The Nashville Public Education Foundation (NPEF) announced via newsletter that public voting for the 2026 Teacherpreneur awards will be March 2-3.
Teacherpreneur harnesses educator innovation to remove barriers to success, enabling all students to thrive. The cohort-based learning opportunity helps teachers identify an issue, research its root causes, and create innovative solutions.
The program culminates with cohort members pitching their ideas to a panel of judges. This will result in the chance to win up to $10,000 in cash prizes and access to seed funding to implement their idea as a pilot program.
Public voting for the Community Favorite Award will take place online March 2-3, 2026, and during the March 4, 2026, Pitch Night. The winner will receive a $2,500 prize.
The Tennessee Education Association (TEA) is calling out the President’s budget, saying the changes supported by Congress will negatively impact Tennessee schools.
The Tennessee Education Association (TEA) is urging state leaders to guarantee funding for public schools as nearly 1 million students return to classrooms facing teacher shortages and potential federal cuts this school year.
Washington County Schools and Johnson City Schools officials have also expressed concern about potential federal funding reductions, following President Donald Trump’s executive order to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education and the passage of Trump’s budget bill.
“Steep cuts to federal programs like TennCare and SNAP contained in [the federal budget] would jeopardize Title I funds, which are vital for serving economically disadvantaged students,” Coats, a 28-year Knox County educator, said in a public statement. “We need a firm commitment that any cuts to federal education funding will be backfilled by the state.”
In an OpEd in the Jackson Post, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerri Green highlights the challenges of school vouchers and calls on the state to use the money – now up to some $300 million – to invest in public schools:
Even more troubling, multiple reports show that students who use vouchers often perform worse academically than their peers who remain in public schools. Lower test scores, disrupted learning, and less accountability are becoming the norm—not the exception.
She outlines how to invest the money:
Imagine what we could do if, instead of draining public schools, we invested in them:
We could pay our teachers what they deserve and finally address the staffing shortages hurting our schools.
We could expand special education services so every child receives the support they need to succeed.
We could build strong career pathways, certifications, and workforce training programs that prepare students for good-paying jobs right here in Tennessee.
Tennessee law requires schools to have 6.5-hour school days for 180 days per school year. Schools usually have seven-hour school days, which allows districts to stockpile up to 13 extra days.
Districts use those stockpile days differently and build them into their calendars at the beginning of the school year, often allocating some days for professional development and reserving some for inclement weather.
Tennessee districts tend to have between 8 and 13 stockpiled days.
What if they run out, as some districts have now used all of those days?
Schools can use four days of hybrid instruction per year and up to five days of remote instruction per semester due to severe weather if they run out of stockpile days, a Tennessee Department of Education spokesperson said. But those options aren’t feasible during the widespread weather impacts many in Tennessee are facing this month.
So, if weather prevented the use of hybrid or remote instruction, then what?
Districts are able to tack on make-up school days at the end of the school year if they run over on their stockpile days, or absorb stockpile days previously set aside for professional development.
But school districts could now be eligible for a special waiver granted by the Tennessee Department of Education in the event of a natural disaster. This would relieve districts of the 180-day instructional requirement under Tennessee law.
Previous TDOE guidance states waivers would only be granted as a “last resort in extreme circumstances,” though Gov. Bill Lee has declared a state of emergency due to the severe winter weather impacts.
Tennessee Republicans this week advanced legislation to allow public schools to display the Ten Commandments.
The House Education Committee passed House Bill 47 on Tuesday over the objections of some Democrats who argued constitutional concerns would open up individual schools to lengthy lawsuits.
The bill would allow — though not require — local Tennessee schools to display the Ten Commandments as a “historically significant” document alongside documents like the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.
In his final State of the State address, Gov. Bill Lee made clear his support for rapid privatization of schools.
Lee called on the legislature to double the number of school vouchers (essentially, discount coupons for private schools), with a total voucher cost of $303 million.
Gov. Bill Lee wants Tennessee lawmakers to invest more than $155 million into the state’s voucher program, which would double the Education Freedom Scholarships pool from 20,000 to 40,000 private school vouchers.
Lee’s proposed budget also would more than double the costs of the program and blow past the expansion cap lawmakers voted on last year, growing the program beyond its original limits despite little data to indicate the program is impacting student achievement.
If Lee achieves his goal, Tennessee would spend more than $303 million in public dollars next fiscal year to help send 40,000 students to private schools across the state.
Lee’s budget move for vouchers follows a trend in other discount coupon states: Rapid expansion that eats more and more of the state budget and also disrupts local school funding.
Indiana, Arizona, and Florida have all seen voucher budgets grow to consumer significant state dollars, leaving crumbs on the table for public schools.
This is Lee’s top legislative achievement – voucherizing Tennessee public schools. It’s been his top priority since 2019, and as he leaves office, his dream (and the state’s nightmare) is on the verge of being realized.
Subsidize private education for the rich. School vouchers, on average, cover just 39% of middle school private school tuition across the sampled states. Even with a private school voucher, tuition prices are often out of reach for working-class families, meaning that the vouchers function as a subsidy to the rich who can already afford to pay for private education.
A group of Tennessee public school parents joined with faith leaders to oppose the establishment of a publicly-funded, explicitly religious charter school.
An email from the Education Law Center offers details:
The lawsuit, The Wilberforce Academy of Knoxville v. Knox County Board of Education, was filed in November 2025 by a religious organization that wants to run a public charter school—funded by taxpayers—that, according to the school’s own legal complaint, would provide an “explicitly biblical and Christian education.” The proposed intervenors are seeking to join the lawsuit on the side of the defendants, the Knox County Board of Education and its members. They oppose Wilberforce Academy’s effort to force the defendants to authorize and fund it as a religious public charter school.
Amanda Collins is one of those seeking to join the suit and stop the religious charter school:
“Public education is part of the common good. A religious charter school would be at odds with the need to ensure public schools remain appropriate for and welcoming to students of all faiths, families, and backgrounds,” said proposed intervenor Amanda Collins, a retired school psychologist and parent of Knox County public school students. “And it would divert already limited public funds and scarce resources away from other public schools in Knox County. We can’t let this happen.”
Faith leaders are also joining the effort:
“The Reformed tradition in which I am formed has long supported the separation of church and state, believing that our faith, and all faiths, are best supported when they are free of undue state interference. This is why I object to the use of tax dollars to support religious education of any kind, including my own religion. Religious education is the job of churches, denominations, and private religious schools,” said the Rev. Dr. Richard Coble, another proposed intervenor, who is a pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Knoxville and the parent of two Knox County public school students.
