The Tennessee State Board of Education met at Northeast State on Nov. 1, 2025, and approved a broad package of rule and policy changes affecting licensure, assessments, school health and instructional materials while also adopting the state’s lists of reward and priority schools.

The board approved first and final readings for dozens of items recommended by the Tennessee Department of Education, including revisions to educator licensure rules to reflect recent legislation, updates to educator‑preparation and assessment policies, new lifetime health education standards for grades 9–12 and an increased minimum amount of elementary physical‑education time to 40 minutes per day. The board also accepted a final adoption list of Schedule E textbooks after the textbook commission’s review and appeals process.

The meeting included a large consent agenda that bundled many licensure and discipline items; the consent motion passed and several rule approvals were finalized by roll call votes. Board members spent notable time discussing implementation details and local impacts — chiefly how state lists and new statutory requirements will affect scheduling, staffing and district reporting.

Votes at a glance (selected items and outcomes):
- Consent agenda (licenses and discipline): approved (voice and roll call).
- Organization & administration of schools (first reading, rule revision): approved.
- Coordinated school health policy (4.204, first reading): approved.
- Health education standards (lifetime wellness, grades 9–12; first reading): approved.
- Professional assessments (policy 5.105, added qualifying assessment options): approved.
- Teacher leave/substitute rule (final reading; increases allowable consecutive days for substitutes): approved by roll call.
- Educator licensure rules (final reading; multiple alignments to PC 328): approved by roll call.
- Physical education/policy 4.206 (final reading; aligns to new statute increasing elementary minutes): approved.
- Schedule E textbook and instructional materials list: approved after commission review and appeals.
- State‑identified school lists: reward schools (459) and priority schools (108) were presented and approved; exemplary and in‑need district lists were also approved.

Department presenters and board staff repeatedly emphasized that the changes generally align board policy with recent public acts and the department’s implementation plans. Ally Reed, the board’s chief of strategy, said the master plan will be revised and return in February with committee recommendations. The board set its next meeting for Feb. 27 in Nashville and signaled that accountability hearings will begin in March.

What’s next: Several items were approved on first reading and will return for final action per the board’s rules. The department said it will continue monitoring assessment pass rates, textbook implementation, and district compliance with new physical‑education and family‑life curriculum requirements.

(Quotes used in this article come from board meeting presenters and members recorded during the Northeast State session; attributions are limited to speakers named on the meeting record.)