Tennessee Senate Passes Bill Requiring Schools To Teach Students To Get Married And Have Kids

The Republican-led Tennessee Senate has passed a bill that requires schools to teach children a "success sequence" that emphasizes the importance of getting married and having children.

If approved by the state House, the “Success Sequence Act” would require schools to teach students about the purported “positive personal and societal outcomes” of following a prescribed sequence of life events: earning a high school diploma or equivalent, entering the workforce or pursuing higher education, getting married, and then having children.

Sponsored by state Senator Janice Bowling, the bill argues that individuals who follow this sequence experience higher family incomes, better academic performance, and greater graduation rates. It would mandate that family life curricula emphasize the benefits of adhering to these steps, referred to as the "success sequence."

Educators would be required to present “instruction and evidence” supporting the claimed benefits of this path. However, the bill does not cite specific sources for its claims.

Language in the legislation states that “children raised by married parents are more likely to flourish compared to children raised in single-parent families” and that married couples with children tend to have “higher family incomes and lower poverty rates” than unmarried parents.

A fiscal note attached to the bill states that implementing the measure would not require schools to purchase new materials and would have minimal budgetary impact.

But many are sounding the alarm, who've noted that the bill marks a step backward by throwing a bone to Christian nationalists—further evidence of the far-right's moves to reform education and social life.

Much of the bill’s language appears to align with model legislation from The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank that conceived of and authored Project 2025.

The organization cited a 2020 study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during the first Trump administration, along with prior research from the organization itself, and notes that:

"...prior to high school graduation or receiving a general education degree, students must complete at least one course incorporating evidence using the best research methods available describing the positive personal and societal outcomes associated with the “success sequence”—meaning earning at least a high school degree, working after graduating high school or pursuing postsecondary studies, and getting married before having children."

If approved, the Tennessee bill will proceed to the governor's desk for signing and is set to be implemented in the 2025-2026 school year.