Tennessee House Bill HB1740

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 1/20/26
• Refer: 1/22/26
• Refer: 3/17/26

Caption

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49, relative to the Individualized Education Act.

Summary

HB1740 amends Tennessee’s Individualized Education Act to expand and clarify who can qualify as an “eligible student” and what kinds of educational settings can participate in the program. Under the bill, eligibility would continue to cover students with specified disabilities who have an active IEP and meet certain enrollment history requirements, but it would also add a new category for students with a medical condition that prevents in-person attendance, as determined by the State Board of Education, so long as the student is otherwise entitled to attend public school. The bill also broadens the definition of “participating school” to include home schools for students qualifying under the new medical-condition category, while preserving the existing framework for nonpublic schools serving students in the IEA program. It further creates a new monitoring and enforcement structure for IEAs used by students in the medical-condition category, requiring parents to use funds only for approved expenses and authorizing the department to monitor compliance, suspend participation, or permanently terminate a student from the program for violations. The act would take effect July 1, 2026.

Impact

HB1740 would amend Tennessee Code Annotated Title 49, Chapter 10, Part 14, which governs the Individualized Education Act and individualized education accounts (IEAs). The bill expands statutory eligibility, adds home schooling as a qualifying participating school for a limited class of students, and imposes new oversight and penalty provisions for IEA funds used by students with qualifying medical conditions. It would affect the Department of Education, parents administering IEA funds, nonpublic schools participating in the program, and home-school arrangements for eligible students.

Sentiment

The available voting history suggests the bill was received favorably in at least one committee setting, with the House K-12 Subcommittee recommending passage as amended by a 7-0 vote. No committee transcript was provided, so there is no recorded floor or committee debate to indicate broader opposition or support beyond that unanimous subcommittee action. Overall, the bill appears to have been treated as a technical and programmatic expansion of an existing education option rather than a highly contentious measure.

Contention

The main points of potential contention are the expansion of the IEA program to include students with medical conditions that prevent in-person attendance and the inclusion of home schools as participating schools for that group. These provisions may raise questions about oversight, accountability, and the scope of public funding for alternative education settings. The bill also gives the department authority to suspend or permanently terminate participation for noncompliance, which could be viewed as necessary enforcement by supporters but as a strict penalty structure by critics concerned about administrative discretion or family access to the program.