Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 6.

This bill requires the department of education to, by January 1, 2022, issue guidance and recommendations to assist local boards of education or charter school governing bodies with the development of discipline policies that foster supportive and safe school climates and promote evidence-based discipline practices to keep students in school and reduce student involvement in the criminal justice system. This bill sets out in detail standards that the guidance and recommendations must meet. This bill also: (1) Requires that the discipline policy that local boards of education and charter school governing bodies are required by present law to adopt must align with the guidance and recommendations issued by the department pursuant to this bill; (2) Requires the department to develop and make available to local boards of education and charter school governing bodies a grade-appropriate model school discipline policy that aligns with the guidance and standards issued pursuant to this bill, and authorizes the department to provide training and professional development opportunities to assist local boards of education and charter school governing bodies with developing a discipline policy that aligns with the guidance and recommendations; (3) Requires the department to annually: (A) Collect and examine data regarding in-school suspensions, out-of-school suspensions, expulsions, school-based arrests, other in-school disciplinary actions, length of suspensions, suspension and expulsion rates, and percentage of students that experienced each type of discipline. The collected data must be disaggregated by school, LEA, race, ethnicity, gender, age, grade, students with disabilities, English language learners, and students who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, and reason the discipline was imposed; and (B) Compare data and trends to available data from other states; and (4) Requires the commissioner to submit a report to the governor and to the education committees of the senate and the house of representatives by January 15, 2023, and by January 15 each year thereafter that: includes data and analysis collected pursuant to this bill; and highlights high-performing schools and districts, including those that have improved school climate and decreased use of exclusionary measures such as suspensions and expulsions.