Local Education Agencies - As enacted, authorizes LEAs to enroll LEAs' employees' children into the voluntary pre-kindergarten program if space is available after enrollment of at-risk children; authorizes LEAs to charge, the official text

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PUBLIC CHAPTER NO. 225

                                                     SENATE BILL NO. 753

                                                               By Yager

                                              Substituted for: House Bill No. 6

                                                               By Hale

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49, Chapter 6, relative to early childhood
          education.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:

          SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-104, is amended by deleting
subdivision (c)(2) and substituting:

                    (2) If the number of at-risk children seeking to enroll in an LEA's voluntary pre-
          kindergarten program on the date of the initial enrollment deadline does not meet the maximum
          class size of the pre-kindergarten classroom provided by the LEA as part of the LEA's voluntary
          pre-kindergarten program, then the LEA may enroll children who are not at-risk children, but
          who:

                              (A) Reside within the geographic area served by the LEA and who are:

                                        (i) Four (4) years of age, with or without a disability, on or before August
                              15;

                                        (ii) Three (3) years of age on or before August 15 and:

                                                  (a) Who have been in the Tennessee Early Intervention System
                                        (TEIS); or

                                                  (b) Who are screened and identified as educationally at-risk, as
                                        determined pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
                                        (20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq.); or

                                        (iii) Three (3) years of age on or before August 15, who are members of
                              families with incomes that meet the eligibility requirements for free or reduced-
                              price lunch, as determined pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1771; or

                              (B)(i) Reside outside the geographic area served by the LEA;

                                        (ii) Are children of a parent employed by the LEA; and

                                        (iii) Are four (4) years of age on or before August 15.

          SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-104, is amended by adding the
following as a new subsection:

                    (f) An LEA that authorizes a child to enroll in the LEA's voluntary pre-kindergarten
          program pursuant to subdivision (c)(2)(B) may charge the child's parent tuition and fees in an
          amount that is no more than the LEA's costs of the child enrolling and attending the program.

          SECTION 3. Te~nessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-107(d), is amended by adding ",
except as authorized p·ursuant to § 49-6-104(f)" after "§§ 49-6-103 - 49-6-11 O"..

          SECTION 4. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.
         SENATE BILL NO. 753

PASSED:  April 7, 2025

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                                                RANDY Mc\lALLY
                                 SPEAKER OF THE StNATE

             c:::: •

                             CAMERON SEXTON, SPEAKER
                           HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

/1(zo ':f APPROVED this ~\  I
         day of                2025

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         BILL LEE, GOVERNOR