Tennessee’s Dead Horse

It’s the lack of investment in public education

After years of running budget surpluses, Tennessee this year has a bit of a budget crunch. For the first time in a decade, revenue numbers are coming below projections.

This is all happening while state leaders are pitching a $1.6 billion corporate tax break.

I’ve been writing about Tennessee policymakers missing the mark on investment in education for years now as well.

Beating a dead horse, some might say.

Over at The Education Report, I wrote recently about missed opportunities in that decade of surplus revenue.

As recently as 2021, the state had a $3.1 billion revenue surplus.

The next year? $2 billion.

But these years of surplus were not met with attendant investment in public education.

Tennessee did not boost starting teacher pay to $60,000 or provide free meals to all kids at school.

Now, we’re in a time of less revenue collection and an apparent commitment to grant a corporate tax break well in excess of $1 billion.

What gets left behind, then?

School funding.

The same dead horse.

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Terrible Task Force

Legislative leaders move forward with attempt to refuse federal education funding

House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally have appointed a Joint Legislative Task Force to explore the possibility of Tennessee refusing the nearly $2 billion the state receives in federal education funding each year.

More from The Tennessee Journal:

The 10-member panel will also report on the feasibility of the state rejecting federal funds and recommend a strategy to reject certain federal funds or eliminate unwanted restrictions placed on the state due to the receipt of such federal funds if it is feasible to do so.

Sexton has previously suggested using the state’s significant revenue surplus to replace federal dollars for schools.

It’s worth noting here that a bipartisan task force found that the state underfunds schools by around $1.7 billion a year.

This means that rather than use surplus dollars to make up the current funding shortfall, Sexton is suggesting using the surplus to maintain the inadequate status quo.

Not surprisingly, the move was met with resistance by advocates for public education:

Rev. C. Don Jones, Pastor of the Andersonville United Methodist Church, said of the proposal:

“Tennessee public schools are primarily locally funded. Extra funds from the Federal government administered by the State government help schools in our rural areas that are cash strapped. I do not understand why the Speaker, the Governor, or the present Supermajority of the General Assembly chose to harm these communities.

“As a pastor in a rural community, I see the Speaker’s proposal as irresponsible to the citizens of Tennessee.”

Senate Democratic Leader Raumesh Akbari of Memphis said the federal funding is a key tool in leveling the playing field for students in economically disadvantaged areas of the state.

“Federal education funding for states is essential to ensure educational equity and opportunity for all American students. It serves as a vital pillar of our nation’s commitment to providing a quality education regardless of a student’s geographical location or socioeconomic background.”

In a tweet, Rep. Bo Mitchell said:

This could the most idiotic discussion I’ve seen in the Tennessee General Assembly probably since not expanding Medicaid and costing our state over a billion dollars a year. If you have a child with an IEP then this will drastically harm your child!

The task force has not yet announced its first meeting.

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

TC Talks TISA

Persistent poverty plagues districts

Education blogger TC Weber joined the Tennessee Department of Education’s update to the State Board of Education on the state’s new funding formula (TISA). He filed this report with the Tennessee Star.

Here’s the part I found quite interesting:

Department data indicates that 648,000 students attend a school where 40 percent or more live in poverty.

That’s roughly 2/3 of all students.

The good news: The districts responsible for educating those students will receive a bump in funding under TISA.

The challenge: Tennessee has known about the high concentration of poverty for decades now.

It’s nice to see some bonus funding going to these districts (although BEP also had an input for poverty).

What’s not clear is what’s changing to address the systemic poverty that persists.

Tennessee policymakers could take action to address the challenges posed by entrenched poverty.

For example, the state could provide free breakfast and lunch to ALL students in the state for about $700 million.

Given that we continue to have annual budget surpluses topping $2 billion, this seems like an easy ask.

Feed all kids who come to school, no questions asked.

The state could also expand Medicaid to ensure that more families have access to healthcare.

In terms of education dollars, perhaps instead of investing $132 million in Pearson’s standardized tests, we could allocate those dollars to students in high poverty schools.

For the two thirds of students attending high poverty schools, the state must look like the banker from Monopoly – consistently collecting excess revenue while those students and their families have to wait for crumbs from the table.

Tennessee continues to find new ways to measure and assess the fact that our students face challenges from poverty and then consistently finds ways to offer solutions that do nothing to change that fact.

thoughtful man with book sitting in dark room
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For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @tnedreport

A Modest Proposal

$1.9 Billion in new education spending

Over at The Education Report I take a look at Tennessee’s giant revenue surplus and offer a proposal on how that money could be invested to benefit public schools and all of Tennessee.

Here are the basics:

20% raise for all teachers – $625 million

Free school breakfast and lunch for all students – $714 million

Investment in Pre-k – 3rd grade reading – $500 million

We can afford it, our students and communities deserve it.

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MORE EDUCATION NEWS

Hillsdale Gets Access to TN Tax Dollars

On Teacher Pay in Tennessee

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

Privatization Efforts Deferred – But Not Denied

Efforts to privatize Tennessee’s public schools were deferred today in a key House Committee.

The privatization push includes potential expansion of school vouchers into Knoxville and the other would open the doors for charter schools to operate in districts without first being subject to local review.

More from The Education Report:

This bill (HB433), as currently written, would expand the state’s school voucher program (known as Education Savings Accounts, or ESAs) to Chattanooga. Currently, the voucher scheme only applies to students in Memphis and Nashville.

It’s bad enough that some policymakers are ready to expand this privatization program to another Tennessee school district. However, what’s even more alarming is that Education Administration Committee Chair Mark White has filed an amendment to expand the program even further – this time into Knoxville.


As you might recall, I wrote about an amendment to the charter legislation that would:

  1. Create a scheme for allowing charter schools that serve homeschooled students
  2. Allow for the creation of residential/boarding schools that are charter schools

These new charters would also be able to bypass local school boards and apply directly to Bill Lee’s State Charter Commission for approval.

That would mean zero local input and zero local accountability – even though millions of local tax dollars would be spent supporting these charter schools.


It’s important to look at these pieces of legislation for what they are: A clear agenda.

Gov. Lee and his legislative allies want to privatize our public schools.

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

A “Moral Obligation” to Fund Schools

An advocacy group calls on the Tennessee General Assembly to properly fund the state’s schools.

From NewsBreak:

A group of Tennessee pastors affiliated with the Southern Christian Coalition is calling on the Tennessee General Assembly to take steps to fully fund public schools in the state.

The group notes that public education is one piece of what they call a “moral agenda” for state policy.

Rev. Jason Mikel, pastor of Jenkins Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Nolensville, issued a statement on behalf of the group. In it, he noted that public education makes Tennessee communities stronger.

“No matter where our children live, the color of their skin, their social situation, or anything else, every child deserves access to a high quality education in their local public school,” Mikel said. “Our communities are healthier and our communities are stronger when public schools are allocated the resources they need to fulfill their calling. Yet our state ranks nearly last in financial funding for students, teachers, and schools. And it is that way because of the continuing decisions of our state leaders. Governor Lee and our Supermajority Legislature fuel divisions for the purpose of removing resources from our schools. They demonize teachers and librarians. (And who goes after librarians?) Yet they vie for control of our state’s classrooms by unnecessarily burdening our educators with their political posturing. 

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For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

State’s Negligence Puts Millions in Federal Funding for Schools At Risk

Newschannel 9 in Chattanooga has the story of how the Tennessee Department of Education’s lack of proper documentation and inappropriate spending could jeopardize hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for schools.

$328 million in school money could soon be lost, after a federal report says the state used the money inappropriately or didn’t provide documentation.

The money is part of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and is designed to support migrant education, low income community schools and special education.

What’s most shocking about this story is that the state was first advised of issues with how it tracks and spends these federal dollars back in 2018. Then, they were warned again in 2021.

Now, they are under a tight deadline to demonstrate they can accurately track and account for this federal money. If they don’t, the cash will stop flowing – leaving school districts with less money on which to operate.

MORE EDUCATION NEWS

NAEP Notes

A Teacher Shortage Warning

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

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That’s a Lot

Tennessee continues to experience record revenue surpluses while also continuing a trend of badly underfunding public schools. Based on projections, it seems the state invested around one fourth of this year’s surplus toward public education as part of the TISA school funding overhaul.

That’s nice, sure. But TISA is deeply flawed AND the state is underfunding schools by around $2 billion a year. Gov. Lee’s plan barely makes up half of that shortfall.

The Sycamore Institute has an update today on the current state of Tennessee’s revenue picture. In an email, they note:

With two months left to count, Tennessee collected about $3.7 billion (28%) more tax revenue than lawmakers initially budgeted for this point in the fiscal year.

That’s remarkable. Perhaps even more remarkable is the lack of commitment to use these funds to dramatically improve school funding in a state that ranks among the lowest in the nation in school funding. In fact, even after TISA, projections suggest Tennessee will still be in the bottom 10 nationally when it comes to K-12 school funding.

Of course, this lack of commitment to school funding is nothing new:

For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

Your support – $5 or more – makes publishing education news possible.

TISA: What’s it All About?

The Tennessee General Assembly passed Gov. Bill Lee’s school funding reform plan this past legislative session. The new scheme, TISA, will take effect in the 2023-24 school year.

What does TISA mean for local school districts? How will it impact the schools in your district?

A group known as “Tennessee for All” is holding a virtual forum on June 16th to explore these questions.

Here’s what they have to say about TISA:

Whether we’re from Nashville or Kingsport, we all want our kids to have a great education. And yet, while our state government hands out millions of dollars to corporations and sits on billions in reserves, this new education plan locks in underfunding for nearly every school. It picks winners and losers, forcing some counties to pay higher property taxes to close the funding gap.

In short, they’re not fans. However, the forum will be a great opportunity to learn more about just how TISA impacts funding.

Here’s more background on the reality of TISA:

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For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

Your support – $5 or more – makes publishing education news possible.

But is it Adequate?

Gov. Bill Lee’s signature education funding reform initiative passed today even as concerns have been raised that the plan will do little to fundamentally alter the status quo for school districts in a state consistently ranked 45th in the nation in school funding.

In response to the legislation, advocates with the Southern Christian Coalition suggested the plan does not meet its stated goals and even noted analysis suggesting the formula will mean a smaller percentage of state funds for 91 school districts (roughly 2/3).

“I call on our Legislature to adequately fund our public schools, and to invest in and care for the children of Tennessee, knowing that they are each made in the image of God,” said Rev. Laura Becker, Pastor of Northminster Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga, and mother of one current student and one graduate of Hamilton County Schools. “All Tennessee students deserve the right to high quality and fully funded education that prepares them to achieve their full potential and successfully contribute to our communities and to our state. Unfortunately, Governor Lee’s proposed education funding plan called TISA doesn’t provide the funding necessary to address our teacher shortage, ensure students with special needs get the care they need, or ensure that every school has the resources they need to provide every child a quality education, so I call for a more just and equitable funding program.”

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An in-depth analysis of the reality of TISA funding also shows the plan comes up short in key areas – most notably hiring teachers and teacher compensation. Without significant investment on both fronts, it is unlikely the plan will move the needle relative to the stated goal of improved student achievement outcomes.

Districts get a lower percentage of state funds. The teacher shortage persists. Local property taxes will likely go up. That’s the TISA reality.

MORE EDUCATION NEWS

Groups Speak Out on School Library Censorship

A group of Tennessee parents and public school students gathered at the Tennessee State Capitol this morning to express opposition to legislation that would effectively ban books from public school libraries by creating an “approved book list” developed by the Tennessee Textbook Commission.

At the event, Williamson County High School student Lindsay Hornick spoke about the importance of having a wide range of books in public school libraries.

Hornick said, ” Books allow us to learn about the world through a variety of lenses and create our own opinions on controversial topics. They teach us about the past in ways that explore the truth. No matter how difficult it may be to hear, the documented past allows us to learn and grow. It allows us to prevent tragedies from repeating.”

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For more on education politics and policy in Tennessee, follow @TNEdReport

Your support – $5 or more – makes publishing education news possible.