State to review school funding

Nov. 11—In 1992, Tennessee launched its Basic Education Program to determine state and local funding for schools across the state.

After 30 years with minimal changes, Gov. Bill Lee wants to develop a new funding plan for schools. He's launched a review of the BEP, with 18 subcommittees named and town hall meetings happening across the state, calling for a "student-centered" funding, with Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn saying the goal is to create a new formula "from the ground up."

The Upper Cumberland Region meeting is set for Nov. 30 at 5:30 p.m. at Jackson County Middle School. The meeting will be streamed on Facebook and through Microsoft Teams.

"Yes, [student-centered funding] sounds good in certain ways, but it doesn't tell me how they're going to fund it," Suzanne Wilson, retired Cumberland County educator, told the schools and education committee of the Cumberland County Commission when it met Nov. 8.

She attended a recent conference of county government officials from across the state with her husband, Wendell Wilson, who represents the 6th District on the Cumberland County Commission.

Wendell Wilson said student-centered funding "sounds pretty good — but how we do it is where the rubber meets the road."

Of particular concern is the ability of parents to move children to different schools or different counties.

Suzanne Wilson said, "The funding will follow the student. But what about when it gets full? Which ones do you take? It's pick and choice. Who is going to move the money? I didn't get an answer. They didn't know how that was going to work."

Wendell Wilson said the state needs to carefully study the effort and funding proposals, which could go before the Tennessee General Assembly as early as the next session that begins in January.

According to a handout from ExcelinEd.org on student-centered funding, the formula begins with a base funding amount and requires local funding on a per-student basis. Local funding would change with student enrollment. Students with special needs or disadvantages are assigned a weight, which provides additional funding for them. School systems would have the ability to use that money however they deem necessary to fund their school system.

The BEP is a resource-based funding model. It looks at student enrollment to determine funding for teachers, educational resources and support services. While the formula does not dictate spending, there are rules on how certain portions of the money can be spent — instructional salary funds can only be used for instructional salaries, but non-classroom components can be moved up to cover instructional salaries or benefits.

Much of the formula depends on student enrollment, such as instructional salaries and benefits, number of principals and assistant principals, and number of miles students must ride buses to get to school. Funding is then adjusted based on state formulas to determine local ability to pay.

"You can look at this and figure out how many students I've got, how many teachers I'm going to need," Suzanne Wilson said. "I did it every year."

The formula leaves out a lot of things, she said, like nurses, school counselors and assistant principals.

"There was never anything really wrong with this formula, except that they needed more funding," Suzanne Wilson said. "We need it in areas they talk about — school counselors, safety, nurses."

The BEP funds one school nurse per 3,000 students. Robert Safdie, 2nd District representative to the Cumberland County Board of Education, said the Tennessee School Boards Association had been working on legislation to reduce the ratio of school nurses to one per 750 students for several years.

"But it hasn't gone through yet," he said.

Instead, Cumberland County employs a school nurse at each of its 12 schools, with funding coming from local dollars and from other areas of the BEP. They're not alone.

According to a report by the State Collaborative on Reforming Education, SCORE, the BEP formula calculated $7.2 billion was needed to fund schools in 2017, with the state providing $4.8 billion and $2.4 billion from local school systems.

However, the state spent about $10 billion on schools that year, with local school districts providing $1.7 billion more than the BEP calculated. Across the state, 135 of 141 school districts provide funding beyond the required local minimum match.

Cumberland County provides the minimum match in its budget, though the county has provided one-time money in recent years to allow the school system to take care of some large maintenance projects and technology initiatives.

Tennessee spent $9,868 per student in 2019-'20 compared to the national average $13,187 per pupil, according to the U.S. Census.

Cumberland County spent $8,986 per student in 2019-'20, with a budget of $63 million, including its federal programs and school nutrition program, which are not funded with local or state tax dollars. The state report card combines state and local funding, which made up 84% of the budget, with $36.4 million from the state. The county's share of $18.7 million was funded with $8.1 million in property taxes and $10.1 million from sales tax collections.

Earlier this fall, a national study by the Education Law Center and Southern Poverty Law Center ranked the state 44th in student funding.

The school funding review comes as the state prepares to defend the BEP in a trial brought by 89 school systems alleging the state does not allocate enough funding to give students adequate education. The lawsuit dates back six years ago and was first brought by Shelby County Schools and later joined by Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools before being joined by 87 additional school districts in 2020.

Heather Mullinix is editor of the Crossville Chronicle. She covers schools and education in Cumberland County. She may be reached at hmullinix@crossville-chronicle.com.