Marta W. Aldrich, Chalkbeat Tennessee

The former superintendent of public schools in Nevada is the chief consultant developing Tennessee's new charter school commission. Steve Canavero’s $50,000 contract with the Department of Education began on Feb. 1 and will end on June 30, with an option to renew at that time,...

Gov. Bill Lee surprised many in his own party last summer when he ordered an early launch for Tennessee’s controversial education voucher program. Now voucher opponents say that the expedited start — and little funding to pay for it — could become the basis for...

Education dominated legislative debate last year under Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, and it’s likely to be a front-burner issue again as lawmakers return this week in the second year of his administration. But don’t expect the ferocity sparked by the 2019 voucher bill, which squeaked...

A lawsuit charging that Tennessee underfunds its schools by hundreds of millions of dollars has been dismissed, while a separate education funding case is inching closer to trial in 2020. Hamilton County Schools quietly dropped its 5-year-old lawsuit against the state last week in a...

Complexities emerging about possible tax implications of education savings accounts have at least one lawmaker urging the legislature to interrupt Gov. Bill Lee’s plan to launch the controversial program next fall, a year earlier than required by law. Sen. Raumesh Akbari called Tuesday for legislators...

Ten public schools in Memphis had high levels of lead in at least one water source on their campus, based on testing conducted last month for the first time under a new state law. Most of the 18 sources were drinking fountains, but some were...

Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn says she is backing off from pursuing changes to the way Tennessee judges its public schools this school year. Schwinn gave a brief update publicly last week to the state Board of Education when Vice Chairman Bob Eby inquired about the...

A third of Tennessee teachers say they would leave the profession for a higher-paying job and also would choose a different career if given a do-over, according to the results of a new statewide survey. At the same time, three-fourths of teachers who responded to...

Tennessee’s state-run model for school turnaround hasn’t worked, according to new research, which also casts doubt on another locally run school-improvement program in Memphis. The Achievement School District, or ASD, created to turn around Tennessee’s lowest-performing schools, has not generated improvements to student achievement during...