Support for Proposed Legislation

TIGER is supporting two bills that have been introduced to the Tennessee Legislature:

SB 0620 / HB 0099
(introduced by Senator Woodson and Representatives Winningham and Brooks)

This bill would allow Tennessee high schools to enter into cooperative arrangements with colleges to develop programs targeted at two groups of students: 1) at-risk students who may drop out of school, and 2) students who would benefit from accelerated academic instruction.

Specifically, the bill states that “Cooperative innovative high school programs that offer accelerated learning programs shall:

(1) Provide a flexible, customized program of instruction for students who would benefit from accelerated, higher level coursework or early graduation from high school;

(2) Enable students to obtain a high school diploma in less than four years, to begin or complete an associate degree program, to master a certificate or vocational program, or to earn up to two years of college credit; and

(3) Offer a college preparatory academic core and in-depth studies in a career or technical field that will lead to advanced programs or employment opportunities in engineering, health sciences, or teaching.”


SB 2008 / HB 1872
(introduced by Senator Southerland and Representative Hawk)

This bill authorizes the creation of a "cyber schools," where most/all instruction would be completed online. This type of virtual school can be particularly useful for high achieving and gifted students in small school districts. Small districts frequently lack both the number of students and resources to offer a wide range of honors, AP, and other challenging courses. A well developed cyber or virtual school would allow these students to tap into challenging courses their districts are unable to offer.