Tennessee educators and parents call for fully funded remote learning to contain the pandemic On Tuesday, Tennessee’s Republican Governor Bill Lee opened a special session of the Tennessee General Assembly by doubling down on his hard-line stance that all schools should be open for in-person instruction amid the deepening COVID-19 pandemic. As hospitals reach capacity across the state and reputable scientists increasingly recognize that schools are major vectors for the spread of the virus, Lee stated provocatively, “Here’s the bottom line. You can’t say ‘follow the science’ and keep schools closed. You can’t say ‘I believe in public education’ and keep schools closed.”