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Legislative Week Ahead for Education Committees

Here is a look at the legislative week ahead for the Education Committees.

Tuesday – 12:30pm – LP 16 – House Education Committee

The House Education Committee will hear from Brent Easley of StudentsFirst. Brent Easley is a former Senior Research and Policy Analyst for the House Republican Caucus who recently took the post of State Director for StudentsFirst.

The committee will take up House Joint Resolution 10 (Deberry), which designates January 27-February 2, 2013, as “School Choice Week” in Tennessee.

Wednesday – 2:00pm – LP 12 – Senate Education Committee

The committee will take up three items.

1. SJR17– Gresham- Recognizes importance of neurological or brain science in the training of teacher candidates and encourages such training in teacher prep programs in state universities.

2. SB18 -Gresham – As introduced, prohibits an LEA or school from adopting an attendance policy that exempts students who have been absent less than a specified number of days from taking examinations or tests required of other students.

3. SB59 -Gresham- As introduced, authorizes and encourages teacher training programs at public institutions of higher education to offer coursework on neurological or brain science research.

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K12 Inc. Making the Rounds

Though this year’s legislative session isn’t yet running at full steam, there are a few trends already emerging.  As Andy mentioned, vouchers, charters, and the new parent trigger legislation will certainly be featured.  However, there is almost certainly going to be action on virtual schools as well.

If you haven’t heard before, the Tennessee Virtual Academy, run by the for-profit company K12 Inc., got into some hot water last year for its dreadful performance (even the New York Times dipped its toe in).  Tennessee, by the way, isn’t the only place that K12 has been having issues.  These troubles may explain why K12’s stock price has been plummeting over the last few years.

With that in mind, K12 has sent some emissaries to the legislature this year.  In the first official kick-off meeting for the Senate Education Committee, K12 made a presentation and faced (a few) tough questions regarding its performance (click below to see Sen. Campfield get sassy).  If you missed it the first time ’round, never fear: There’ll be a matinee performance tomorrow for the House Education Committee.  Be sure to tune in.

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