TICUA Policy Update

Rep. Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood) asks a question during Wednesday’s House Education Committee meeting.

Credit: Martin B. Cherry / Nashville Banner

Tuesday’s House Education Committee

The House Education Committee continues to run behind on a very long agenda.

On Tuesday, their calendar included 65 agenda items. Chairman White worked hard to move

quickly through the top 30 items, focusing on bills that had little discussion in

subcommittee. The higher education bills that passed are included below.

HB1324/SB1312 changes the name of the "Wilder-Naifeh technical skills grant" to "TennesseeWORKS scholarship," as proposed in the Governor’s State of the State address. The retitled scholarship would cover all the required equipment and supplies, in addition to tuition and fees, for all the TCATs. The bill passed, but leader Lamberth noted that the bill has a $12M fiscal note and will advance based on budget availability.

HB0007/SB0172 establishes the hunger-free campus grant program that could provide grants to higher education institutions to address student hunger. Although it has a small fiscal note ($300,000), THEC has explained that they are hoping to establish the program in code rather than seek appropriations this session. Once created, the program could accept donations from private partners as well as allocations from the state budget. Private universities are included as eligible for the program. The bill has now passed House and Senate Education Committees and will move the Finance Committee next because of the fiscal note.

HB0148/SB0686 creates the Tennessee Promise completion grant special account in the state treasury for purposes of awarding completion grants to certain Tennessee Promise scholarship students and makes the four-year pilot program established by the commission to award completion grants to certain Tennessee Promise scholarship students a permanent program. This bill has now passed in the House and Senate Education Committee and is pending passage in Finance Committees.

HB0504/SB0682 introduces various positive changes and improvements to the Tennessee Future Teacher Scholarship Act of 2023. TICUA has actively collaborated with House sponsors, SCORE, and many of our campus education faculty members to make this scholarship more accessible to our students. Since implementation of the pilot program 3 years ago, only 9 students have been able to take advantage of it. Changes include reducing the time commitment for teaching in a target area and/or high demand specialty from four years down to two years; changing the scholarship from last dollar to a flat $5,000 per year for two years, and expanding eligibility to most Tennessee residents who are enrolled in a teacher preparation program, not only current HOPE recipients. Also, Chairman White removed an amendment that was added at subcommittee that would have made Western Governor’s University students eligible for the scholarship. This bill has now passed in the House and Senate Education Committee and is pending passage in Finance Committees.

HB0408/SB0689 is a caption bill that was amended to dissolve the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation (TSAC) governing board and transfer its responsibilities to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) Board. By statute, the TICUA chief executive officer is a member of the TSAC Board. To ensure that the private higher education sector maintains a voice and advisory role in the state’s higher education priorities and financial aid programs, the amendment also adds the president of TICUA as a member of a currently existing review committee charged with the development and revision of the higher education master plan and state financial aid. The TICUA president will join the review committee currently comprised of the THEC executive director, the chancellor of the board of regents, the president of the University of Tennessee system, each president of a locally-governed state university, and select members of the legislative and executive branches of state government. The amendment also terminates the Tennessee teaching scholars program and the minority teaching fellows program, which have already been phased out since 2023. This bill has now passed both House and Senate Education Committees and is waiting to be scheduled on the House floor next.

HB1006/SB0913, which expanded the list of those who are prohibited from serving on a state university board to include those who hold the position of a member of a governing body for another institution of higher education, was taken off notice and will not move forward this session.

The House Higher Education Subcommittee met Wednesday to hear its final agenda for the session. Of the 11 bills on the agenda, only three passed and will proceed to the full House Education Committee before the session concludes.

HB1344/SB1359 is a caption bill. The amendment focuses on releasing previously allocated state funds (approximately $90M) for Tennessee State University to use for operational expenses rather than capital, as previously approved.

HB1056/SB 0989 HB1056/SB0989 is a caption bill. Amendment 6104, not yet publicly available, proposes a 25% tuition discount at state public colleges and universities for children of all public school employees. Current law extends this benefit exclusively to teachers.

The Tennessee state Capitol is seen Tuesday, April 23, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn.

(AP Photo/George Walker IV, File)

On Wednesday afternoon, the Senate Education Committee also convened for their final time this session with 53 bills on agenda. The meeting lasted nearly six hours and contained several lengthy debates on K-12 bills, including the intervention of the Commissioner of Education on the Shelby County School System and transfer policies for high school student athletes. Only five bills affecting higher education passed out of committee.

State Sen. Bo Watson (R-Hixson) makes the case in favor of SB0836 on Wednesday afternoon to the Senate Education Committee.

Credit: Martin B. Cherry / Nashville Banner

SB1387/HB0645 adds Western Governors University as a postsecondary institution at which Tennessee students may receive the Senator Ben Atchley Opportunity Grant, an additional $2,000 per year for low-income students who qualify for the Tennessee Student Assistance Award (TSAA). THEC Chief of External Relations, Lou Haneman, testified about the current TSAA budget, and the allocation from which the Ben Atchley grant was funded. Last year the funding covered approximately 80% of the eligible students. After several questions from the committee about WGU’s graduation rates and how expanding WGU’s eligibility could impact students on other campuses (i.e., it could reduce availability for other students), the bill did pass. TICUA continues to actively engage with all House Education Committee members, as they will be the next hurdle for this bill before it goes to the finance committees.

SB1359/ HB1344 with the amendment is the TSU funding bill described above that also passed in the House Higher Education Subcommittee this week.