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Tennessee Education Commissioner Bill Delayed

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The Tennessee House has delayed a vote on a bill giving the state's education commissioner the power to waive state laws to grant public schools more flexibility. Republican Representative Art Swann says his bill is designed to emulate the leeway granted to charter schools, but he agreed to put the measure on hold after members of both parties raised concerns over a provision giving an unelected official the ability to ignore statutes enacted by the Legislature. House Democratic Caucus Chairman Mike Turner questioned whether it's constitutional to grant anyone the power to ignore state laws. Republican Representative Mark Pody says if education officials need to make changes in the law, they should use the legislative process do so.

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