The academic scandal at Anderson County High School could be a driving force for Tennessee’s bill that allows students to change grades if they improve their second attempt.

The measure sponsored by Memphis Republican Sen. Brent Taylor passed the Senate consent calendar. In other words, the bill was uncontroversial and there was no debate. The House edition, sponsored by Republican Rep. Clay Dogget of Lewisburg, should be considered by the Criminal Justice Subcommittee on Wednesday.

Senate Bill 273 School employees may “change, create, or replicate” student achievement if they are obtained by re-acquiring a failed course, exam, or assignment to earn credit.

Taylor recently said he wasn’t familiar with the 2024 incident at Clinton High School. There, the principal, a soccer coach, two teachers and three counselors left amid a graded allegations that included a school’s credit recovery program.

“But the case underscored the need for this change in state law,” Taylor said.

Anderson County Grade Correction Scandal Defeats Principal, Football Coach

Taylor said he had to attend summer school in high school so he decided to sponsor the bill, explaining that current state law does not allow teachers to change student performance if they take relief or summer school courses and show improvement.

The scandal at Clinton High led to the resignation of the principal and the head football coach, two teachers and three counselors, focusing on online programs used to help students regain their coursework, stay in school and graduate on time. Experts say instructors can change the grades of modules in the program to manually override grades or put the student in “test only” mode, skip computer instructions and go directly to the test.

According to documents obtained by Tennessee Checkout, Clinton High teacher who managed the credit recovery program and was fired last year, said the person responsible for the 485 score change that was fired last year, “questions have been skipped until the desired student grade was achieved.” Another Clinton High teacher admitted to changing his grades of 1,009 over four months.

The fired teacher also said that students were cheated on cell phones for questioning, and that they also involved the principal, soccer coach and school counselors. The principal and coach denied any misconduct.

Members of the local school board said parents and community members appeared at a meeting last year and refused to ask about the scandal.