School board authority in Tennessee

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Tennessee state law makes school boards responsible for governing and managing public school districts in the state. This article details the powers and duties Tennessee law grants to school boards for governing school districts and the constraints on that authority with regard to certain topics.
Types of legal and contractual constraints on school board authority
This page presents the results from Ballotpedia research on school board authority and constraints on that authority in all 50 states as of 2024. School board authority comes from state constitutions and state statutes and can be interpreted or specified by state regulations or court decisions. In addition to authority over district budgets, the selection of a superintendent, and administrative responsibilities, school boards have varying levels of authority over district policy on other topics depending on the state and district.
There are several sources of legal and contractual constraints on school board policy-making authority which also vary by state or by district.
- State laws commonly restrict or mandate school board policies on certain topics.
- Parents' Bills of Rights, which at least 26 states have in statute to some degree, limit the policies school boards are allowed to pass.
- State rules, guidance, and funding incentives can constrain, mandate, or influence school board policies. These include regulation from state education commissions and superintendents, executive orders from governors, or grant conditions.
- Federal and state court rulings can dictate whether or not school district policies are compatible with state law or federal law.
- The federal government, largely through its Department of Education, can promulgate regulations or guidance that influence district policy or make funding contingent on certain policies.
- Collective bargaining agreements between school districts and teacher unions can create contractual constraints on the policies school boards can pass.
- State school board associations can influence school board policy or, in some cases. enter into contracts with school boards that can limit school board policy.
This page features the following sections:
- Tennessee law on school boards' authority over district policy. This section features the statutes in Tennessee law that establish, enable, or define local school district boards.
- Constraints on Tennessee school boards' authority. This section provides an overview of constraints on the school boards' authority in Tennessee. It contains information on the constraints by the following topics:
- Collective bargaining agreements
- Parents' bill of rights
- How does Tennessee compare to other states?
- Noteworthy Events. This section tracks noteworthy events related to school boards' authority in Tennessee.
School board authority over district policy in Tennessee
Enabling or authorizing statute for the boards of school districts in Tennessee
- See also: Enabling statute
Tennessee Code § 49-2-203 creates school district boards and gives them authority to operate according to state law:[1]
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Tennessee school boards' powers and duties
Tennessee public school boards of directors are given broad authority, at least 16 required duties, and at least 16 specific discretionary duties to administer the public schools in Tennessee. In addition to budget-related and fiscal duties, school property and facilities management, and administrative responsibilities, the specific powers and duties include:
- hiring and firing teachers,
- suspending and expelling pupils when necessary,
- visiting the schools when the board deems it necessary,
- adopting policies on the use of substitute teachers, and
- adopting policies on the use of artificial intelligence for students and staff.
The list of powers and duties school district boards are charged with appears in Tennessee Code § 49-2-203 and are as follows:[3]
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Constraints on Tennessee school boards' authority
This section tracks constraints on school boards specific to Tennessee as of September 2024. It features constraints on school boards' authority from state law, collective bargaining agreements, and Parents' Bills of Rights.
Constraint on Tennessee school boards' authority by topic
This section features constraints on Tennessee school boards' authority on policies related to the following topics:
Curriculum requirements
Tennessee requires the following specific topics to be included in each district's curriculum:[4]
- U.S. constitution,
- pledge of allegiance,
- Black history and culture,
- character education,
- AIDS,
- computer science,
- sexual violence awareness,
- art,
- music,
- U.S. government,
- Tennessee government,
- science,
- cursive,
- American history, and
- the free enterprise system.
Curriculum restrictions
Tennessee statute prohibits teaching sex education in grades K-5.[5][6] State law also prohibits instruction in public schools regarding critical race theory. This includes the following topics listed in Tennessee law:[7]
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Book bans, removals, and restrictions
Tennessee school boards are required to develop a policy for reviewing school library materials in order to remove materials that are considered innapropriate.[9]
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Case law:
The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed local school boards' authority to remove school books in Island Trees Sch. Dist. v. Pico by Pico in 1982 but held that school library books are distinct from curricular books, which school boards have more authority to regulate. The ruling held that school boards are charged with inculcating community values and may make curricular decisions accordingly. In Zykan v. Warsaw Community School Corp. in 1980, the Supreme Court held that school boards had discretionary power over curriculum, textbooks, and other educational matters but could not impose religious creeds or "permanently the student’s ability to investigate matters that arise in the natural course of intellectual inquiry,” according to the opinion.[10][11][12]
Parental notification
Tennessee requires parental notification in the following circumstances:[14][15]
- a parent's student is truant or has an unexcused absence,
- the student has been suspended,
- the parent's student was involved in an act of harassment, intimidation, bullying, or cyber-bullying, or
- the student has requested an accommodation related to gender identity.
Case law: The United States Supreme Court ruled in Mahmoud v. Taylor on June 27, 2025, that Montgomery County Board of Education's introduction of LGBTQ+ related storybooks, along with its decision to withhold opt outs, placed an unconstitutional burden on the parents’ rights to the free exercise of their religion.[16]
Discipline
Tennessee is one of 47 states that gives school boards authority over district disciplinary policy.
The relevant section of Tennessee Code § 49-2-203 is as follows:[3]
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School board elections
- See also: Rules governing school board election dates and timing in Tennessee, How does Tennessee compare to other states on school board authority over election timing?
Tennessee is one of 42 states in which school boards do not have authority over the timing of school board elections because state or municipal laws determine school board election dates.
Click here to read about the laws governing school board elections in Tennessee.
Public school choice and open enrollment
- See also: School choice in Tennessee
Intradistrict and interdistrict public school choice are mandated by Tennessee Code § 49-2-128:[18]
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Charter schools
- See also: Charter schools in Tennessee, How does Tennessee compare to other states on school board authority over charter schools?
Tennessee is one of 36 states that grant school boards at least some authority over whether charter schools are issued in their district.
While local school boards retain the authority to approve or deny charter school applications for their district, some exceptions apply:[19][20]
- If the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission has overturned a local school board's decision to deny a charter school application for three consecutive years, then for five years following the third overturn of the local board's application denial, charter school sponsors can apply directly to the commission.
- Public institutions of higher education seeking to establish a charter school may apply directly to the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission or the local school board.
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Section 49-13-104 (4) "Authorizer" means: (A) A local board of education, the Tennessee public charter school commission, or the achievement school district as defined in § 49-1-614, that makes decisions regarding approval, renewal, and revocation of a public charter school application or agreement; and (B) Includes the state board of education until 11:59 p.m. on June 30, 2021; Section 49-13-108 (h)
(i)
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Cellphone bans
Tennessee is one of 26 states with state laws or executive orders prohibiting or limiting cell phones in classrooms and/or schools, including through requiring school boards to pass certain policies.
Collective bargaining agreements
Teacher union collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) can constrain school board authority. Teacher CBAs are agreements between a school district and a teachers’ union to establish rights and other contract details for public school employees. CBAs do not have the force of law, but are contractually binding for a set period of time. Within the time set out in the agreement, the school board must comply with the stipulations that were agreed to in the contract. In this way, CBAs can constrain school board authority by giving teachers authority over curriculum, prohibiting school boards from banning books, and establishing certain student or parental rights. They can also determine rights and protections for educators, and conditions for students (such as required recess periods or the amount of standardized testing), among other provisions.
CBAs vary greatly within and across states in size, topics covered, and constraints they put on school boards. Not all states allow teachers to bargain collectively. As of January 2022, 35 states and the District of Columbia guaranteed K-12 teachers some right to bargain collectively, and six states prohibited public-sector employee collective bargaining by law, which includes public school teachers. The other nine states have no statewide bargaining framework, but local jurisdictions within these states can grant bargaining rights if they choose.[21][22]
Tennessee school boards are no longer legally allowed to engage in collective bargaining agreements with school employees as of 2011. Collective bargaining was replaced with collaborative conferencing, which is non-binding as opposed the contractually binding agreements that result from the bargaining process.[23]
Parents' bill of rights
Tennessee is one of 26 states that has a Parents' Bill of Rights.
The statute holds that parents have the right to the care, custody, and control of their children, including the right to direct their upbringing, education, health care, and mental health care, among other provisions. The text is as follows:[24]
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How does Tennessee compare to other states?
This section compares Tennessee's school board authority and constraints with those of other states on select topics. These topics include authority over discipline policy, school board election timing, charter schools, cellphone use policy, as well as constraints on school boards' authority from Parents' Bills of Rights.
Book bans, removals, and restrictions
Twenty-two (22) states have no laws regulating the curation of school library books. Twenty-eight (28) states, however, have passed laws restricting school board authority over school library book curation. These laws typically fall into one of the following categories:
- Twelve states require school boards to develop a policy for the removal of books, including creating a way for the public to challenge school library books.
- Ten states prohibit school boards from removing books on the grounds that they represent specific ideologies or perspectives.
- Six states prohibit books if they contain specific material, including sexual content or anything deemed harmful to minors.
- Five states require school boards to establish local boards to review challenges to library books.
- Two states require school boards to allow parents to view a catalogue of books.
Some states have adopted multiple types of these policies.
Discipline
- School boards in 47 states have authority over disciplinary policy in their district.
- School boards in two states have authority over disciplinary policy for specific circumstances, such as suspension, expulsion, or bullying.
- Individual schools in one state create their own disciplinary policy.
School board elections
School boards' authority over the timing of school board elections varies by state.
- School boards in 42 states do not have authority over election timing;
- School boards in five states can choose from limited options when to hold school board elections;
- School boards in two states can choose from a date range when to hold school board elections;
- The school board in Hawaii is not elected.
The map below shows the types of authority school boards in the states have to determine the timing of school board elections.
Charter schools
- See also: Charter schools in the United States
Some school boards in the U.S. are authorized to approve or deny applications for charter schools in their district, while state boards of education hold the authority in other states. In some states, school boards can authorize charter schools, but there are other entities besides school boards that can also authorize charter schools or to which a school board decision can be appealed.
- 10 states do not authorize school boards to make decisions on whether to approve new charter schools in their districts.
- 36 states do authorize school boards to approve new charter schools in their districts, deny approval to new charter schools, or both.
- 3 states do not have laws governing charter school authorization.
- 1 state allows school districts to apply to the state board of education to be a charter school district.
State cellphone laws
In most states, school boards or superintendents often set policies on cellphones in public schools. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), around 76% of schools said they banned the non-academic use of cellphones or smartphones during school hours during the 2021-22 school year, down from 91% in 2010.[25]
Beginning with Florida in 2023, some states enacted laws or policies to regulate student cellphone usage in public schools. Twenty-six (26) states had statewide laws or policies restricting cellphone use in K-12 classrooms or schools as of June 2025. Four states had requirements for all school district boards to adopt a policy on cellphones but without specific requirements for those policies. Four other states had policies encouraging school districts to establish restrictions on cellphone use in the classroom.
Parents' Bill of Rights
- See also: Parents' Bill of Rights in education
If state law explicitly provides certain rights to parents, it can constrain the policy-making authority of school boards. These sections of statute are often referred to within statute and are categorized here as Parents' Bills of Rights. In some states, they are education-specific, regarding the rights a parent has to be involved in their child's public education. Common examples include notification requirements, opt-out rights, and records access. Other Parents' Bills of Rights are more general, commonly affording parents a right to direct the upbringing of their child.
- 26 states have enacted a statewide Parents' Bill of Rights
- 24 states have not enacted a Parents' Bill of Rights.
Noteworthy events
- Tennessee governor signs bill to prohibit sex education in K-5 curriculum (2024): Tennessee Governor Bill Lee (R) signed SB 1210 into law on May 21, 2024, to prohibit sexual education in grades K-5, stating that “instruction in topics related to sexual activity are not age-appropriate for students.” The bill did not prohibit schools from instruction about the “detection, intervention, prevention, and treatment of child sexual abuse and human trafficking,” according to the text. The bill took effect May 21, 2024.[26][27]
- Tennessee governor signs firearm safety instruction bill (2024): Tennessee Governor Bill Lee (R) signed SB 2923 on April 23, 2024, that proposed requiring schools to teach what the bill called age- and grade-appropriate firearm safety beginning in the 2025-2026 school year. The firearm safety curriculum included safe storage of firearms, school safety relating to guns, and avoiding injury from and contact with found firearms. The bill required that instruction regarding firearms must be politically neutral and avoid topics such as the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. The bill prohibited firearms from being present during instruction.[28]
- Tennessee teacher group sues state over law governing instruction on social issues (2023): The Tennessee Education Association filed a lawsuit on July 25, 2023, in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee challenging a state law enacted in 2021 that prohibited educators from teaching “certain concepts about racism, sexism, bias, and other social issues,” according to Chalkbeat Tennessee.[29][30][31]
- Parents sue Tennessee school district over curriculum's race and gender topics (2022): The parent group Parent's Choice Tennessee on July 8, 2022, filed a lawsuit in the Tennessee Twenty-First Judicial District against state education officials and Williamson County Schools for allegedly violating state laws that restricted teachings on race and gender.[32] Tennessee law prohibited school districts from incorporating materials into the curriculum that portray the United States as racist or sexist, or that make students feel uncomfortable because of their race or sex. The parent group, which claimed the school district’s English language arts curriculum contained what the group considered to be age-inappropriate material that discussed topics of race, sought permanent removal of the curriculum.[32] Judge Michael Binkley, who heard the case on November 10, 2022, held that the teachings in question did not constitute critical race theory. Binkley agreed with arguments that Parents' Choice Tennessee had ignored state law by filing a grievance directly with the court.[33]
See also
- Local school board authority across the 50 states
- K-12 curriculum authority, requirements, and statutes in the states
- State policies on cellphone use in K-12 public schools
- Rules governing school board election dates and timing
- Charter schools
- School choice
- Parents' Bill of Rights in education
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Footnotes
- ↑ Justia Law, "TN Code § 49-2-203 (2024)," March 15, 2025
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Justia Law, "TN Code § 49-2-203 (2024)," March 15, 2025
- ↑ Case Text, "Tennessee Code Part 10 Curriculum generally," March 16, 2025
- ↑ WKRN’’, “Sex education curriculum kept out of K-5 classes with Tennessee bill,” accessed April 24, 2024
- ↑ Tennessee General Assembly’’, “SB 1210,” accessed April 24, 2024
- ↑ Case Text, "Tenn. Code § 49-6-1019," March 16, 2025
- ↑ The White House, "Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling," accessed March 14, 2025
- ↑ publications.tnsosfiles.com, "HOUSE BILL NO. 843," March 16, 2025
- ↑ Education Law Center, Pennsylvania, "Challenging book bans: What can you do," September 18, 2024
- ↑ Law.Justia.com, "Island Trees Sch. Dist. v. Pico by Pico, 457 U.S. 853 (1982)," September 18, 2024
- ↑ Law.Justia.com, "Zykan v. Warsaw Community School Corp., 631 F.2d 1300 (7th Cir. 1980)," October 11, 2024
- ↑ U.S. Department of Education, "U.S. Department of Education Ends Biden’s Book Ban Hoax," accessed January 28, 2025
- ↑ Tennessee General Assembly, "HB2165/SB1810," March 16, 2025
- ↑ National Center on Safe and Supportive Learning Environments, "Tennessee School Discipline Laws & Regulations: Parental Notification," March 16, 2025
- ↑ The United States Supreme Court, "Mahmoud et al. v. Taylor et al." accessed July 7, 2025
- ↑ The White House, "Reinstating Common Sense School Discipline Policies," April 30, 2025
- ↑ Justia Law, "TN Code § 49-2-128 (2021)," March 16, 2025
- ↑ Case Text, "Tenn. Code § 49-13-104," March 16, 2025
- ↑ Tennessee General Assembly, "SB1310," accessed August 6, 2025
- ↑ National Education Association, "Collective Bargaining: What it is and How it Works", accessed October 3, 2024.
- ↑ National Education Association, "The Benefits of Collective Bargaining in Education", accessed October 3, 2024
- ↑ National Education Association, "The Benefits of COLLECTIVE BARGAINING in Public Education," pg 2 and footnote, accessed March 15, 2025
- ↑ Case Text, "Tenn. Code § 36-8-103," March 16, 2025
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "Percentage of public schools with various safety and security measures: Selected school years, 1999-2000 through 2021-22," accessed August 8, 2024
- ↑ WKRN’’, “Sex education curriculum kept out of K-5 classes with Tennessee bill,” accessed April 24, 2024
- ↑ Tennessee General Assembly’’, “SB 1210,” accessed April 24, 2024
- ↑ Tennessee General Assembly, “SB 2923,” June 5, 2024
- ↑ Chalkbeat Tennessee, "Teachers sue over Tennessee law restricting what they can teach about race, gender, and bias," July 26, 2023
- ↑ Chalkbeat Tennessee, "Tennessee governor signs bill restricting how race and bias can be taught in schools," May 25, 2021
- ↑ Tennessee Education Association, "Tennessee Teachers File Lawsuit Over Unconstitutional 'Prohibited Concepts' Law," July 26, 2023
- ↑ 32.0 32.1 Education Week, "Conservative Parent Group Sues School District Over Curriculum That Discusses Race and Gender," July 26, 2022
- ↑ The Tennessean, "Judge on Williamson parents lawsuit: 'Does not even come close' to critical race theory," November 14, 2022