Amends TCA Title 49.

Present law generally prohibits a student in the third grade from being promoted to the next grade level unless the student is determined to be proficient in English language arts (ELA) based on the student's achieving a performance level rating of "on track" or "mastered" on the ELA portion of the student's most recent Tennessee comprehensive assessment program (TCAP) test. However, a student may be promoted in certain circumstances. LEVEL RATING OF "APPROACHING" Present law provides that a student who is not proficient in ELA, as determined by the student's achieving a performance level rating of "approaching" on the ELA portion of the student's most recent TCAP test may be promoted if the following applies: (1) The student is an English language learner and has received less than two years of ELA instruction; (2) The student was previously retained in any of the grades K-3; (3) The student is retested before the beginning of the following school year and the scores are proficient in ELA; (4) The student attends a learning loss bridge camp before the beginning of the upcoming school year, maintains a 90 percent attendance rate at the camp, and the student's performance on the post-test administered to the student at the end of the learning loss bridge camp, demonstrates adequate growth, as determined by the department; or (5) The student is assigned a tutor through the Tennessee accelerating literacy and learning corps (TALLC) to provide the student with tutoring services for the entirety of the upcoming school year based on tutoring requirements established by the department. LEVEL RATING OF "BELOW" Present law provides that a student who is not proficient in ELA, as determined by the student's achieving a performance level rating of "below" on the ELA portion of the student's most recent TCAP test may be promoted if: (A) The student is an English language learner and has received less than two years of ELA instruction; (B) The student was previously retained in any of the grades K-3; (C) The student retested before the beginning the next school year and the scores proficient in ELA; or (D) The student attends a learning loss bridge camp before the beginning of the upcoming school year and maintains a 90 percent attendance rate at the camp and is assigned a tutor through the TALLC to provide the student with tutoring services for the entirety of the upcoming school year based on tutoring requirements established by the department. TUTORING Present law provides that a student who is promoted to the fourth grade pursuant to receiving tutoring as described in (5) or (D) above must show adequate growth on the fourth grade ELA portion of the TCAP test, as determined by the department, before the student may be promoted to the fifth grade. However, a student must not be retained in the fourth grade more than once. Subject to available funding, and to the extent authorized by federal law, present law authorizes LEAs and public charter schools to use temporary assistance for needy families (TANF) program funds to cover up to 50 percent of the costs associated with providing tutoring services for students pursuant to tutoring described in (D) above. APPEALS PROCESS Present law requires the state board of education to promulgate rules to establish an appeal process, to be administered by the department of education, for a student who is identified for retention in third grade based on the student's achieving a performance level rating of "approaching" on the ELA portion of the student's most recent TCAP test. The rules must provide that if an appeal is filed, the filing must be made by the student's parent or guardian. This bill deletes the provisions above and provides, instead, the following: (1) LEAs and charter schools may retain or promote a student who has not shown a basic understanding of the curriculum and an ability to perform the skills required in the subject of reading, as determined by the student's LEA or charter school; (2) LEAs and charter schools must develop a retention policy for students who have not shown a basic understanding of the curriculum and an ability to perform the skills required in the subject of reading, as demonstrated by the student's grades, standardized test results, or other indicators of student growth or achievement identified by the LEA or charter school in its retention policy; and (3) Each LEA and public charter school must implement the retention policy in the 2023-2024 school year and in subsequent school years.