TNReady fix brings end to legislative session

After a whirlwind day that lasted nearly 14 hours and featured squabbling between the two chambers over a host of bills — including one related to the state’s troubled school testing system — the Tennessee General Assembly adjourned for the year on Wednesday.

Although the day began with House and Senate lawmakers gently trading barbs from their respective chambers, it took an ugly turn by mid-afternoon as members of the lower chamber held an impromptu gathering to discuss issues related to TNReady.

At issue was a failed discussion between leadership of the two chambers, along with Gov. Bill Haslam’s administration, regarding school testing. Earlier in the day, a group of House and Senate leaders could be seen walking out of the governor’s first floor office.

The talks were held because there was some fear that the way a previously approved TNReady fix was written would not have provided enough protection to teachers.

Last week, the House and Senate approved a measure that says this year’s TNReady test results will count only if it benefits students, educators and districts.

House lawmakers said the actual language of that bill did not hold teachers harmless for this year’s test results.

Lawmakers took up those protections after another year a problems with the test. This year, some students had trouble logging on to the online portion of the test and districts across the state halted the exams.

As the final day of the session proceeded, House lawmakers alleged their Senate colleagues didn’t care about teachers, even encouraging Tennesseans to contact members of the upper chamber.

At one point the House — hoping to prove how serious it was taking the issue — threatened to prevent the state’s recently approved $37.5 billion state budget from being signed.

Meanwhile, some in the upper chamber quietly said the House was simply playing politics while eyeing future elections.

In a nearly 30-minute long meeting on the floor of the House during a recess, House Republicans proposed a variety of options — including staging a walkout, revisiting the already approved $37.5 billion state budget or voting on a bill to send a message to the Senate.

The legislative infighting came just over a week after Education Commissioner Candice McQueen said that the company the state hired to run the online portion of the test — Questar Assessment — was the subject of a “deliberate attack” on its computer systems.

Lawmakers last week grilled McQueen for two hours over the problems. She apologized.

On Wednesday, House Republican Caucus Chairman Ryan Williams told his colleagues that lawmakers and the Department of Education were not seeing eye to eye.

“There has been a great divide between us and what we believe to be real problems and what the department would say aren’t problems,” he said.

As the caucus considered its options, several members said they wanted to stand firm and force the Senate’s hand on the issue.

Rep. Tim Rudd, R-Murfreesboro, said the chamber needed to “use our leverage, too, instead of just yielding to them whatever they want and giving up.” Rudd later suggested it might be time to call for McQueen’s resignation.

Rep. Matthew Hill, R-Jonesborough, said there were several options on the table.

“It is in the rules that neither body can be gone longer than three days unless the other body consents to it,” he said, adding that both chambers must agree to adjourn the session for the year.

When House Majority Leader Glen Casada, R-Franklin, asked for a show of hands from lawmakers who supported not adjourning, which he called the nuclear option, in order to send a signal to the Senate, many of those present held their hands high.

During the GOP discussion, Rep. Tilman Goins, R-Morristown, suggested the House delay action on a bill related to alcohol in an area in East Tennessee. Several House members believed the legislation in question was among Lt. Gov. Randy McNally’s remaining priorities.

“I don’t want to impugn anybody,” said Williams, later admitting in a separate caucus meeting the alcohol bill was one of the remaining measures the House could hold back.

In the afternoon, the House approved a bill that would have fixed the issue but the Senate declined to take up the measure.

Instead the Senate introduced the customary resolution calling for the session to adjourn for the year, signaling the chamber’s desire to leave.

The chambers then spent several hours going back and forth trying to come up with an amenable agreement.

The final agreement between the two chambers, reached shortly after 9 p.m., said that “no adverse action” could be taken against any student, teacher, school or LEA regarding this year’s TNReady test.

Chambers clash over other legislation

Beyond the fight over TNReady, the House and Senate clashed in recent days on two of Haslam’s top priorities for the year, as well as reauthorization of the Department of Correction and smoking in vehicles with minors present.

One of the governor’s bills related to opioids hit a snag when there was disagreement over efforts to make an herb known as kratom illegal.

The Senate wanted to make it illegal. But the House had mixed views, with one lawmaker saying earlier in the week that kratom had helped him pass several kidney stones. The final version of the bill allowed kratom to remain legal in Tennessee.

Another Haslam-led bill related to reforming the state’s juvenile justice system faced uncertainty Wednesday as House members argued the Senate was attempting to water down the legislation.

The bill originally sought to limit a judge’s ability to put a child into state custody for low-level or nonviolent offenses.

Jordan Buie contributed to this report.