TREND Spring/Summer 2018 | Page 7

2018 LEGISLATION House Bill 2009/Senate Bill 2011 Grants the State Board of Education authority to reprimand school directors for not reporting instances of misconduct and clarifies the board’s authority to reprimand educators for violating the Teacher Code of Ethics. Office of Research and Education Accountability J USTIN P . W ILSON, C OMPTROLLER Educator Sexual Misconduct Involving Students in Tennessee Schools Enacted as Public Chapter No. 935 House Bill 2099/Senate Bill 2012 Calls for the State Board of Education to post all final teacher disciplinary action on its website to allow school districts, as well as out-of-state entities responsible for the licensing and hiring of Tennessee educators, to access information regarding the final disciplinary action of an individual’s license case. It also requires final licensure action be reported to the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC) database for the same purpose. In addition, committee members support an appropriation in the budget presented by Governor Bill Haslam for an additional staff attorney in the State Board of Education to review educator misconduct investigations and outstanding cases, and determine what licensure action, if any, should be taken. Kim Potts Principal Legislative Research Analyst Tara Bergfeld Principal Legislative Research Analyst January 2018 READ THE FULL OREA REPORT House Bill 2433/Senate Bill 2015 House Bill 2165/Senate Bill 2013 Prohibits a Local Education Agency (LEA) from entering into a non-disclosure agreement with a teacher that would prevent other school districts from knowing about sexual misconduct. It also allows districts to access information about the previous employment of a teacher with another school district. Enacted as Public Chapter No. 937 2018 Appropriations Act (PC 1061) Enacted as Public Chapter No. 936 Updates the state’s Teacher Code of Ethics regarding inappropriate teacher-student relationships, including engaging in sexual behavior with students or furnishing them with alcohol or drugs. House Bill 1997/Senate Bill 2014 Ensures that background checks are conducted to identify sexual predators before a teacher license is issued and that reports are done on an ongoing basis for those who work with children. Presently, school districts require an initial background check before hiring. Enacted as Public Chapter No. 1006 Enacted as Public Chapter No. 938 The 2018 Appropriations Act includes funding for one additional staff attorney within the SBE to review cases of educator misconduct. Since spring 2017, SBE has reviewed approximately 200 cases from previous years, and as of fall 2017, SBE had a backlog of approximately six to eight months of outstanding cases from 2016-17 to review. NDUCT IN THE CLASSROOM