Gov. Bill Lee announced Wednesday during the state's daily COVID-19 briefing that he is recommending Tennessee schools remain closed for the rest of the school year.
Lee had said during his Monday briefing he coordinated with other state leaders and schools to make the decision.
"We felt it important to get this decision about the stay-at-home order in place and to put together this economic recovery group so we can begin the planning for opening up our economy," he said Monday.
Lee said the Department of Education will work with local leaders to ensure flexibility for districts and that they are able to meet critical year-end activities and to prepare for next year.
"This pandemic has created many challenges for families, and teachers, and students. Classroom time has been lost, and we are committed to providing resources to keep students engaged over this next several weeks... while they will not be in school buildings," Lee said.
The governor said this is not a mandate but a recommendation. When asked why he did not issue an order to definitively keep schools closed, he said districts have "decisions to make on their own." He said he still remains confident districts will remain closed across the state -- saying he does not expect districts to opt out.
"We think it's important that we're supporting districts' efforts," Lee said. "That's important to us, the school districts uniquely know their own communities and what their end-of-year school requirements are."
The governor noted that time lost in classroom has implications beyond education, impacting the well-being of students living in difficult situations.
Because of that, the state is launching a task force to check in on at-risk children and ensure they are remaining safe. Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn said "it will take all of us" to ensure the safety and well-being of those children.
Schwinn said schools are already working with local partners to deliver meals, lessons, and check on children at their homes.
"We've seen our districts go above and beyond to work with partners in their community to take care of our kids. As a state, we want to channel this kind of energy and problem solving," she said.
Schwinn said the task force will be assembled in the coming weeks to encourage and support those locally-led partnerships.
On March 24, schools were told to remain closed until at least April 24 to prevent the spread of the virus. The date had been pushed out a few times as the COVID-19 response developed across the state, and schools have been employing distance learning to provide children with lessons at home.
Lee and lawmakers passed a few emergency measures to ensure the extended closures would not prevent students from advancing or graduating, such as dropping attendance and state testing requirements, lowering credit requirements for seniors, and waiving SAT/ACT requirements.
Under the governor's most recent executive order, Stay at Home rules have been extended through at least April 30. Lee said he is working on plans to implement a 'phased reboot' of the economy in May, stressing the importance of balancing any reopening measures with safety and social distancing to prevent a potential resurgence of the virus.
Lee also said he's spoken with U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos about federal funding sources that can be used to help local school systems that will take a financial hit because of the crisis.
He said those plans are under discussions in Congress.
"Decisions are being made," he said.
More information should be coming this week about the kinds of funding that will be available for districts, he said.