Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 50, Part 10.

Present law provides that the annual appropriations of state funds made for the operation and maintenance of the Tennessee School for the Blind, the Tennessee School for the Deaf, the West Tennessee School for the Deaf, the Alvin C. York Agricultural Institute, and other special schools operated by the department of education must be administered and expended under budgets approved by the department of education.<br /> <br /> Present law requires the salary schedules for teachers and other professional personnel in those special schools to be reasonably comparable to those currently in effect in the LEAs where the respective institution is located, but the salaries must be paid solely out of the state appropriations made to the respective institutions.<br /> <br /> This bill deletes the salary schedule provision above and instead provides the following:<br /> <br /> (1) That the salaries paid to teachers and other professional personnel in those special schools on or after July 1, 2023, must not be less than the salaries paid to teachers and other professional personnel with comparable training and experience at those special schools with the highest paying salary schedule on July 1, 2023;<br /> <br /> (2) That the salaries paid to teachers and other professional personnel in those special schools must not be reduced from the salaries paid in the immediately preceding school year; and<br /> <br /> (3) That the salaries for teachers and other professional personnel in those special schools must be paid solely out of the state appropriations made to the respective institutions.<br />