Tennessee Senate Bill SB1016

Tennessee 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 2/5/25

Caption

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49, Chapter 1 and Title 49, Chapter 6, relative to school safety.

Summary

SB1016 revises Tennessee’s school safety statutes to require more explicit parent and guardian notification procedures for emergencies, incidents of violence, credible threats of violence, and certain school-safety-related interventions. It directs district-wide and building-level school safety teams to include in their safety plans the process for notifying parents and guardians, including the manner of communication and a general timeline, with the stated intent that notice be given as early as possible without interfering with disciplinary, investigatory, or prosecutorial functions. The bill also updates the state’s school safety planning template and threat assessment provisions. It requires school and LEA templates to include parent-notification policies tied to violence or threats, and it requires threat assessment teams to document behaviors and incidents that pose a risk to school safety or lead to intervention. LEA and public charter school leaders must notify parents and guardians when such incidents are reported, if the incident would trigger notice under the applicable safety plan. All disclosures and documentation must comply with FERPA, Tennessee public records/privacy law, and other applicable state and federal privacy laws.

Impact

The bill amends Tennessee Code Annotated sections in Title 49 governing school safety plans, school safety templates, and threat assessment teams. It adds new statutory duties for LEAs, public charter schools, and school administrators to establish and follow parent-notification procedures, and it clarifies that these disclosures must be made consistently with FERPA and other privacy laws. The bill also makes a conforming change to a cross-reference in § 49-1-225(b). Most provisions take effect January 1, 2026, while the threat-assessment notification provision in Section 4 takes effect immediately upon becoming law.

Sentiment

The available record shows no committee transcript or recorded votes, so there is no documented debate or formal vote history to indicate support or opposition. Based on the bill text alone, the measure appears to be framed as a school-safety and transparency bill, with an emphasis on timely communication to families while preserving investigative and prosecutorial processes and privacy protections.

Contention

The main policy tension in SB1016 is between rapid parent notification and the need to avoid compromising disciplinary, investigative, or prosecutorial functions. The bill explicitly instructs schools to notify families as early as possible, but only to the extent that doing so does not interfere with those processes. A second point of sensitivity is privacy: the bill repeatedly requires compliance with FERPA, Tennessee public records/privacy law, and other state and federal privacy requirements, reflecting concern about how much information can be disclosed and to whom. No specific stakeholder objections are documented in the provided materials.