Tennessee Code Annotated
Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-5-403 (2026)
Teachers - Licenses required
✓ current as of May 2026
- (a) No person shall be employed to teach in any public elementary or high school or receive pay for teaching out of the public funds of any school system until the person has received a license from the commissioner or state board of education.
- (b) As used in parts 2, 4 and 7 of this chapter, "employ," and all derivatives of "employ," means to put to work in a position compensated from public funds, and shall not be construed to preclude election by the local board of education of a teacher prior to that teacher's having received a license, in accordance with the rules and regulations of the state board of education.
- (c) This section does not apply to a student teacher. As used in this section, "student teacher" means a student enrolled in an institution of higher learning approved by the state board of education for teacher training, who is jointly assigned by the institution of higher learning and the local board of education to perform practice teaching under the direction of a regularly employed and licensed teacher. A student teacher, while serving a nonsalaried internship under the supervision of a licensed teacher, shall be accorded the same protection of the laws as that accorded a licensed teacher, and shall, while acting as a student teacher, comply with all rules and regulations of the state and applicable local board of education and observe all duties of teachers as set forth in § 49-5-201. A student teacher who has been jointly assigned to a before-and-after school care program and who performs in a nonsalaried internship under the direction of a regularly employed teacher shall, while serving in this position, be accorded the same protection of the laws as is accorded a licensed teacher, specifically including protections under the Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act, compiled in title 29, chapter 20.
- (d) Since preschool and early childhood special education require very specialized curriculum and practicum experience, the state board of education shall establish licensing requirements and procedures for preschool and early childhood special education teachers. Such licensing requirements and procedures shall be submitted to the education committee of the senate and the education administration committee of the house of representatives for review prior to their implementation.
Amended by 2021 Tenn. Acts, ch. 64, s 81, eff. 3/29/2021.
Amended by 2019 Tenn. Acts, ch. 345, s 94, eff. 5/10/2019.
Amended by 2015 Tenn. Acts, ch. 182, s 39, eff. 4/17/2015.
Acts 1925, ch. 115, § 8; Shan. Supp., § 1487a47; Code 1932, § 2336; impl. am. Acts 1951, ch. 58, § 7; Acts 1969, ch. 73, § 1; 1974, ch. 654, §§ 60, 61; 1976, ch. 400, § 2; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 49-1301; Acts 1987, ch. 308, § 23; 1988, ch. 765, § 1; 1989, ch. 37, § 2; 2011 , ch. 410, § 4 (m).
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3
cases, 2001–2008 · leading case: Lawrence Cnty. Educ. Ass'n v. Lawrence Cnty. Bd. of Educ., 244 S.W.3d 302 (Tenn. 2007).
Lawrence Cnty. Educ. Ass'n v. Lawrence Cnty. Bd. of Educ., 244 S.W.3d 302 (Tenn. 2007). “” Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-5-403 (a). Conversely, nowhere in the EPNA is it stated that its protections and guidelines apply to nonprofessional or non-licensed positions.”
Cannon Cnty. Bd. of Educ. v. Goldy Wade & Cannon Cnty. Educ. Ass'n (Tenn. Ct. App. 2008). “Because anyone employed to teach must have a license, Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-5-403 (a), any reference to professional employees in the negotiated agreement would include certified non-tenured teachers like Mr.”
Virnie Fulks v. J. Hulan Watson (Tenn. Ct. App. 2001). “§ 49-2 - 304; and teachers, Tenn. Code Ann. § 49-5-403 . Additionally, whether or not Mr.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.