►
Description
House Government Operations Committee- March 7, 2022- House Hearing Room 1
B
A
A
A
C
A
C
A
D
Okay,
good
afternoon,
we
are
here
to
answer
any
questions
that
you
might
have
and
certainly
want
to
be
able
to
talk
through
a
couple
of
the
the
findings
and
certainly
the
corrections
that
have
taken
place.
So
what
you
will
see
is
on
for
the
observations,
the
first
two
tn
ready,
follow-up
and
resumption
of
online
testing,
as
well
as
addressing
tennessee's
emerging
teacher
shortage.
Before
I
go
into
that,
I
just
want
to
say
that
some
of
the
things
that
have
come
up
from
our
last
sunset
audit
really
focused
on
testing.
D
I'm
very
pleased
that
those
have
all
been
corrected,
especially
over
the
last
three
years.
In
terms
of
the
follow-up
for
online
testing,
we
did
have
our
first
online
testing
session,
this
fall,
which
was
after
the
october
21
date.
Here
we
did
have
a
successful
knock
on
wood
online
testing
and
we
are
in
a
strong
position
for
this
spring.
D
In
terms
of
the
emerging
teacher
shortage
we
just
completed
within
the
last
two
weeks,
our
teacher
data
collection
around
vacancies
within
the
state.
We
do
expect
that
we
will
be
around
1
000
vacancies.
We
haven't
seen
a
significant
change
over
the
last
two
years.
We
will
be
providing
you
with
a
full
report
on
what
those
vacancies
are
and
in
what
areas
and
happy
to
answer
questions
on
some
of
the
things
we're
doing
to
address
those
vacancies.
F
Thank
you,
mr
chairman.
I
guess
I
have
to
ask
if
you
can
tell
me
about
some
of
the
things
that
you
are
doing
to
to
recruit
teachers,
the
fact
that
we're
still
teachers
are
making
less
today
than
they
did
10
years
ago,
based
on
when
you
take
into
account
cost
of
living,
and
it
looks
like
from
the
new
formula
that
I
can
see
best-
I
can
tell
perhaps
maybe
50
more
a
month
in
a
paycheck
and
I
don't
think
that's
going
to
even
move
us
into
the
being
above
that
10-year
difference.
D
Sure
so,
in
terms
of
teacher
recruitment
and
retention,
there
are
a
few
different
pathways
I'll
start
with
recruitment
and
then
move
into
retention.
So
for
recruitment
we've
launched
a
number
of
initiatives
for
grow
your
own.
There
are
there's
the
we
are
the
first
state
in
the
country
to
be
approved
for
the
apprenticeship
model.
We
just
got
that
approval
from
the
department
of
labor
in
mid-december.
D
What
that
means
is
that
for
the
first
time
we'll
be
able
to
use
federal
labor
dollars
to
help
pay
for
the
cost
of
becoming
a
teacher,
whether
those
are
future
teachers
in
their
undergraduate
programs
or
to
earn
their
credential,
including
materials.
So
that
removes
some
of
those
financial
barriers.
The
department
of
education
just
provided
the
general
assembly
with
one
of
the
reports
from
the
tennessee
literacy
success
act,
which
required
us
to
look
at
the
barriers
to
entry
within
the
profession,
specifically
the
financial
barriers.
There
are
a
number
of
recommendations
there
that
we
would
have.
D
Teacher
salary
is
certainly
one
of
those
recommendations
in
terms
of
existing
teachers
and
the
teacher
vacancy.
What
we
found
is
that
there
are
oftentimes
teachers
who
may
want
to
move
into
a
different
content
area
or
grade
level.
There
are
financial
barriers
to
that
because
they
have
to
go
back
to
school
to
earn
an
additional
endorsement.
The
department
has
provided
over
2
000
different
opportunities
for
existing
teachers
to
have
endorsements
within
either
special
education
or
asl.
Those
are
two
of
our
biggest
shortage
areas.
D
One
of
the
things
that
I
would
really
encourage
everyone
to
think
about
is
the
difference
between
that
average
salary
and
the
take-home
pay.
What
we
found
in
looking
at
southeast
states
and
that's
everything
from
going
over
to
kind
of
the
oklahoma
texas
area
all
the
way
up
into
the
virginias-
is
that
our
average
salary
in
the
southeast
is
in
that
50th
to
75th
percentile.
D
What
really
happens
is
the
take-home
pay
is
where
we
find
more
challenges.
The
cost
of
insurance
retirement
benefits
is
higher
in
tennessee
than
it
than
it
is
in
our
peer
states,
and
that's
why
you
see,
while
our
average
is
in
that
55
range,
the
take
home
is
actually
in
the
30s.
Teachers
are
paying
a
lot
more
in
that
and
that's
part
of
what
we
found
in
the
study
that
we
were
required
to
do
from
the
last
special
session.
F
F
I
see
more
teachers
wanting
to
leave
and-
and
I
know
that
it's
been
a
stressful
two
years
for
everybody-
for
you
guys,
as
well
as
the
teachers
in
the
classroom,
and
I
feel
like
if,
if
we
don't
do
something
meaningful,
that
there
is,
is
going
to
be
even
a
bigger
problem,
and
I
know
that
everybody
is
working
really
hard.
Teachers
are
working
hard
school
staff.
All
of
that,
and
and
ultimately,
what
happens
when
you're
losing
teachers
at
the
is
that
the
students
are
suffering,
and
so
I
just.
C
Thank
you,
commissioner.
I've
got
on
the
on
the
subject
matter
of
the
the
teacher
shortage
and
and
I'm
going
to
to
read
for
the
record
and
then
I'll
ask
the
question
at
the
end.
But
of
course
it
was
off
of
page
33
of
of
what's
on
our
dashboard
that
the
topic
is
addressing
teachers,
emerging
teachers,
shortage
and
it
says
the
general
background
as
of
january
29
2020
based
on
134
superintendent
responses,
the
tennessee
organization
of
school
superintendents
tennessee,
and
it
was
a
survey
tennessee
teacher
shortage,
shirts
survey
data
reported,
it
was
80.
C
C
It's
called
disciplining
students
with
disabilities,
but
it
was
interesting.
It
says.
School
systems
have
the
legal
responsibility
to
maintain
safe
violence-free
schools.
Part
of
that
responsibility
include
the
establishment
of
code
of
conduct
containing
specific
consequences
for
violations
of
the
code.
School
authorities
have
the
right
and
responsibility
to
discipline
children,
including
the
removal
of
children
from
their
present
school
when
those
children
violate
school
rules
by
engaging
in
conduct
that
materially
and
substantially
disrupts
the
rights
of
others
to
be
physically,
safe
and
educated.
C
When
conduct
endangers
the
student
or
others,
temporary
removal
of
that
student
may
become
imperative.
Schools
also
have
these
rights
and
responsibilities
when
students
with
disabilities
violate
school
rule,
causing
disruption
or
danger
to
themselves
or
others,
and
then
we
find
out
information
coming
from
from
from
the
state
legal
department.
According
to
the
national
center
for
education
statistics,
national
2015-2016,
teacher
and
principal
surveys,
nine
percent
of
elementary
teachers
and
two
percent
of
secondary
teachers,
reportedly
being
physically
attacked
by
students
and,
of
course,
I'm
reading
this
off
of
a
fiscal
note
for
house
bill
1934.
C
But
it
says
it
is
reasonably
assumed
two
percent
or
1377
of
teachers
will
annually
be
victims
of
the
offense
of
assault.
So
my
question
is:
what
is
the
department
doing
about
this
situation
in
in
protecting
our
teachers
in
the
classroom
and
it's?
It
seems
like
it's
an
ongoing
trend,
commissioner
swin.
D
Yes,
I
appreciate
that,
and
I'm
going
to
have
charlie
buffalino
talk
a
little
bit
about
the
bill
that
was
passed
last
year
in
implementation
of
that
bill
in
terms
of
some
of
the
things
that
we
are
seeing,
especially
coming
out
of
the
last
school
year
and
the
year
before,
we
are
receiving
reports
from
districts,
and
we
we
do
that
in
partnership
with
safety,
but
certainly
our
district
operations
team
does
report
when
there
are
escalated.
Events
in
schools
and
school
districts.
D
We
are
seeing
a
uptick
frankly
in
terms
of
some
of
the
behavior
challenges
within
our
schools.
We're
seeing
that
very
much
connected
to
some
of
the
effects
coming
out
of
the
pandemic,
especially
some
of
the
transitions
back
into
full
in
person.
Learning
one
of
the
things
that
we're
doing
is.
We
are
certainly
increasing,
supports
and
trainings
for
districts
and
for
schools.
We've
done
that
in
each
of
the
eight
core
regions
we'll
continue
to
do
that
throughout
the
year.
I
will
say:
I've
personally
been
in
touch
with
a
couple
of
superintendents
to
talk
about.
D
E
Thank
you,
commissioner,
and,
and
I
what
I'd
like
to
highlight
is,
I
think,
there's
been
a
couple.
Recent
changes
in
last
year's
session
that
addressed
this
area.
You're
talking
about
chairman
reedy.
So,
first
and
foremost,
there
was
a
piece
of
legislation
passed
called
the
teacher
discipline
act
that
tried
to
provide
some
additional
clarity
of
how
some
of
these
situations
could
be
handled.
F
Thank
you,
mr
chairman.
I
did
want
to
point
out
that
that
a
lot
of
those
students
are
the
students
that
I
worked
with.
They
had
behavioral
issues
for
the
most
part,
it's
very
rare
for
just
a
regular
ed
kid
to
act
out
and
and
to
to
do
something
like
that.
So
people
need
to
understand
that
most
of
those
students
are.
You
know
every
single
time
that
I
had
a
combative
student.
I,
as
I
got
to
know
the
family
as
I
got
to
know
what
was
going
on.
F
These
are
kids
that
have
serious
emotional
issues
and
are
are
acting
out
of
desperation
and
and
school
is
typically
a
safe
place
and
so
they're
able
to
act
out
like
that,
and
basically,
like
you
said,
it's
the
health,
getting
the
mental
health
care
aces
is
what
attributes
you
know
to
a
whole
lot
of
this
and
just
making
sure
that
we
have
social
workers
and
counselors
in
our
schools
to
to
deal
with
these
and
really
understand
where
that
behavior
is
coming
from.
It's
not
okay
and
it
has
to
be
dealt
with.
C
A
C
A
A
A
G
A
G
You,
mr
chairman
of
members,
what
this
bill
would
do
would
prohibit
anyone
from
doing
business
with
the
state
of
tennessee
unless
they
have
10
employees
or
less
for
any
contract
over
250
000,
if
they,
if
they
haven't
passed,
supported,
bds
movement
goals,
which
is
to
boycott
divest
or
or
come
against
any
of
the
israeli-owned
companies
or
businesses
in
the
state
of
tennessee.
71
million
dollars
of
business
happens
with
the
state
of
tennessee
over
1.2
billion
dollars
over
the
last
20
years.
G
G
I
just
wanted
to
recognize
him
for
being
here
today
and
I
am
a
member
of
a
group
called
kufi,
which
is
christians
united
for
israel,
and
this
is
a
bill
that
they
find
very
important
and
need
for
across
the
united
states,
and
this
legislation
would
be
the
strongest
legislation
supporting
the
jewish
jewish
state
in
america.
I'm
happy
to
answer
any
questions.
You
might
have.
A
A
I
Thank
you
chairman.
My
name
is
eric
stillman,
I'm,
the
chief
executive
officer
of
the
jewish
federation
and
jewish
foundation
of
nashville
and
middle
tennessee
on
behalf
of
the
four
tennessee
jewish
federations
in
chattanooga,
knoxville,
memphis
and
nashville.
Thank
you
for
allowing
me
to
speak
to
you
today.
Together
we
represent
more
than
25
000
jewish
tennesseans.
I
We
want
to
express
our
support
for
house
bill
2050.
We
want
to
thank
you
for
your
support
of
it,
because
israel
is
the
only
democracy
in
the
middle
east
and
an
ally
of
the
united
states.
We
think
it
is
very
important
to
have
this
house
bill
approved
so
that
tennessee
can
stand
against
the
boycott
divestment
and
sanction
effort
to
delegitimize
the
state
of
israel.
J
Just
one
question
yeah
and
I
support
the
state
of
israel
and
obviously
they've
been
a
great
ally
of
the
united
states.
Much
appreciated
I
do
have
a
question.
Just
you
know.
In
the
90s
there
was
a
two-state
solution.
Israel
was
to
have
a
state.
Palestinians
would
have
a
state
one
israeli
prime
minister
was
murdered
over
that
and
you
know,
obviously
the
history
since
then
has
been
troubled.
Does
the
jewish
federation
know
have
a
position
on
the
palestinians
right
to
a
state
in
addition
to
the
jewish
state?
J
A
Thank
you
and
mr
buttery
walked
in.
He
still
wished
to
testify
nope.
He
walked
out.
Okay,
any
further
questions
for
our
witness
sing.
None!
Thank
you,
sir.
We
appreciate
you
being
here,
you're
excused
we're
back
in
session
chairman.
Do
we
have
questions
of
our
sponsor
any
closing
comments?
Chairman
williams,
question's
been
called
on
the
bill.
Do
we
have
any
objection
seeing
none?
We
are
voting
on
house
bill,
2050,
going
to
calendar
and
rules
all
in
favor
indicate
by
saying
aye
all
opposed,
nay
eyes.
Have
it
bill
moves
to
calendar
and
rules.
A
K
A
The
question
has
been
called
on
the
bill.
Do
we
have
any
objection,
seeing
none
we'll
be
voting
on
house
bill
2050
going
to
I'm
sorry
1673?
That
was
previous
bill.
My
apologies
1673
by
chairman
johnson,
going
to
calendar
and
rules
all
in
favor
indicate
by
saying
aye
aye,
all
opposed,
nay
eyes
have
it.
Thank.
A
A
A
L
Right,
thank
you.
So
what
this
does
is
this
gets
in
line
with
our
textbook
and
instructional
materials,
alignment
to
the
tennessee
academic
standards,
and
we
have
the
dates
for
that,
and
also
that
the
board
state
board
shall
not
grant
a
waiver
for
math
science
or
social
studies,
textbooks
or
instructional
materials
that
are
not
aligned
to
tennessee's
academic
standards.
We've
already
done
this
with
language
arts.
This
is
just
getting
the
other
subjects
in
that
line.
A
Members
you've
heard
an
explanation
of
the
bill.
Do
we
have
any
discussion
on
the
bill?
We
have
any
questions
as
a
sponsor
seeing
none.
We
will
be
voting
on
sending
house
bill
2108
to
counter
rules
all
in
favor
indicate
by
saying
aye
aye
all
opposed,
nay
eyes.
Have
it
bill
moves
out
to
calhoun
rules.
Thank
you.
L
A
A
M
A
A
A
M
A
All
right,
in
that
case,
we'll
put
it
on
the
bill
before
you
explain
it
all.
In
favor
of
adding
amendment
drafting
code
zero,
one,
four,
nine
one,
eight
to
house
bill,
two
six,
six
six
indicate
by
saying
aye,
all
opposed,
nay
eyes
have
it.
The
amendment
is
on
the
bill.
You
are
now
clear
to
explain
your
bill
as
amended.
Sir.
Thank.
M
M
It
adds
the
situation
where
we
have
the
material
that
are
in
our
public
libraries,
and
we
have
tried
to
find
out
clearly
who
is
in
charge
of
this.
So
what
this
bill
does
is
it
puts
the
regular
textbook
commission
over
the
material
that
goes
into
our
libraries.
It
also
adds
two
voting
members
and
one
ex-official
member.
M
M
A
A
N
Thank
you,
members
house,
bill
2089.
It
has
a
name
with
it's
called
handle
with
care
and
where
this
comes
from
this,
this
is
a
law.
Enforcement
has
a
program
in
place
and
really
all
this
bill
does
is
make
the
records
that
are
accumulated
confidential,
but
they've
had
this,
and
whenever
there's
an
incident
law
enforcement
has
to
show
up
at
a
home
a
neighborhood
where
there
may
have
been
that
you
know
drug
bust
or
anything
that
that
would
cause
a
domestic
disturbance
for
our
children.
N
C
A
L
Sir,
thank
you.
Mr
chairman
house,
bill
1734
authorizes
a
representative
of
the
agency
of
government
in
which
a
peace
officer
served
at
the
time
of
the
officer's
death
to
receive
the
three
stars
of
tennessee
award
on
the
officer's
behalf,
provided
there
are
no
other
surviving
next
to
ken
to
receive
the
award.
It
authorizes
the
commissioner's
safety
and
collaboration
with
the
homeland
security
council
to
promulgate
rules
regarding
the
selection
and
administration
of
the
war
award.
A
A
H
A
A
A
O
O
There
is
an
amendment
traveling
with
the
bill,
and
I've
worked
with
law
enforcement,
nfib
chamber
and
the
commerce
committee
on
how
we
can
make
this
a
bill
that
is
satisfying
to
all
of
the
different
interested
parties.
We've
been
working
for
two
years
and
the
bill
is
in
here,
because
we
added
a
provision
that
will
allow
for
some
rule
making
to
make
sure
that
there's
protections
along
the
way
with
that
I'd
appreciate.
O
A
O
P
P
That
was
one
definition
that
I
kind
of
felt
was
absent
from
the
bill
as
far
as
the
that
definition
of
culture,
identification
of
the
employees,
ethnic
group-
and
I'm
just
you
know,
envisioning
that
situation
of
if
in
in
any
company,
if
someone
came
in
with
with
pink
hair
or
purple
hair
and
the
company
said,
you
know
what
that's
not
really,
that's,
not
really
what
we
want
representing
you
know
whatever
job,
they
have
look
that
that's
that's
not
really
what
we
want.
Could
they
could
that
person
claim
well?
P
O
Thank
you,
mr
chairman.
No,
the
color
of
your
hair
is
not
that
I
know
of
in
history
anywhere
where
it's
been
identified
with
any
ethnic
group.
This
is
only
things
that
are
culturally
specific
for
any
ethnic
group,
so
the
color
of
the
hair
or
certain
other
styles,
that's
not
culturally,
where
you
can
find
documented
history
of
that
would
not
be
included
in
this
up.
P
Okay,
all
right,
like
I
said
just
in
some
of
those
it
feels
like
it
could
be.
I
think
there
are
some
that
that
are
very
clear-cut
and
I
think
and
and
you
could
and
those
are
listed
in
the
bill-
and
I
think
that
there's,
but
there
are
others
I
feel
like
there
could
be
some
some
ambiguity
perhaps,
but
but
thank
you.
I
appreciate
that.
Thank
you.
A
C
Thank
you
chairman,
and
of
course
I
I'm
looking
at
it
and
and
of
course
it's
stating
the
fact
that
we're
trying
to
hold
employers
accountable
in
some
way
and
and
I
guess
that
that
concerns
me-
we
go
out
and-
and
you
know
just
the
past
two
years
because
of
kovan
the
discussion.
Well,
we
can't
have
the
employers
doing
this
and
that
and
then
now
we've
got
a
bill
that
says:
well,
you
can't
do
this
or
that,
depending
on
a
way
a
person
wears
their
hair.
It's
I'm
just
challenged
by
this
idea.
O
Thank
you,
mr
chairman.
The
the
point
is
that
they
can't
be
discriminated
against
because
of
the
way
their
hair,
not
not
the
way
that
they
wear
the
way
that
they
wear
their
hair.
If
it's
culturally
specific,
so
I
couldn't
discriminate
against
representative
because
he
wears
dreads.
If
you
will
that's
what
I'm
trying
to
get
to
not
trying
to
tell
a
business
who
to
hire
how
to
hire
or
what
they're
doing
that's
within
their
purview,
that's
why
there's
going
to
be
rules
permagraded
palmer
gated
to
do
this.
O
Is
that
if
you
hire
me-
and
you
hire
me
because
and
I'm
wearing
my
hair
like
this,
you
can't
later
come
along
and
decide
to
fire
me
because
of
it.
It's
so
that
it
really
protects
the
business
that
they're
that
they
don't
have
a
lawsuit
against
them,
because
they
actually
someone
discriminated
against
somebody
because
of
their
hair.
M
Chairman
later,
I've
got
a
question:
what
about
people
who
work
around
rotating
equipment
and
they
have
dreadlocks
down
halfway
or
their
back?
That's
a
safety
hazard,
and
I
see
some
problems
with
this
bill.
I
don't
care
how
anybody
wears
your
hat
they're
higher,
but
it
could
be
a
very
safety
hazard,
depending
on
I
had
dreadlocks
back
in
early
70s
and.
P
M
O
O
I
mean
we
have
linesmen
who
have
right
now
who
have
dreadlocks,
but
they
wear
stuff
over
their
hair
to
make
sure
that
it
does
not
interfere
with
their
work,
and
that's
really
went
to
the
point
of
chairman
vaughn
when
he
offered
their
amendment
to
make
sure
that
those
protections
were
in
there.
That's
not
what
that
shouldn't
be
a
problem.
Q
O
A
B
A
R
R
Chair
committee,
we
have
for
years
been
working
on
what
the
state
can
do
for
distressed
counties.
Currently,
there
are
11
distressed
counties
in
tennessee,
and
I've
come
up
with
an
idea
through
the
work
with
people
in
my
district
and
other
representatives
that
represented
distress
county,
to
allow
one
percent
of
the
sales
tax
that
happens
in
that
distress
county
to
be
held
kind
of
like
in
an
escrow
account
with
the
commissioner
of
finance
administration
and
then
the
county
or
the
city
that
that
of
one
of
those
11
distressed
districts
can
apply
for
a
grant.
R
That
would
be
pulled
with
this
one
percent
that
they
could
use
only
not
for
general
fund,
but
only
for
expansion
of
infrastructure
and
to
be
able
to
use
for
grants
to
get
businesses
there,
and
I
would
just
be
so
grateful
if
y'all
would.
Let
me
get
this
to
finance.
So
I
can
work
with
finance
on
that.
R
But
basically
it's
it's
an
idea
that
would,
I
think,
would
have
let
the
11
distressed
counties
become
more
attractive
to
businesses
and
do
more
stuff
with
infrastructure
such
as
water,
high-speed
internet
or
whatever
they're
working
on
roads
by
harnessing
one
percent
of
the
current
sales
tax.
That's
available.
L
C
C
A
Thank
you,
mr
vice
chair.
This
bill
extends
the
tennessee
board
of
regents
to
2026
2026,
and
the
amendment
that
we
just
put
on
the
bill
was
at
the
recommendation
of
the
comptroller
in
their
last
audit.
It
basically
changes
the
number
of
members
from
18
to
19..
I've
lost
my
notes
here:
okay,
corrects
an
errand
statute
for
the
membership
of
the
board
and
requires
tbr
to
live
stream
archive
all
meetings,
as
it
does
for
the
meetings
for
the
full
board.
C
A
A
C
My
motion
any
further
questions
or
comments,
saying
not
all
in
favor
of
moving
house
bill,
1815
five
onto
calendar
real
estate
by
saying
aye
aye
in
the
opposition,
nay
bill
moves
out.
Last
on
our
calendar
item
number
13
house
bill,
1824,
tennessee
student
assistance
corporation
chairman
reagan.
You
are
recognized
on
the
bill.
We've
got
a
motion
and
a
second.