Each year TQEE reviews the Governor’s budget and 1500+ bills filed by legislators. We determine which items are both aligned to our policy blueprint and can have a meaningful impact. Below are our budget and legislative priorities for the 2025 legislative session.
Governor Bill Lee’s Proposed 2025-26 Budget
Governor Bill Lee’s budget address presented Monday, February 10, was, we’re pretty sure, the first ever Governor’s State-of-the-State featuring child care! We are THRILLED and while the child care budget items aren’t huge, they represent a really important step forward for state government. Here are the budget items we’re excited about:
Child Care
“Today, infant care in Tennessee carries virtually the same price tag as in-state tuition at a four-year public college,” Lee said in his address. “That is an insurmountable cost for the vast majority of moms and dads who want to be in the workforce.”
- $5.9 million to cover childcare for more working families through an expansion of the Smart Steps Child Care Program and to ease the benefits cliff
- $7.2 million to expand the WAGE$ Program and reduce turnover in Tennessee’s childcare workforce by increasing pay and rewarding further education
Public Education Funding
- $198.4M to provide Tennessee teachers with a $2,000 bonus
- $244M in the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA),
including teacher pay raises - $27.3M for summer learning programs
Child and Family Health and Mental Health
- $24 million to continue a Department of Health pilot program to address unmet dental service needs and increase the number of dentists in Tennessee
- $1 million to expand the school-based behavioral health liaison program, giving students across Tennessee schools important resources and mental health support
Bills Filed by Legislators: Our Bills “Hotlist“
The deadline for bill filing for the Tennessee General Assembly was Thursday, February 6th. After reviewing over 1,583 bills and tracking nearly 200 pieces of legislation across our core three domains, we have identified the following high-priority bills that we will support this session. Additionally, 30 “caption” (placeholder) bills are on our radar that might be amended to be of interest – so the list below could grow.
Early Learning Settings Birth-to-3rd Grade
Early Care and Education Funding
- SB802 / HB841 (Senator Massey / Representative Haston) – Establishes the Promising Futures Early Learning Fund, using excess lottery revenues to provide last-dollar scholarships to working families for high-quality early learning programs. NOTE! We are thrilled Governor Lee has included in his budget funding for learning scholarships for middle income families. A great start on what this bill is designed to accomplish. 3/27 Update- Not advancing further
- SB840 / HB966 (Senator Walley / Representative Hawk) – Creates two special accounts for K-12 and early learning programs, funding capital projects and supporting early childhood education with grants. 3/27 Update- Not advancing further
- SB679 / HB401 (Senator White / Representative White) – Expands funding for special education pre-kindergarten students and their peer models by including them in the TISA funding model. 4/23 Update- Was not funded
- SB580 / HB631 (Senator Akbari / Representative Clemmons) – Establishes a grant program through the Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives to support and fund nonprofit and faith-based child care providers. 3/27 Update- Not advancing further
- SB1286 / HB105 (Senator Johnson / Representative Lamberth) – Expands eligibility for the $45 million Child Care Improvement Pilot Grants by removing the nonprofit-only requirement, allowing more child care providers to access funding. 4/14 Update- Signed by Governor
Early Care and Education Instruction
- SB246/HB410 (Senator Gardenhire / Representative White) — requires the department of education to convene a working group to study and develop best practices, strategies, and programming for English language learner (EL) educators in this state to utilize in educating EL students enrolled in a public school in this state in any of the grades kindergarten through 12. 4/23 Update- Passed and ready for signatures
Early Educator Workforce
- SB682 / HB504 (Senator White / Representative White) – Updates the Tennessee Future Teacher Scholarship Act to include Educator Preparation Program (EPP) students in their junior or senior years who are working toward an initial educator license. 4/23 Update- Passed and ready for signatures
- SB729 / HB759 (Senator Lowe / Representative Marsh) – Allows local education agencies (LEAs) to implement merit-based pay structures for educators, rewarding high performance with additional compensation. 4/23 Update- Sent to Governor for signature
- SB902 / HB992 (Senator Oliver / Representative Love) – The Child Care Workforce Improvement Act creates a program for longevity payments to child care workers and provides child care assistance for certain early childhood educators. 3/27 Update- Not advancing further
Regulations and Governance
- SB36 / HB156 (Senator Campbell / Representative Clemmons) – Exempts child care agencies from business taxes. 3/27 Update- Not advancing further
- SB1013 / HB1069 (Senator Oliver / Representative Glynn) – Prevents homeowners’ associations from blocking family child care homes. 3/27 Update- Not advancing further
- SB1014 / HB698 (Senator Oliver / Representative Camper) – Grants child care operators the ability to purchase or lease vacant property from LEAs. 4/23 Update- Not advancing further. Duplicated in SB1379/HB1175 which passed
- SB1379 / HB1175 (Senator Watson / Representative Williams) – Allows child care agencies to lease or purchase underutilized property from LEAs, classifies a child care family home as residential property for certain purposes, including zoning and building codes; permits a host-school’s fire inspection and facilities to be sufficient for a child care agency’s provisional license under the department of human services, including zoning and building codes; permits a host-school’s fire inspections and facilities to be sufficient for a child care agency’s provisional license under the department of human services. 4/23 Update- Sent to Governor for signature
- SB1378 / HB1238 (Senator Watson / Representative Haston) – Creates the Division of Early Childhood Care and Education and appoints a committee to plan for transitioning to a unified system with a focus on reducing regulatory burdens and simplifying processes. A fact sheet on this bill may be found here. 3/27 Update- Not advancing further
- SB1169 / HB1215 (Senator Akbari / Representative Johnson) – Exempts child care agencies from the registration requirements for charitable organizations. 3/27 Update- Not advancing further
Early Grades Tutoring and Literacy Supports
- SB506 / HB503 (Senator Powers / Representative White) – Conditions the requirements for LEAs and charter schools to provide tutors through TALLC and participate in the learning loss remediation and student acceleration program on whether the state has appropriated sufficient funds for the programs. 3/27 Update- Not advancing further
Early Grades Expulsion
- SB1161 / HB1005 (Senator Akbari / Representative Hakeem) – Prohibits LEAs and public charter schools from suspending or expelling students enrolled in grades pre-kindergarten through second grade. 3/27 Update- Not advancing further
Early Childhood Health, Mental Health, and Development
Maternal Health
- SB44 / HB295 (Senator Lamar / Representative Love) – Expands TennCare coverage to include doula services. 4/14 Update- Passed Senate. Deferred to 2026 in House.
- SB205 / HB70 (Senator Massey / Representative Helton-Haynes) – Requires TennCare to cover biomarker testing for preeclampsia in pregnant women. 3/27 Update- Not advancing further
- SB435 / HB484 (Senator Reeves / Representative Martin) – Requires health plans and TennCare to cover biomarker testing. 3/27 Update- Not advancing further
- SB1283 / HB111 (Senator Johnson / Representative Lamberth) – Expands pregnancy-related testing to include additional screenings. 3/27 Update- Signed into law by Governor
- SB898 / HB867 (Senator Massey / Representative T. Hicks) – Instructs TennCare to create and administer a pilot program to improve maternal health care through remote patient monitoring. 4/23 Update- Was not funded
- SB321/HB498 (Senator Massey / Representative Hale) — creates an advisory taskforce on state reimbursement rates. to make recommendations about salaries, benefits, and administrative costs for agencies as well as causes and solutions for the healthcare frontline workforce shortage. 4/14 Update- Signed into law by Governor
- SB1342 / HB1169 (Senator Campbell / Representative Hemmer) — requires the council on children’s mental health care to submit a report to certain officials regarding the status of the statewide system of care for children’s mental health and the service delivery system and the status of children’s mental health in this state. 4/14 Update- Signed into law by Governor
Supported and Supportive Families
Paid Family Leave
- SB314 / HB1150 (Senator Yarbro / Representative Miller) – Extends paid family leave to public employees adopting a minor child. 4/23 Update- Signed into law by Governor
- SB705 / HB676 (Senator Massey / Representative Stinnett) – Extends paid family leave benefits to employees of the state’s special school districts. 4/23 Update- Sent to Governor for signature
- SB938 / HB957 (Senator Rose / Representative Slater) – Grants state employees paid leave for fostering a child. 3/27 Update- Not advancing further
Free Breakfast and Lunch Programs
- SB142 / HB12 (Senator Kyle / Representative Clemmons) – Requires local school boards to establish programs for providing free breakfast and lunch to all enrolled students. 3/27 Update- Not advancing further
- SB740 / HB1153 (Senator Harshbarger / Representative Lynn) – Requires local boards of education to establish a program to provide free school breakfast and lunch to all students. 4/23 Update- Was not funded
Community Schools
- SB364 / HB225 (Senator Briggs / Representative Haston) – Encourages local boards of education to form full-service community schools and creates a grant program to support their establishment and sustainability. 3/27 Update- Not advancing further
Tax Relief
- SB872 / HB784 (Senator Haile / Representative Martin) – Exempts infant formula, diapers, and wipes from sales tax. 4/23 Update- Was not funded
We urge the Tennessee General Assembly to enact these bills and budget priorities!
