in Some Areas, but Falls Short of Lawmakers’ Standard

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) released the 2021-22 State Report Card on Monday. The Report Card serves as an annual reflection of lawmakers’ desires to bring greater transparency into how Tennessee’s schools are serving students and families.

State Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn said in a statement about the report, “With the release of the State Report Card, Tennessee continues our firm commitment to providing families with clear, actionable information on how our districts and schools are serving students.”

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Tennessee Officials Celebrate Teacher Apprenticeship Program During National Apprenticeship Week

Novemer 14 to 18 is National Apprenticeship Week, and the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) is celebrating by touting its one-of-a-kind teacher apprenticeship program. 

“This week, the Tennessee Department of Education is celebrating the important role apprenticeships play in postsecondary preparation during the 8th Annual National Apprenticeship Week, happening November 14-18. Specifically, the department is highlighting the Tennessee Teacher Apprenticeship, the first registered apprenticeship program for teaching in the country, paving the way for the future of the teaching profession,” according to a release.

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TDOE Touts ‘Grow Your Own’ Teacher Apprenticeship Program

Tennessee’s Department of Education (TDOE) is celebrating a first-of-it’s kind initiative that allows future teachers to qualify for that position by completing an apprenticeship program. 

Announced in January, 2022, the “Grow Your Own” initiative has “set a new path for the educator profession as the top state to become and remain a teacher and leader for all” by “support[ing] partnerships between Educator Preparation Providers (EPPs) and Local Education Agencies (LEAs) to provide innovative, no-cost pathways to the teaching profession and will continue to build pipelines of qualified teachers and school district professionals.”

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Federal Department of Education Threatens to Ask for Money Back from Tennessee Department of Education

A late September letter from the Federal Department of Education (DOE) to the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) threatened to pull TDOE’s federal funding over what the federal government describes as failure to comply with federal assessment reporting standards in 2021.

“The assessment and accountability compliance issues are significant because they not only impact the State’s ability to provide clear and transparent information to the public about school performance, but also result in the State using information that is not comparable across schools in TDOE’s statewide accountability system,” said the letter addressed to Tennessee Department of Education Commissioner Peggy Schwinn.

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Tennessee Selects Finalists for State’s Principal of the Year

Tennessee’s Department of Education (TDOE) has announced its finalists for the 2022-2023 Principal of the Year Award.

“Principals and supervisors play a foundational role in the success of their teachers and students, and we are fortunate to have so many incredible principals and supervisors in the state of Tennessee,” said Commissioner Penny Schwinn. “I am inspired by these outstanding leaders that continually work to support students and school communities across Tennessee.”

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Tennessee Department of Education Announces $10.2 Million Grant Opportunity for All Public School Districts

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) announced on Wednesday that a $10.2 million investment grant is open for all Tennessee public school districts.

The agency said the Resilient School Communities Grant is available to address needs for school-based support, expand school-based initiatives, and increase staff capacity to best serve students.

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Tennessee Announces Statewide Teacher of the Year Finalists

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) announced Thursday the nine finalists for the statewide Teacher of the Year award.

“The nine finalists represent each of the eight Center of Regional Excellence (CORE) areas in the state, as well as the Shelby County-Municipals area,” according to the TDOE. “The 2022-23 Tennessee Teacher of the Year, and winners for each grand division of the state, will be selected from this group and announced during an honorary banquet this fall.”

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Tennessee Department of Education Announces Accelerating TN 2022 Summer Bus Tour

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) announced its Accelerating TN 2022 Tour, which is a statewide bus tour that will cover 50 school districts over the course of three weeks to highlight summer learning opportunities for students.

TDOE said department members, elected officials, and other education partners will have the opportunity to join the various events to learn more about how schools are “accelerating student achievement.”

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Tennessee Department of Education Announces $3.5 Billion Federal Taxpayer-Funded Relief Approved for All Counties Through 2024

The Tennessee Department of Education announced the approval of all 147 school districts on their required ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) plans. Through ESSER, the schools have more than $3.5 billion through federal COVID-19 relief funding to benefit K-12 public school students in their districts. Following the U.S. Department of Education guidelines, all districts were “required to develop plans that outlined their local spending strategies for their portion of the historic amount of federal funding.”

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Tennessee Department of Education Launches Site for Public Education Information

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) has launched a dashboard aimed at transparency and information about the goings on in the state’s public school districts. 

“This interactive dashboard filters data from the Tennessee Department of Education’s Annual Statistical Report (ASR) to provide information about Tennessee public education at the state and district levels,” the state comptroller’s website says. 

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Tennessee Department of Education Awarded $830 Million in American Rescue Plan Funds

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) awarded Tennessee $830 million in funds to reopen and secure schools. The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) earned these funds based on their American Rescue Plan (ARP) Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Plan (ESSER). All states may submit an ARP ESSER plan. So far, ED reports that 40 states have submitted one.

According to the ED press release, this latest funding brings Tennessee’s total ARP funds to nearly $2.5 billion.

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Tennessee Education Commissioner $8 Million Contract with Company Where Husband Works Has CEO That Supports Critical Race Theory, ‘Anti-Racist’ Teaching

DAN WEISBERG

Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn awarded an $8.06 million contract to a company whose CEO supports Critical Race Theory and anti-racism in classrooms. As The Tennessee Star reported previously, Schwinn’s husband works at The New Teacher Project (TNTP) as well.

TNTP CEO Dan Weisberg has posted frequently about his support for critical race theory and anti-racist teaching. Weisberg tweeted articles showing his support for the two ideologies five times in the last month, as of this publication.

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Another No-Bid Contract Under Tennessee’s Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn

Tennessee’s Education Commissioner, Penny Schwinn, wants to award another no-bid contract – this time, $7.5 million in federal funds over 3 years for a variety of services from NCS Pearson. These services would entail a K-3 Early Grade Universal Screening and Monitoring System (EGUSMS), which would include universal screening for literacy and math, dyslexia screening, mental health screening, progress monitoring, and data organization. Pearson’s EGUSMS would also provide the online reporting tools, training resources, and technical support for educators implementing the EGUSMS tools. If all options to renew are exercised for a 5-year term, then the cost would total $12.5 million.

Schwinn justified the decision to make NCS Pearson the sole source by claiming that none of the other vendors met the state’s minimum requirements. Schwinn added that the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) hadn’t put forth a complete request for proposal (RFP) out due to the short notice and prompt need for schools to obtain these services.

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Moms for Liberty Williamson County Lays Bare Evidence of Critical Race Theory, Suicide Ideation, Violence, and More in Curriculum Across 33 Counties

  FRANKLIN, Tennessee – After around 1200 hours of investigation, a parent-led deep dive team uncovered how a widely-used English curriculum in Tennessee pushes narratives on history and introduces K-5 students to a range of concepts such as Critical Race Theory, suicide ideation, gender fluidity, alcoholism, promiscuity, torture, cannibalism, and more. The curriculum, Wit and Wisdom, offers social-emotional learning (SEL) and was produced by the organization Great Minds. It is approved for use in 33 counties. Moms for Liberty (MFL) Williamson County Founders Robin Steenman and Lori Friedheim presented their team’s findings on Tuesday during their public event, “Let’s Talk Wit and Wisdom.” The group gave attendees packets with comprehensive reviews on the Wit and Wisdom books and teacher manuals. MFL explained that these reviews are works in progress. Up-to-date versions of their reviews of these curriculum materials are available here. The Wit and Wisdom K-5 curriculum is divided by grade and then by module. At the start of the presentation, Steenman outlined 9 common themes and ideas that their deep-dive team recognized in Wit and Wisdom: suicide ideation, condemnation of White people, displays of extreme emotion, cannibalism, opposition to the nuclear family and America, dark imagery, graphic death, and age-inappropriate content…

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Tennessee Education Commissioner to Publish Guidance on Critical Race Theory Ban Compliance by August 1

Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn promised to publish educator guidance on the state’s critical race theory ban by August 1. The ban was first proposed in the Tennessee General Assembly by State Representative John Ragan (R-Oak Ridge). The law itself doesn’t mention critical race theory by name, but it does address the theory’s tenets and practices at length.

Schwinn revealed the plan to issue guidance in an exclusive interview with Chalkbeat on Wednesday. The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) guidance will also address the question of how the commissioner would uphold the ban, including a complaint evaluation process and financial penalty system. Ragan’s amendment noted that the commissioner would determine how much state funding to withhold for violations.

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Tennessee Investing $4.2 Billion in K-12 Public Schools Using Federal Funds

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) announced that it will invest an additional $4.2 billion for K-12 schools. The federal funds will be allocated to Tennessee schools over the next 4 years, according to the TDOE press release. The funding is a combination of different types of federal emergency relief funding.

TDOE clarified that the funding will be allotted to specific programs and initiatives. $120.7 million will go toward the Tennessee Literacy Success Act and Reading 360, $170.5 million for the Tennessee Learning Loss and Student Acceleration Act, $35 million for the 2022-23 math textbook adoption process, $32 million for online resources, $32.6 million for Innovating High Schools and Advanced Courses, $17.8 million for mental health supports, $56.5 million for K-12 open-source readiness coursework and statewide professional development, and $21 million to support the educator pipeline.

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Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn Gave $8 Million Contract to Company That Employs Her Husband

Tennessee Department of Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn’s husband works for the company that benefited from an $8.06 million reading initiative contract.

Apparently, Commissioner Schwinn keeps it all in the family. As The Tennessee Star reported last fall, sources claimed that Schwinn imported former colleagues from Texas when she assumed her role within TDOE. They also claimed that they were subjected to hiring freezes and pressure to slash budgets, though Schwinn had no problem with maintaining the six-figure salaries for her imports.

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Tennessee Legislature Entertaining Expansion of Black History and Culture Education for Fifth and Eighth Grades

Legislators are looking to standardize Black history curriculum in grades 5 and 8, and have the state provide additional resources by 2025. The bill in question specified that fifth and eighth-grade students would learn about Black heritage, culture, experience, and the “ultimate destiny of all social, ethnic, gender and national groups and individuals, and that such are represented as interdependent, interactive, and complementary.” It also specified that the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) would provide internet resources and materials for K-12 instruction in the subject.

State Senator Katrina Robinson (D-Memphis) first introduced the bill, followed with a companion bill filed by State Representative Yusuf Hakeem (D-Chattanooga). Senate committees recommended the bill for passage with amendments. Although senators applauded the basis for the idea, they expressed concern over the fiscal impact of the bill. They also questioned the reality of schools’ ability to craft a new curriculum of that magnitude by this fall, as the bill required originally.

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Tennessee Department of Education Faced Lawsuit over Textbook Bias Allegedly Perpetrated by Commissioner Penny Schwinn

A lawsuit alleged that Commissioner Penny Schwinn favored certain textbook vendors without merit at the expense of more qualified vendors. Textbook and educational materials publishing company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) filed the suit against the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) in November of 2019. Consequently, HMH noted that the sale of all other grade levels of reading materials offered by HMH were jeopardized, since they are designed to be implemented together from K-12 curriculum.

The Tennessee State Board of Education acted on the recommendation of an advisory panel appointed by the Textbook and Instructional Materials Quality Commission to not adopt HMH’s third grade reading material. HMH claimed that the advisory panel’s process was disrupted after Schwinn appointed Dr. Lisa Coons as TDOE Assistant Commissioner for Standards and Materials. Thereafter, HMH claimed that the panel re-reviewed and failed HMH’s material, while TDOE adopted programs offered by competitors that also received failing grades.

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Tennessee Projects 65 Percent Learning Loss in Math, 50 Percent Loss in Third Grade Reading After COVID-19 Closures

Reading proficiency among Tennessee third-graders is projected to drop by 50%, and math proficiency is projected to drop by 65% because of COVID-19-related school closures, according to preliminary projections released by the Department of Education.

Gov. Bill Lee and Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn announced the projected learning loss during a news conference at the state Capitol on Wednesday.

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Documents Show Tennessee Department of Education Misrepresented Intended Scope of Child Well-Being Checks

While the Tennessee Department of Education has said temporarily withdrawn guidance on child well-being checks was not intended to apply to every child, internal documents and emails sent in development of the guidance show officials have misrepresented the intended scope of the initiative in response to public outrage.

A guidance toolkit outlining statewide Child Wellbeing Checks was developed by the COVID-19 Child Wellbeing Task Force and released Aug. 11. Within three days, the department had withdrawn the program after uproar over perceived big-brother style government overreach.

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Child Well-Being Check Initiative Withdrawn After Uproar in Tennessee

 The Tennessee Department of Education has withdrawn a $1 million initiative to conduct well-being checks for all children in Tennessee from birth to age 18 after the program sparked uproar this week, with critics calling it a big-brother government overreach.

Gov. Bill Lee and Education Commissioner Dr. Penny Schwinn released the Child Wellbeing Check Toolkit during a news conference Tuesday. As originally published, the initiative recommended well-being checks for all children in the state to verify well-being as school closures have left gaps for nutrition, health, and abuse reporting services amid the coronavirus pandemic.

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