HOUSE BILL 178
By Bulso
SENATE BILL 471
By Bowling
SB0471
001271
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AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49,
Chapter 6, Part 13, relative to the Success
Sequence Act.
WHEREAS, couples who have children within marriage have higher family incomes and
lower poverty rates than their unmarried counterparts; and
WHEREAS, over the past forty-five years, the number of children living with married
parents has declined by twelve percent; and
WHEREAS, approximately twenty-five percent of all children today do not have married
parents; and
WHEREAS, children raised by married parents are more likely to flourish compared to
children raised in single-parent families; and
WHEREAS, children raised in stable, married-parent families are more likely to excel in
school, and generally earn higher grade point averages than children who are not; and
WHEREAS, children raised by married parents are about twice as likely to graduate from
college than children who are not; and
WHEREAS, children not raised in a home with married parents are twice as likely to end
up in jail or prison before reaching thirty years of age; and
WHEREAS, children raised by a single parent are more than three times as likely to live
in poverty than children raised by married parents; and
WHEREAS, the strongest negative community predictor of children from low-income
families realizing the American dream, which includes going from poverty as children to
affluence as adults, is the share of single parents in a community; and
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WHEREAS, among millennials who finished high school, entered the workforce, and
were married before having children, ninety-seven percent did not live in poverty when they
reached adulthood; now, therefore,
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. This act is known and may be cited as the "Success Sequence Act."
SECTION 2. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-1301, is amended by adding
the following as a new subdivision:
"Success sequence" means a method by which a person completes the following
in the following sequence:
(A) Obtains a high school diploma or high school equivalency credential;
(B) Enters into the workforce or pursues a postsecondary degree or
credential;
(C) Enters into marriage; and
(D) Has children;
SECTION 3. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 49-6-1304(a), is amended by adding
the following as a new subdivision:
(15) Provide instruction and evidence regarding the positive personal and
societal outcomes associated with the success sequence.
SECTION 4. This act takes effect July 1, 2025, the public welfare requiring it, and
applies to the 2025-2026 school year and each school year thereafter.