SB 699 - HB 682
FISCAL NOTE
Fiscal Review Committee
Tennessee General Assembly
February 15, 2025
Fiscal Analyst: Alan Hampton | Email: alan.hampton@capitol.tn.gov | Phone: 615-741-2564
SB 699 - HB 682
SUMMARY OF BILL: Enacts the Student Comfort through Alternative Restorative Environments
(CARE) Act. Requires each local board of education and each governing body of a public charter
school to adopt and implement a policy that allows a student who is enrolled in a school of the local
education agency or a public charter school at the time that an act of mass violence is committed at
the school, to participate in a virtual education program for no less than 31 calendar days from the
date that in-person learning first resumes at the school after the act of mass violence is committed.
FISCAL IMPACT:
OTHER FISCAL IMPACT
If schools are required to purchase equipment or hire additional staff in order to implement remote
learning for students, a mandatory increase in local expenditures may occur. However, due to
multiple unknown factors, the extent and timing of any local fiscal impact cannot be precisely
determined.
*Article II, Section 24 of the Tennessee Constitution provides that: no law of general application shall impose increased expenditure
requirements on cities or counties unless the General Assembly shall provide that the state share in the cost.
Assumptions:
• The proposed legislation requires that students be given the option to participate in a virtual
education program whereby the student would receive remote instruction for a minimum of
31 days following an act of mass violence at the school.
• “Mass violence” means any act that leads to serious bodily injury, as defined in Tenn. Code
Ann. § 39-11-106, or death, of two or more persons.
• The precise number of acts of mass violence that occurs in Tennessee schools each year is
not known.
• The Tennessee Safe Schools Report released in February 2025 details the following incidents that
occurred as a result of an act of violence or disruption:
o In school year 2021-22: 102 students were transported to a medical facility and
released, one student was kept overnight at a medical facility, and there were zero
fatalities;
o In school year 2022-23: 54 students were transported to a medical facility and
released, three students were kept overnight at a medical facility, and there was one
fatality; and
SB 699 - HB 682 2
o In school year 2023-24: 42 students were transported to a medical facility and
released, six students were kept overnight at a medical facility; and there were zero
fatalities.
• Schools with the capacity to implement remote learning will be able to do so within existing
resources such that any fiscal impact is estimated to be not significant. However, if a school
is required to purchase equipment or hire additional personnel in order to provide a remote
learning option, then a mandatory increase in local expenditures will occur.
• It is unknown which schools have the necessary resources to implement remote learning for
students. Therefore, due to multiple unknown factors, including the cost of any necessary
equipment and additional staff, the number of students that would participate, and the
occurrence of any future mass violence event, the extent and timing of any mandatory local
fiscal impact cannot be precisely determined.
• For any school with sufficient resources to implement remote instruction, it is assumed that
any costs savings that may arise from fewer days of in-person instruction will be reallocated
within the budget for a given school year. It is assumed that any such savings will be offset
elsewhere in the budget such that local education spending does not decrease.
CERTIFICATION:
The information contained herein is true and correct to the best of my knowledge.
Bojan Savic, Executive Director