Latest news with #Yarbro
Axios
12-05-2025
- Business
- Axios
Tennessee among the first states to require computer science for high schoolers
Starting with the class of 2028, Tennessee high school students must take at least one computer science course before they can graduate. Why it matters: The new policy, which state lawmakers approved unanimously in 2022, was designed to prepare students for an influx of jobs that require a deeper understanding of technology and AI. The latest: Top business leaders are urging states nationwide to follow Tennessee's lead. More than 200 CEOs signed a letter this month urging state leaders to mandate artificial intelligence and computer science classes as a high school graduation requirement. Signees included leaders of American Express, Airbnb, Dropbox, LinkedIn, Salesforce, Microsoft, Yahoo, Zoom and Uber. State of play: Tennessee is one of 12 states that already have a computer science mandate in place, per How it works: The new graduation requirement kicked in for freshmen who entered high school last fall. In addition to the high school requirement, the law also required schools at every level to enhance their computer science offerings. By the numbers: The state logged a massive uptick in computer science enrollment even before the graduation requirement began. Middle and high school student enrollment in computer science courses sat at 32,893 statewide during the 2020-21 school year. It shot to 60,217 by the 2023-24 school year. What they're saying:"To be a full participant in the economy and the world, you have to be able to understand the technology that's driving the world," state Sen. Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) tells Axios. Yarbro helped push Tennessee to draft a plan for its approach to computer science education. The plan called for more course options statewide. "I want our students and people generally to be able to understand and shape these technologies more than be shaped by them." The bottom line: Students who attend high schools that offer a computer science course end up earning 8% higher salaries than those who don't, regardless of career path or whether they attend college, according to a report by the Brookings Institution. (The study examined the impact of giving students access to computer science classes, not of requiring it.)
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tennessee lawmakers seek to raise home loan insurance rate caps with bill
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — A bill that has already passed the Tennessee Senate would effectively raise the maximum interest rate on mortgages. SB 749/HB 908, brought by Goodlettsville Republican Rep. Johnny Garrett and Kingston Republican Sen. Ken Yager by way of mortgage bankers in Tennessee, would change the index on second mortgages to a 'more modern' index in the Average Prime Offer Rate. According to Yager, the bill was created with assistance of the Tennessee Commissioner of Financial Institutions and will expand the opportunity for people to have a subordinate loan, such as a home equity loan. Per the text of the bill, the maximum effective rate of interest on home loans would be set at an amount 'equal to four (4) percentage points above the average prime offer rate' on a 30-year fixed loan. Further, the maximum effective rate of interest per year for home loans would be capped at 18%, the bill reads. Current law states the maximum interest rate is set at an amount equal to two percentage points above the 'most recent weighted average yield of the accepted offers of the Federal National Mortgage Association's current free market system auction.' It is restricted, in that it only applies to mortgages in excess of 15 years, which Yager said would be 'good for the economy that we make this change.' However, the measure received pushback from Democrats, with Nashville Sen. Jeff Yarbro stating the bill as written would actually apply to 'any home loan' with a 15- or 30-year mortgage. Yarbro said the current mortgage rate in Tennessee is set at 8.5%, but the bill would allow that rate to be as high as 11.5%, which gave him significant pause. 'I am hesitant to do something that opens the door for mortgage rates in the state to be three percentage points higher than what they are currently,' he said on the Senate floor in mid-March. TN bill would invalidate out-of-state drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants Sen. Charlane Oliver (D-Nashville) echoed Yarbro's comments, saying while some of her Senate colleagues classified the measure as a 'cleanup' bill, it could have significant unintended consequences for Tennesseans. 'This puts a significant burden on families trying to purchase a home in Tennessee,' she said, noting how larger counties in Tennessee, like Davidson, housing affordability is already an issue, and the bill could lead to double-digit mortgage rates—something not seen in Tennessee since 1994, she added. Yager reiterated the market fluctuates daily and affected by multiple indexes, so the likelihood of the bill making mortgage rates significantly higher was low. He further reiterated how the bill would make subordinate home loans more available for things like second mortgages or home equity loans. Memphis Sen. London Lamar said Yager's bill would equate to a 4-point increase, which would fully price out many Tennesseans. The measure has already passed the House of Representatives unanimously—due to its placement on a consent calendar—and transmitted to the Senate for action. But lawmakers attempted to 'recall' the bill from the Senate, but the motion failed at the end of March. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
TN undocumented students bill passes another committee
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) — A bill to allow Tennessee public schools to charge tuition to children illegally in the U.S. or deny them enrollment passed another state Senate committee Tuesday, though again with multiple 'no' votes from Republican members. A new amendment to the bill appears to reinstitute a mandate that all state public school systems document the citizenship, visa or legal immigration status of each child seeking to enroll. A previous amendment from last week would have given school systems an option to not check that status and to continue serving all students regardless of legal status. The current bill does make the decision whether to deny enrollment or demand tuition optional for school districts. Senate Bill 0836, sponsored by Hixson Republican Bo Watson, passed the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee 7-4 and will now head to the Senate Calendar Committee. News Channel 11 emailed Watson's office Tuesday morning for clarification on the documentation issue but had not received a response by late Tuesday afternoon. We also requested an interview March 26 after Watson's previous amendment but did not receive a response. Sen. Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) was in Tuesday's meeting and told News Channel 11 in an afternoon Zoom call that he interpreted the amendment to mean school districts would be required to develop systems to document citizenship/legal status. 'Trying to determine as a matter of law what someone's immigration status is a thorny endeavor that usually requires a lot of expertise in both the way the documents work from other states and what the law says,' Yarbro said. He said if the law passes he expects school systems will need to seek outside legal counsel to enact it. 'It's going to be a massive expense that's genuinely an unfunded mandate,' Yarbro said. Yarbro's assessment contrasts with Watson's remarks during the committee meeting, during which he said school districts already collect the addition to Democrats London Lamar and Yarbro, Republican Senators Ferrell Haile and Page Walley voted against the bill. Watson, John Stevens, Joey Hensley, Jack Johnson, Bill Powers, Paul Rose and Ken Yager, all Republicans, voted in favor. Advocacy groups have expressed strong opposition to the bill, which would likely wind up in court if it becomes law due to its implicit challenge to the 1982 Plyler v Doe Supreme Court decision. That 5-4 ruling found that all children in the U.S., regardless of legal status, have a right to a free, public K-12 education. Monday, when the amended bill still made checking student status optional, Johnson City School Board Chairman Jonathan Kinnick told News Channel 11 the system would not set up such a system if it was optional. 'I can't imagine any system that would do that,' Kinnick said. 'I know for sure Johnson City will not.' Watson produced a chart showing sharply rising costs to provide English Language Learner (ELL) classes. Because school systems don't track the number of undocumented students they teach, he said he's using that as 'a correlation of what may be happening in the undocumented community.' 'I have long felt that we need to have a conversation about the costs imposed upon the citizens for funding ELL,' Watson said. Neither Walley nor Haile asked their fellow Republican Watson any questions before casting their 'no' votes, but Yarbro and Lamar had numerous questions and comments. Yarbro said he believed the bill would create significant administrative costs for school districts to set up documentation systems centered around citizenship verification. He added that school systems would likely keep most of their ELL staff in place to continue teaching what he estimated is the vast majority of ELL students with citizenship or legal status. 'If you talk to districts and think about what it means to convert all 1,800 public schools into institutions that review the citizenship status of every student every year, that is going to be massively expensive,' Yarbro said. Watson disagreed, though he said the Tennessee Department of Education's promulgation of rules regarding the process would provide the most specific answers to cost. He held up enrollment forms for the Metro Nashville Public Schools that ask for a birth certificate, passport, I-94 or other paperwork related to a person's place of birth after Lamar also expressed concerns about the difficulty people might have getting the required documentation. 'These things are already being required,' Watson said. 'I'm not adding anything to that. So the challenges that you describe would exist today.' Lamar asked Watson whether school systems 'will be required to call ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) if a student attempting to enroll can't show citizenship or legal status. Watson said the legislation doesn't address that. 'That would be considered in the rules and regulations that the Department of Education would promulgate relative to this legislation,' Watson said. Lamar said she didn't find that answer sufficient. 'I just want to point … to the dangers of how we're creating another avenue for law enforcement to come in and take children away based on something they cannot control,' she said. The fear of ICE entering schools is real enough that Johnson City Schools have at least prepared for that possibility, Kinnick told News Channel 11 Monday. 'We've already got protocols in place in case ICE shows up at the school,' Kinnick said. 'The administrators know what to do, to send them here to Central Office. The Central Office knows what to ask credential-wise and authority-wise. So we're prepared if anything strange does happen.' Yarbro said during Tuesday's meeting the legislation has 'a moral cost,' and said getting at the number of undocumented people in Tennessee could be done by penalizing companies that hire undocumented workers. 'That would at least be going after the people who are relying upon and in many cases profiting from undocumented labor,' he said. 'But instead we are in this legislation punishing kids. Children. For conduct that, regardless of what you think, here certainly isn't a 6-year-old and 7-year-old's fault. Depriving people of the ability to become literate, to learn the language of the country where they are living is … unconscionable.' Watson said schools that choose not to enroll students won't lose state funding for those slots. He said the state's other K-12 students would gain if undocumented ones pay tuition or aren't enrolled, 'to the extent that the per pupil funding for the students who are documented is increased, which increases what people have been screaming for across the state.' The bill has mostly been in Senate committees so far, and from those votes, it appears Senate Republicans will be at least somewhat split on it. Republicans, though, hold a 27-6 advantage in that chamber, and at least 11 of them would have to defect from a full Senate vote to defeat the bill. 'It's remarkably uncommon to see this level of opposition to a bill that's brought by leadership of the Republican party,' Yarbro told News Channel 11. Four out of 15 Republican senators in committees have cast 'no' votes on the bill, and three House Republicans (out of 14 voting) voted 'no' in an Education Committee meeting last week — including Sixth District Rep. Tim Hicks of Gray. 'I think that you've seen a lot of people who are motivated by their faith conviction, motivated by just their sense of what's right and wrong who are going to stand in opposition to this bill and think that this is a bridge just way too far,' Yarbro said. So far, in committee, the ratio has not equaled that 16-11 level. A total of 11 Republicans have voted yes in committee, and four have voted no: Haile, Walley, Mark Pody and Kerry Roberts. In addition to the seven who voted in favor Tuesday, Education Committee members Rusty Crowe of Johnson City, Dawn White, Bill Powers and Adam Lowe have cast yes votes. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tennessee Senate immigrant education bill clears final committee, still conflicts with House
A controversial education bill to require Tennessee schools to collect citizenship or legal residency documentation of all students in the state is headed for a full Senate vote, even as the legislation stands at odds with a companion House bill that would not impose requirements on local schools. The Senate Finance committee voted 7-4 to advance Senate Bill 836, which would require all schools in Tennessee to verify children have legal immigration or visa status, or that they're U.S. citizens, before enrolling them. Schools could then deny to enroll the children who cannot prove their status or charge them tuition to attend the school. Senate Finance Committee Chair Bo Watson, R-Hixson, has argued undocumented students are potentially a financial drain on Tennessee school resources, citing a rise in English language learners in the state. But several advocates have testified that legal residents or U.S. citizens account for a majority of English language learners. Additionally, there's no evidence disenrolling undocumented students would save Tennessee any money in education costs. In fact, due to a provision in the school voucher bill Republicans passed earlier this year, local schools are set to receive a base enrollment amount going forward, even if they lose students to disenrollment under this bill. Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, pressed Watson on why lawmakers filed legislation directly targeting children as a vehicle for addressing undocumented immigrants in the state, rather than focusing on Tennessee employers who frequently hire undocumented workers across the state. "If we were so concerned about this problem, we could solve it tomorrow," Yarbro said. "We could pass $1,000-a-day penalties for every employer who hires any undocumented worker. We could shut this down, but in doing so we would shut down every construction project you see outside, every construction project across the state. We'd shut down every meat packing plant, half the agriculture in this state. We could do that. That would at least be going after the people who are relying upon and, in many cases, profiting from undocumented labor. But instead, we're punishing kids." Yarbro was also critical of the administrative burden the bill could impose on local schools, something Watson dismissed given most public schools already request a birth certificate or similar documentation to determine a student's age. "That's a process that is already in place. There's nothing new there," Watson said, referencing registration forms from the Department of Education and Memphis city schools as an example. "Most school systems are already requesting this information. Whether they're getting it or not, we don't know, but they're requesting the information. It's already part of the process, so I would argue that any increase in spending on documentation is insignifcant." But determining legal residency or visa status is likely much more complicated than having a U.S. birth certificate or not. Recent emergency rules passed by the Tennessee Board of Education to govern the state's voucher program revealed the complexities of determining legal status. State officials will have to review documentation to determine if an applicant student falls under 10 different categories the state recognizes as lawful residency, ranging from asylum seekers to non-citizens granted temporary parole and trafficking victims with pending applications for certain non-immigrant status. With the Senate bill now headed to the calendar committee, it appears likely the upper chamber could vote on the legislation without the Senate and House sponsors reconciling their versions of the bill. More: Pledge of Allegiance protests shut down Tennessee General Assembly committees House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, has said in recent weeks he wants the bill to be "permissive" and not impose documentation requirements on schools. While Watson's bill allows schools to choose whether to block enrollment or charge tuition, it does require all schools to collect status documentation. SB 836 has emerged as one of the more controversial measures the Republican supermajority is pursuing this session. The bill has also drawn criticism from some business groups, with the Tennessee Small Business Association this week releasing a statement "Senator Watson and Rep. Lamberth claim their bill denying education to undocumented children is about starting a fiscal conversation — but that's not true, and they know it,"the organization said. "Undocumented immigrant families already pay into Tennessee's public schools through sales tax — just like everyone else. Tennessee immigrants contribute $4.4 billion in tax revenue every year, including over $900 million from undocumented families alone. Going after children to deny them an education when he knows it is already paid for by immigrants in our state isn't just cruel — it's unethical, fiscally irresponsible, and politically desperate." Previous committee meetings have drawn hundreds of protestors, though the Tuesday morning finance committee was relatively quiet in comparison to previous debates. Still, the committee gaveled into a recess after a handful of protestors interjected after the vote. Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers later arrested one protestor, Lynne McFarland, after she refused to move from her seat in the committee room. A trooper later picked up and carried McFarland outside to a patrol car, which was expected to take her downtown for booking. McFarland's booking charges are not yet available. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee immigration education bill clears final Senate committee
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
After secret sex recordings, Tennessee bill to change illegal photography law advances
A bill strengthening victims' rights after an illegal photography violation passed its first committee hurdle on Tuesday after a group of Nashville women banded together to make changes to Tennessee law. The women last year discovered they had been secretly recorded during sex without their consent after a Nashville man was arrested and charged with eight counts of unlawful photography. But several other victims could not pursue charges in the case. The current statute of limitations allows just one year to pursue charges from the date of the crime, which the victims say is unacceptable in cases where any evidence of the crime was hidden until after the statute expired. "There were dozens of women, tens of thousands of files and images, but there was not a clean pathway to prosecution except for those within that one-year statute," Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, said. Yarbro is sponsoring SB 335, which would amend the statute of limitations to the date of discovery, rather than the date of the original crime, allowing victims more time to pursue justice in their cases. Yarbro's bill would also make victims of unlawful photography eligible for an order of protection. "We want to ensure moving forward women who are in similar circumstances, with perhaps fewer resources than we currently have, are able to get the justice that we feel was denied for so many of our new friends," Laura Cantwell, one of the victims, previously told The Tennessean. The bill received unanimous approval in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, clearing its way for a full floor vote. The House bill is up for a committe hearing on Wednesday. Meanwhile, a separate bill would increase unlawful photography crimes in sexual situations from misdemeanors to Class D felonies. In November, Matthew Vollmer was arrested and charged with eight counts of unlawful photography after his girlfriend discovered explicit videos, allegedly filmed with a hidden camera, on his computer depicting multiple women. Vollmer pleaded not guilty to filming four victims and is currently awaiting a March trial date. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: After secret sex recordings, Tennessee bill to change law advances
