2026 Legislative Agenda

The Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents (TOSS) is committed to advancing public education in the state by advocating on behalf of Tennessee’s students, educators, and administrators.  Our legislative agenda is based on feedback from superintendents across Tennessee and approved by the TOSS Board. We will work to advance these priorities through our work with the Governor’s office, the Tennessee General Assembly, the State Board of Education, and the Tennessee Department of Education.

LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES

  • Support legislation requiring disciplinary actions to follow students upon withdrawal and re-enrollment in a previous or different school.

  • Support legislation allowing suspension of a student’s driver’s license for chronic truancy.

  • Support legislation allowing districts to place fund balances in interest-bearing accounts for district use.

  • Support legislation granting flexibility to use summer learning funds for tutoring programs.

  • Support adequate and recurring funding for Pre-K education, including special education preschool, while maintaining local flexibility and autonomy for all school funding.

  • Support legislation reducing mandated teacher training requirements.

  • Support legislation enabling public schools to accept donated funds if the ECCA Federal Tax Credit becomes available in TN.

  • Support legislation granting districts flexibility to employ candidates under Clinical Practice Permits at any time during their clinical practice period.

  • Support legislation to allow additional school personnel to be trained in conducting searches.

TOSS POSITIONS

Appointed Superintendents

  • Supports the appointment of superintendents by the elected local board of education and urges the TN General Assembly to reject any proposals that would lead to the election of school superintendents/directors in the state.

Curriculum, Accountability & Assessments

  • Supports implementing a working group, consisting of TOSS leadership, superintendents, and other key stakeholders, to convene before changes of the Accountability System can be submitted for approval to the USDOE.

  • Supports protecting local flexibility for curriculum and operational decisions.

  • Supports a more comprehensive view of school and district effectiveness than “single letter grading”.

  • Supports the continuation of using both growth and achievement in our state approved accountability system.

Teachers and Support Staff

  • Supports the work of the State Board of Education and the TN Department of Education to increase licensure flexibility for teachers, while maintaining high-quality standards for the teaching profession.

  • Supports improving Tennessee’s teacher salary ranking, along with support staff wages, against neighboring states to address teacher and staff shortages.

College & Career Readiness

  • Supports increased teacher licensure flexibility and incentivizing districts with partnerships with local industry/ post-secondary institutions.

  • Supports expanding the definition of "College & Career Readiness” to include more career pathway options.

  • Supports improvements to current graduation requirements that better address the needs of students and our local and state economies.

Education Funding

  • Supports adequate and recurring funding for Pre-K education, including special education preschool, while maintaining local flexibility and autonomy for all school funding.

  • Supports recurring funding, outside of TISA, for the following:

- Mental & behavior supports, i.e., counselors, school psychologists, social workers, BCBAs, etc.

- Infrastructure funding

  • Supports the redistribution of funding when changes occur in definitions or categorizations of students, subgroups, ULNs, and similar classifications.

School Safety

  • Supports additional and recurring funds, outside of TISA, for all school safety measures, school resource officers, safety personnel in all schools, and safety improvements determined by the district.

Vouchers

  • Opposes any legislation that uses public funds to expand private school scholarships, vouchers, or education savings accounts. Public funds should remain with public education.

Other

  • Encourage the TN General Assembly to not approve any unfunded mandates.

For an electronic copy of the 2026 TOSS Legislative Agenda, please click here.