Tennessee House Bill HB0485

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 1/28/25
• Refer: 2/5/25
• Refer: 2/18/25
• Refer: 3/11/25
• Refer: 4/2/25
• Engrossed: 4/8/25
• Enrolled: 4/28/25
• Passed: 5/21/25
• Chaptered: 5/27/25

Caption

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49, relative to school attendance.

Summary

HB0485 amends Tennessee’s school attendance law to allow local education agencies (LEAs) and public charter schools to count up to four days of the required 180 classroom-instruction days through hybrid learning when dangerous or extreme weather conditions, or another emergency, make normal in-person instruction impractical. The bill defines hybrid learning as a day in which some students attend in person while others participate remotely. The measure sets minimum instructional-time requirements for those hybrid days: kindergarten students must receive at least four hours of instruction, and students in grades 1-12 must receive at least six and one-half hours. It also requires LEAs and charter schools to maintain policies for confirming student participation each day, distinguishing excused from unexcused absences, and intervening when students miss remote instruction. Schools must continue to comply with state and federal law, and must make IEP services available on hybrid-learning days. If a school uses all four authorized hybrid days, it may ask the commissioner for additional days in cases of natural disaster or serious illness outbreaks.

Impact

The bill changes Title 49 by creating a new statutory exception to the traditional in-person 180-day school calendar requirement, giving LEAs and public charter schools limited flexibility to use hybrid instruction during emergencies. It also affects attendance tracking and truancy enforcement by requiring schools to adopt procedures for verifying participation and handling absences during remote instruction. In addition, it reinforces obligations to provide special education services under a student’s individualized education program on hybrid days, and it preserves state oversight by requiring commissioner approval for any additional hybrid days beyond the four-day cap.

Sentiment

The bill appears to have broad bipartisan support and little visible opposition. It advanced unanimously through the House Education Administration Subcommittee and the House Education Committee, then passed the House on consent calendar and later passed the Senate without recorded dissent in the provided vote history. The lack of committee transcript material suggests the measure was treated as a practical school-administration bill rather than a controversial policy change.

Contention

No major contention is reflected in the available record. The main policy questions implicit in the bill are how much flexibility schools should have to replace in-person days with hybrid learning, how to verify student participation and enforce attendance rules during remote instruction, and how to ensure students with IEPs continue receiving required services. Any concern would likely center on balancing emergency flexibility with instructional quality, attendance accountability, and special education compliance, but the votes suggest these issues did not produce significant opposition.