(a)

(1) Complete jurisdiction over the issuance and administration of licenses for supervisors, principals and public school teachers for kindergarten through grade twelve (K-12), including teachers in preschools operated under the authority of chapter 6, part 1 of this title, shall be vested in the state board of education.

(2) Notwithstanding subdivision (a)(1), the state board of education shall not deny instructional leader licensure based solely on the applicant completing a leadership preparation program located outside of this state.

(b) The licenses shall be uniform for all the school systems in the state.

(c) The state board of education is authorized, empowered and directed to set up rules and regulations governing the issuance of licenses for supervisors, principals and public school teachers. These rules and regulations shall prescribe standards controlling the issuance and renewal of all licenses and permits; provided, that:

(1) If a license is issued, it shall not be to an applicant who has less than four (4) years of general or technical and professional training beyond the twelfth grade;

(2) No increase in the minimum requirements for licenses shall become effective until at least one (1) year after promulgation of the increase by the state board of education;

(3) [Deleted by 2019 amendment.]

(4) Active or retired military personnel who seek to serve as junior reserve officers' training corps (JROTC) instructors shall be licensed to teach JROTC and military science in grades nine through twelve (9-12) based on documented military JROTC certification issued upon successful completion of all JROTC preparation requirements specific to the person's branch of military service. JROTC instructors so licensed shall not be licensed to teach courses other than JROTC and military science, and LEAs shall not employ persons licensed only as JROTC instructors to teach courses other than JROTC or military science. Such restrictions to licensure, however, shall not impinge the granting of state-approved equivalency credits received through a JROTC or military science course;

(5) A supervisor's, principal's or teacher's license shall not be nonrenewed or revoked by the department of education based on student growth data as represented by the Tennessee value-added system (TVAAS), developed pursuant to chapter 1, part 6 of this title, or some other comparable measure of student growth, if no such TVAAS data is available; and

(6) Notwithstanding any other law, a supervisor, principal, or public school teacher shall not be required to take an assessment to advance or renew a license if:

(A) At the time of application for an initial license, the supervisor, principal, or public school teacher possessed an active professional license in a state that has a reciprocal agreement with the state board of education pursuant to § 49-5-109;

(B) At the time of application for advancement or renewal of a license, the supervisor, principal, or public school teacher is employed to serve or teach courses in the individual's area of endorsement in a public school in this state; and

(C) The supervisor, principal, or public school teacher earned an overall performance effectiveness level of “above expectations” or “significantly above expectations” as provided in the evaluation guidelines adopted by the state board of education pursuant to § 49-1-302 in each of the first two (2) years immediately following the issuance of the individual's initial license.

(d)

(1) The state board of education has the authority to promulgate rules and regulations prescribing minimum standards for licenses and certificates differing from the requirements prescribed in this chapter.

(2)

(A) The state board of education shall establish guidelines, through the promulgation of rules and regulations in accordance with the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter 5, to suspend, deny or revoke the license or certificate of a teacher who is delinquent or in default on a repayment or service obligation under a guaranteed student loan or if such teacher has failed to enter into a payment plan or comply with a payment plan or service obligation previously approved by TSAC or a guarantee agency. This subdivision (d)(2) shall apply to any federal family education loan program, the federal Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq.), a student loan guaranteed or administered by TSAC, or any other state or federal educational loan or service-conditional scholarship program.

(B) Notwithstanding subdivision (d)(2)(A), the state board of education may elect not to suspend, deny, or revoke the license or certificate of a teacher if the default or delinquency is the result of a medical hardship that prevented the person from working in the person's licensed field and the medical hardship significantly contributed to the default or delinquency.

(e) The department of education shall encourage institutions with authorized teacher training programs to evaluate all the teacher training programs to assure that persons seeking licensure in this state will have had appropriate instruction in the teaching of reading.

(f)

(1) The state board of education, with the assistance of the department of education and the Tennessee higher education commission, shall develop a report card or assessment on the effectiveness of teacher training programs. The state board of education shall annually evaluate performance of each institution of higher education providing an approved program of teacher training and other state board approved teacher training programs. The assessment shall focus on the performance of each institution's graduates and shall include, but not be limited to, the following areas:

(A) Placement and retention rates;

(B) Performance on PRAXIS examinations or other tests used to identify teacher preparedness; and

(C) Teacher effect data created pursuant to § 49-1-606.

(2) Each teacher training institution and each LEA shall report all data as requested by the state board of education that the board needs to make the evaluation. The report card or assessment shall be issued no later than February 15 of each year.