Photo Credit: Gov. Bill Lee / Facebook
The Center Square [By Jon Styf] –
The language for a bill that would create a new K-12 public school funding formula in Tennessee, called the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement (TISA), will be released in mid-February, Gov. Bill Lee said Thursday.
The funding formula would be put in place for the 2023-24 school year and moves the state from a school district-based funding formula to a student-based formula while correcting issues with the current Basic Education Program (BEP), which was created in 1992.
“We believe that it will assign dollars to each child based on their individual need,” Lee said Thursday during a news conference. “That will make that a more fair system for the children in the system.”
Lee proposed Monday during his state of the state speech spending an additional $1 billion in recurring money for K-12 public education, of which $750 million would help fund the new state funding plan.
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That money would not be placed into the BEP for next school year, however. Instead, Lee proposed using the funds next fiscal year for career and technical education improvements in all high schools and middle schools ($500 million), moving 14 public schools out of flood plains ($200 million) and grants ($50 million).
The budget proposal also included $32 million in facilities funding for Tennessee’s charter schools, with half of it recurring, along with $25.5 million in recurring funds for summer learning camps and $6 million to establish the Institute of American Civics at the University of Tennessee.
Lee also announced a partnership earlier this week with Hillsdale College, a religious liberal arts college in Michigan, that is expected to create public charter schools in Tennessee.
“This is about engaging Hillsdale in public classical secular education,” Lee said. “High quality charter schools are an important part of the equation in our public school system. We welcome high quality charter operators from around the state and that includes classical education charters like Hillsdale.”
Lee said the new funding formula, however, was about funding students attending public schools.
“This approach is entirely about public schools,” Lee said. “It’s nothing about private schools.”
The new funding formula would have a set amount of funding assigned to each student along with what it calls “weights,” giving additional funding to students who are living in poverty or in concentrated poverty areas, those living in rural school districts, students with unique learning needs and students at public charter schools.
Additional funding would go to students in districts that are fast growing, need large-scale tutoring assistance and have Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs.
Lee also was asked Thursday about the recent decisions of several school boards in the state to ban books and a recent book burning that was shared on social media.
Lee advocated for a bill that would inform parents the content of books and curriculum taught in public schools but said “book burning is a bad idea.”
“You would have to ask the people that are involved in that book burning,” Lee said.
About the Author: Jon Styf, The Center Square Staff Reporter – Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies. Follow Jon on Twitter @JonStyf.
